Background: The Mongol Invasion & The Ottoman Period - Iraq History - *

Mesopotamia had its' history gifted foreigners .
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The destruction of cultural heritage in Iraq
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cdli - im history
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Yet, it can be very simple.
SYRIA:
Contradictions have been always the name of the game in politics, allies of yesterday become the enemies of today.
Syria for example, since the good event of Saddam removal in April 2003, that government cooperated with Islamists to destabilize Iraq to the maximum possible degree. [see: Blog Entry]

1. Italian police uncover al-Qaeda link in Syria - War on Iraq - smh.com.au
2. U.S., Iraqis Crack Down on Porous Syrian Border - Los Angeles Times

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SIPRI Publications :

Read the PDF, it is very informative, would you think you would be surprised by the countries involved ? Especially with Iraq as the data-sets show in the graphs posted below.

SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, Iraq 1973 [wikipedia]

USSR, Warsaw Pact, and China account for more than 80% between 1973 and 1990 (the year the embargo against Iraq started after invading Kuwait on August, 2nd, 1990)


I have generated data from...

Ezekiel's Tomb in Iraq

Beside one of the rivers of Babylon, Iraqi archeologists are digging into the past of the Prophet Ezekiel's reputed burial site, even as clerics and government officials draw up plans for its future.

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The Babylonian Captivity - Tel Abib

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How the US let al-Qaida get its hands on an Iraqi weapons factory | World news | The Guardian
Going with the fact that Saddam and his deputy Izzat el dury funded the salafi and wahabi Islamists since 1991 in the "Faith" campaign, and despite the Guardian's title, their article has something interesting:

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