If one wants to know the official narrative of the US government or the EU, you only need to glance into a recent history book distributed in schools, or Wikipedia.
"Once known as Mesopotamia, Iraq was the site of flourishing ancient civilizations, including the Sumerian, Babylonian, and Parthian cultures. Muslims conquered Iraq in the seventh century A.D. In the eighth century, the Abassid caliphate established its capital at Baghdad, which became a frontier outpost on the Ottoman Empire."
Now let's look at the US State Department profile of Iraq it had from 2001 to 2003 -
"Once known as Mesopotamia, Iraq was the site of flourishing ancient civilizations, including the Sumerian, Babylonian, and Parthian cultures. Muslims conquered Iraq in the seventh century A.D. In the eighth century, the Abassid caliphate established its capital at Baghdad, which became a frontier outpost on the Ottoman Empire."
Yes, the history of Iraq on Wikipedia was literally written by the US State Department. As have the histories of most of the world's countries.
Given that works of the US government are automatically in the public domain, it's not surprising that its publications had useful source material for very general summaries, for the English Wikipedia anyway. But article introductions are a pretty specific case, and there are few reasons to change them often. I don't think they're good proof of bias in the details of articles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Iraq...
"Once known as Mesopotamia, Iraq was the site of flourishing ancient civilizations, including the Sumerian, Babylonian, and Parthian cultures. Muslims conquered Iraq in the seventh century A.D. In the eighth century, the Abassid caliphate established its capital at Baghdad, which became a frontier outpost on the Ottoman Empire."
Now let's look at the US State Department profile of Iraq it had from 2001 to 2003 -
http://www.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/iraq/24819.htm
"Once known as Mesopotamia, Iraq was the site of flourishing ancient civilizations, including the Sumerian, Babylonian, and Parthian cultures. Muslims conquered Iraq in the seventh century A.D. In the eighth century, the Abassid caliphate established its capital at Baghdad, which became a frontier outpost on the Ottoman Empire."
Yes, the history of Iraq on Wikipedia was literally written by the US State Department. As have the histories of most of the world's countries.