World War I may have ended in 1918, but the violence it triggered in
the Middle East still hasn't come to an end. Arbitrary borders drawn by
self-interested imperial powers have left a legacy that the region has not been
able to overcome.
Damascus, year three of the civil war: The 4th Division
of the Syrian army has entrenched itself on Kassioun Mountain, the place where
Cain is said to have slain his brother Abel. United Nations ballistics experts
say the poison gas projectiles that landed in the Damascus suburbs of Muadamiya
and Ain Tarma in the morning hours of Aug. 21, 2013 were fired from somewhere
up on the mountain. Some 1,400 people died in the attack -- 1,400 of the more
than 100,000 people who have lost their lives since the beginning of the conflict.
Baghdad, in the former palace quarter behind the
Assassin's Gate: Two years after the American withdrawal, Iraqis are once again
in full control of the so-called Green Zone, located on a sharp bend in the
Tigris River. It is the quarter of Baghdad where the Americans found refuge
when the country they occupied devolved into murderous chaos. Currently, the
situation is hardly any better. On the other side of the wall, in the red zone,
death has once again become commonplace. There were over 8,200 fatalities last
year……To Read More….
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