IDENTITY IN THE FOCUS OF PROCLAIMED IDEOLOGIES

Abstract

The politics of Ba’ath Party and Saddam Hussein both strongly insisted on the Mesopotamian cultural heritage while trying to create the new identity of modern Iraq. Consequently, archaeology and history became of supreme importance, and the budget for the Iraqi Department of Antiquities increased by more than 80%. The excavations (and heavy reconstructions!) were launched at numerous archaeological sites (such as Nineveh, Hatra, Nimrud and Ashur), but Saddam’s main focus was on Babylon. In the same time, the new museums were established all around the country. In 1981, Babylon was the stage for commemorating the first anniversary of the Iraqi invasion of Iran, with officials using the slogan, Nebuchadnasar al-ams Saddam Hussein al-yawm (Yesterday Nebuchadnezzar, today Saddam Hussein). The Ba’ath Party maintained the idea that Iraq is the first among the Arab countries and that the history of Iraq dates back to the very beginnings of civilization. This created the impression of Iraqi supremacy in the Arab world and gave additional impetus to both the attack on Kuwait and the war with Iran. Archaeology and history were used to the extreme limits in political manipulations (with an enormous budget for archaeological excavations, devastating reconstructions on archaeological sites, foundations of new museums). Saddam Hussein’s ideological matrix, that is, an attempt to equalize Mesopotamian cultural heritage with the identity of modern Iraq and use it for the legitimacy of his own regime, further burdened or even severed Iraqi links with the history of the country in which they lived. By constructing the country’s identity, the regime deconstructed the idea of continuity, however fictitious it may be, with past cultures.