Hulegu and the Assasins

Hulegu, grandson of Genghis Khan, set off with a massive army to conquer the Muslim states and their prize city Baghdad around 1255. Baghdad was the cultural and financial capital of the Arab world. A long the way, Hulegu first had to conquer a number of mountain strongholds of the Nizari Ismailis.

The Ismailis relied on hashish to keep their followers and to make them fearless in battle. For this they were called Hashshashin, or "the hashish users". While having no organized conventional army, this Muslim sect of Shiites maintained its political power through one effective method. They would kill anyone, particularly leaders or powerful people, who opposed them in any way. As a result, Hashashin eventually evolved to assassin and spread to many languages for the word meaning the murderer of high officials.

You'll have to pick up Ghenhis Kahn and the Making of the Modern World, by Jack Weatherford, for the rest of the story.

I think about this story from time to time when I see us trouncing around in Iraq. Think of the number of battles fought in that land since the time of Mesopotamia and the birth of western civilization. Think of the pride the people must have and the reluctance of being ruled by a nouveau rich state like the US. We should get out of there, but before we go we should also dismantle Iran and then support moderate Sunni led factions from behind the scenes in a Machiavellian way with the hope of a moderate arab state resulting.

But what do I know?