I was never a supporter of the Iraq War.
It was a war of choice with no connection to 9/11. It caused inter-communal bloodshed, unending terrorist attacks and the rise of ISIS. Most ominously, it strengthened Iran.
Today though, from a vantage point of 20 years hindsight and Iranian humiliation in the 12 Day War, we see one enormous positive: the relative freedom of the Kurds to organise their own politics.
They are still split between four imposed states, variously chaotic and oppressive. They are still under the thumb of Erdogan’s Islamised Ottomans. They are still disappeared when they cry „Jin, jiyan, azadî” (Women, life, freedom) in Iranian streets.
But, in post-invasion “Iraq”, Kurdistan smells the scent of true freedom. Saddam Hussein is finally dead and Baathism along with him. No more can they be gassed by his machinery of terror. No more can they suffer an Anfal Genocide. They are on the path to true freedom from PAX ARABICA.
It will never be easy. In 2017, the Iraqi Kurds backed independence in huge numbers. 92.73 percent of votes were cast in favour of freedom. Yet their decisive, democratic call was ignored by the international community. Only Israel stood up and recognised the new country. Until today…
Following “my dear leader” Keir Starmer, who believes in recognising states before they have become geopolitical reality, Guerre and Shalom recognises Kurdistan with a capital in Erbil. Unlike Palestine, it has a government, a (defensive) army, a tax base and a willingness to live in peace with its neighbours. Unlike Palestine, it wishes to be free from the totalitarian terror of PAX ARABICA. It is a genuine (and functioning) nation state.
That’s not all…
Today Guerre and Shalom does its bit to make a post-imperial, Middle Eastern future a reality. We don’t hold a pathetic demonstration in London or virtue signal in a Marylebone bookshop. We take real steps on the ground in the Middle East.
So today I proudly announce that we are launching my new book in the only place it could be launched: not in London, not in New York, but in the heart of PAX ARABICA itself: in Kurdistan (see the photos).
This book is about freedom. The right of Middle Eastern minorities to protect themselves from Arab imperialism through self-determination. The right of women to protect themselves from male Arab apartheid. The right of black Africans not to be enslaved by their Arab Masters. And the duty of Arabs themselves to decolonize their own minds, so that they may turn to genuine nation statehood. Today, in Kurdistan, that process begins in earnest through this book launch.
In the photos, you will see what would have been impossible before 2003: Citizens of Kurdistan openly reading PAX ARABICA without fear of a bullet in their heads from Saddam’s thugs.
Thanks to Khalid Saleh (and yes to George Bush and Tony Blair), PAX ARABICA is now being freely distributed throughout Kurdistan. Hopefully, as this year goes on, it will be more and more read until such a time as we can see genuine independence from the Arab Empire.
It’s still too early for George W Bush to declare “Mission Accomplished!”, but at least we’ve finally begun the mission amongst those “Iraqis” who wish the mission to actually succeed.
Liberating the citizens of Baghdad from Arab imperialism is a rather more long-term project! Until then we must protect the Middle Eastern minorities: the Kurds, the Copts, the Maronites, the Druze, the black Africans and all the others who want free of accursed Arabism. We must also support Israel as the Northern Middle East’s only genuine indigenous nation state bar Kurdistan.
Even though PAX ARABICA is free for Iraqi Kurds, it comes with a price tag for a Western audience. Sorry!
Please become a paid subscriber to Guerre and Shalom so that you can read the book in full.
If you become a founder member (“Patron”), you will be entitled to a PDF copy to make your read a more pleasurable experience.
PAX ARABICA by Daniel Clarke-Serret
Acknowledgements: With Thanks
Introduction: The time to change the narrative is now!
