Comments on: Persia is Iran, Iran is Persia, Iran is not Iraq, and Persia is not Bosnia

By: davinci

davinci — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 02:14:42 +0000

As far as anyone knows, Saddam was an Arab. If there was any evidence otherwise, his political opponents would have used it against him.

Iran and Iraq are divided by linguistic and cultural differences that overshadow any similarity between them due to religion. They are no more likely to unite together because of their common Shi’ism than Italy and France are because of their Catholicism.

– davinci

By: Luigi Kleinsasser

Luigi Kleinsasser — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:34:49 +0000

and Iraq also has a majority of Shi’a Muslims. Maybe the religious connection will be suffient for the two countries to \unite\ and become the major force in the Middle-East?

By: Luigi Kleinsasser

Luigi Kleinsasser — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:31:16 +0000

great information. I had read that both Saladin and Saddam belonged to the Al Bu Nasir, a powerful Kurdish Sunni tribe from the Tikrit area. Was Saddam actually Kurdish? But ignored his tribal roots espousing secularity over religion? Or was he Arab and merely born at Ad Dwar close to Tikrit, a Kurdish region?

By: davinci

davinci — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:09:05 +0000

The Babylonian Empire and the Persian Empire both pre-date Islam and the Arab-Islamic Empire. Saddam Hussein styled himself as an Arab conqueror in the style of Saladin (conveniently ignoring that Saladin was a Kurd, a people whom he despised and persecuted). He has nothing to do with the Persian Empire. The connection between Iraq (ancient Mesopotamia) and Persia (now Iran) is that the Persians conquered and ruled Babylon, the capital of Mesopotamia. (This conquest plays a significant role in the Bible, as it freed the Jews from the Babylonian captivity.) The Persian Sassanid Empire was later overrun by the Arab Islamic conquests. So it's a little more than a mere "border dispute" -- each side has conquered and ruled the other's heartland. Iran is still a linguistically and culturally Persian country, and is not "Arabic" in any way other than being predominantly Muslim. (And even there, Iranians distinguish themselves from their Arab neighbours by being primarily Shi'ites.) -- davinci

By: Luigi Kleinsasser

Luigi Kleinsasser — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:32:52 +0000

Very interesting site. Saddam Hussein was reputedly aiming to re-unite the Persian Empire with him as the new Saladin who also came from Tikrit. Was there ever any real connection between what we now know as Iraq and Persia (Iran). There have been border disputes over the ages but were the two ever connected? Iraq consists mainly of “Arabs” and Persia of Aryan descendants but is Persia now more Arabic than Aryan? Or are both countries as Arabic as they are Islamic?

By: davinci

davinci — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 04:51:13 +0000

This essay has also been posted on Iranian.com. -- davinci