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In Baghdad, in the North Gate War Cemetery,amidst long rows of regimental tombstones, General Stanley Maudes tombed mausoleum at the center, an obelisk is inscribed with the message, in English and Sanskrit: "God is One - His is the Victory. In Memory of the brave Hindus and Sikhs who sacrificed their lives in the Great War for their King and their Country." General Maude had captured Baghdad in 1917, and died there in a later skirmish, "attempting to restore some kind of order on warring Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds." One of his enforcers was a Colonel Gerard Leachman, a colorful Lawrence type who wore Arab robes and slept with Bedouin tribes. A veteran of the Boer War and India, he was shot in 1920, and Saddam has called the rifle used to kill him one of his prized possessions. Then, as now, Basra was seized by a British force which then reached Baghdad in three months, only to be forced to retreat to Kut where the Turks gave seige.Ten thousand soldiers died,most Indian, and another twenty three thousand died in a rescue attempt that failed. Kut has a War Cemetary too, and most of the tombstones are still intact. I do not want to see history repeat itself. eric. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - File online, calculators, forms, and more http://tax.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.goanet.org/mailman/listinfo/goanet