PART 1: BABEL
Chapter 1: On Arab Imperialism // Chapter 2: On the Vanguard //Chapter 3: On Dictatorial Oppression // Chapter 4: On Islamist “Freedom” // Chapter 5: On Islamist Misery // Chapter 6: On Arab Apartheid // Chapter 7: On Middle Eastern Minorities // Chapter 8: On the Masters of Ethnic Cleansing // Chapter 9: On Genocide, Slavery and Racist Indifference //Chapter 10: On Unjust “Justice” and the Inversion of Language // Chapter 11: On Appeasement // Chapter 12: On the Man who stood against Pax Arabica
PART 2: EDEN
Chapter 13: On Nations, States and the Nation State // Chapter 14: On Sykes-Picot // Chapter 15: On Zionism and the duty to protect // Chapter 16: On the New Regional Sheriff // Chapter 17: On the Psychology of Strength // Chapter 18: On the Paradigm Shift // Chapter 19: On the Post-Imperial Two State Solution // Chapter 20: On the End of the Great Game
AFTERWORD by Khaled Salih: A Song of the Oppressor and the Parody of the Oppressed.
How about making the actual book available to subscribers in the West? At least get some printed ( perhaps "on demand" ) in the US and set a fair price. Ordering, printing & shipping would then be through a third party and not a constant obligation for you. Long, detailed publications are difficult to digest digitally. Just a suggestion... .
A tremendous article, Daniel! Indeed, the Iraq War was one of the biggest foreign policy disasters in American history! I was too young at the time it was launched to have an opinion, but had I been old enough I would've opposed it. We went into the war based on poor intelligence and a lie. There was no relationship between Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime and Al-Qaeda nor did Saddam have weapons of mass destruction. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld's names and legacies will forever be tarnished by the fact they got us into that war. Tony Blair's up to that point, wildly successful political career was destroyed, and he made a grave mistake promising Bush the United Kingdom would go into Iraq with him as part of the Coalition of the Willing. The war's effects were disastrous and far reaching. The war led the creation of a power vacuum, the destabilization of the country, spurred sectarian violence, the deaths of thousands of U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians, and opened the door for the rise of ISIS. Still, the Iraq War did have a least a couple positive effects. Those being the fall of Saddam Hussein and independence and freedom for the Kurds who got their own autonomous zone in Iraq. It is altogether fitting that Pax Arabica would be launched in Kurdistan and that Guerre and Shalom is recognizing the Kurdish state. The Kurds are a people who actually have borders, a government, recognize Israel, and have a desire to live in peace with their neighbors unlike the Palestinians. By the way, the Palestinians love to accuse Israel of practicing settler-colonialism, yet they oppose Kurdish independence, and Palestinians are building settlements on Kurdish land in Northern Syria.
As one can clearly see from the photographs Daniel shared, the book has already made its way into many homes in Kurdistan. Pax Arabica is one of the most important works of the 21st Century! It must be read far and wide. Anyone out there who might complain about Daniel charging for his books in the West, well what'd you expect? Daniel is in a tough financial position right now and he needs to generate income to support his family. Plus, if he were to just make his book free for everyone it would send a message, he's desperate to give them away as no one wants them and the book is awful. It also makes it seem like the book has no value in of itself. People in Kurdistan are type of folks Daniel writes about who've actually lived under the rule of Pax Arabica under that bloodthirsty tyrant Saddam Hussein. They absolutely deserve to get the book for free. You folks sitting back comfortably in America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy with all due respect, have no clue what that's like. You have the privilege to live in a first-world country and take for granted you'll always have liberal democracy, free-market capitalism, pluralism, multiculturalism, free speech, religious freedom, freedom of the press, and civil liberties. Pax Arabica could never get to you. But trust me, if it could've, it would've. The Kurds, black Africans, Copts, Druze, Berbers, Mandeans, Maronites, Samaritans, Yazidis, Bedouins, and Persians have actually lived the reality of Arab oppression. You should count your lucky stars you don't! You folks in Ireland, Spain and Norway in particular really need to learn this lesson! Your heroes the Palestinians led by the PLO and Hamas are the vanguards of the Arab Empire that oppresses or oppressed all these peoples. Clearly none of you guys have read Pax Arabica!