The 'Republic of Iraq', usually known as 'Iraq' (
Arabic: ,
IPA: ), is a
country in the
Middle East spanning most of the northwestern end of the
Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the
Syrian Desert and the northern part of the
Arabian Desert. It shares borders with
Kuwait and
Saudi Arabia to the south,
Jordan to the west,
Syria to the northwest,
Turkey to the north, and
Iran to the east. It has a very narrow section of coastline at
Umm Qasr on the
Persian Gulf. There are two major flowing
rivers: the
Tigris and the
Euphrates. These provide Iraq with
agriculturally capable land and contrast with the desert landscape that covers most of the
Middle East.
Iraq is a developing
parliamentary democracy composed of 18
governorates (known as ''muhafadhat''). The capital city,
Baghdad, is in the center-east. Iraq's rich
history dates back to ancient
Mesopotamia. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is identified as the
Fertile Crescent, the
cradle of civilization, and the birthplace of
writing. During its long history, Iraq has been the center of the
Akkadian,
Assyrian,
Babylonian and
Abbasid empires, and part of the
Achaemenid,
Macedonian,
Parthian,
Umayyad,
Sassanid,
Ottoman and
British empires.
Since the
the invasion in 2003, a
multinational coalition of forces, mainly American and British, has occupied Iraq. The invasion has had wide-reaching consequences:
increased civil violence, political breakdown, the removal and
execution of former president
Saddam Hussein, and national problems in the development of
political balance,
economy, infrastructure, and use of the country's huge
reserves of oil. These have led to major setbacks for Iraq, and thus given it increased attention from the
West. According to the 2007
Failed States Index, produced by the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Foreign Policy magazine and the
Fund for Peace, Iraq has recently emerged as the world's second most unstable country,
[1] after
Sudan.
[2]
Etymology
The origin of the name "Iraq" (
Arabic: العراق ,
Turkish: Irak,
Assyrian: 'ܥܪܐܩ',
Kurdish: 'عيَراق') is disputed. There are several suggested origins for the name. One dates to the
Sumerian city of
Uruk (or Erech); another maintains that ''Iraq'' comes from the
Aramaic language, meaning "the land along the banks of the rivers"; another that ''Iraq'' refers to the root of a
palm tree numerous in the country.
Under the Persian
Sassanid dynasty, there was a region called "Erak Arabi," referring to the part of the south western region of the
Persian Empire that is now part of southern Iraq. The name ''Al-Iraq'' was used by the Arabs themselves, from the 6th century, for the land Iraq covers.
In English, there are several ways of pronouncing Iraq.(1) , (2) ], (3) . (1) is the preferred pronunciation in most dictionaries, and the only pronunciation listed in the
Oxford English Dictionary.
MQD lists (2) first. (3) is closer to the Arabic than (2) is. The original
Arabic pronunciation is .
Geography
Main articles: Geography of Iraq
Topography of Iraq
Iraq is located at . Spanning 437,072 km² (168,743 sq mi), it is the 58th-largest country in the world. It is comparable in size to the
US state of
California, and somewhat larger than
Paraguay.
Iraq mainly consists of
desert, but between the two major rivers (
Euphrates and
Tigris) the area is fertile, the rivers carrying about 60 million
cubic metres (78 million
cu. yd) of
silt annually to the
delta. The north of the country is mostly composed of mountains; the highest point being at 3,611 metres (11,847
ft) point, unnamed on the map opposite, but known locally as
Cheekah Dar (black tent). Iraq has a small coastline along the
Persian Gulf. Close to the coast and along the
Shatt al-Arab (known as ''arvandrūd'': اروندرود among Iranians) there used to be marshlands, but many were drained in the 1990s.
The local
climate is mostly
desert, with mild to cool winters and dry, hot, cloudless summers. The northern mountainous regions have cold winters with occasional heavy snows, sometimes causing extensive flooding.
Comprising 112 billion barrels of proven oil, Iraq ranks second in the world behind
Saudi Arabia in the amount of
Oil reserves; the
United States Department of Energy estimates that up to 90% of the country remains unexplored. These regions could yield an additional 100 billion barrels. Iraq's oil production costs are among the lowest in the world but only about 2,000
oil wells have been drilled in Iraq, compared with about 1 million wells in
Texas alone.
[3]
History
Main articles: History of Iraq
Ancient Mesopotamia
Main articles: Mesopotamia
The region of Iraq was historically known as Mesopotamia (Greek: "between the rivers"). It was home to the world's first known civilization, the
Sumerian culture, followed by the
Akkadian,
Babylonian, and
Assyrian cultures, whose influence extended into neighboring regions as early as
5000 BC. These civilizations produced the earliest
writing and some of the first
sciences,
mathematics,
laws and
philosophies of the world; hence its common epithet, the "
Cradle of Civilization".
In the
sixth century BC,
Cyrus the Great conquered the
Neo-Babylonian Empire, and Mesopotamia was subsumed in the
Achaemenid Persian Empire for nearly four centuries.
Alexander the Great conquered the region again, putting it under
Hellenistic rule for nearly two centuries. A
Central Asian tribe of
ancient Iranian peoples known as the
Parthians later annexed the region, followed by the
Sassanid Persians. The region remained a province of the Persian Empire for nine centuries, until the 7th century.
Islamic Caliphate
Main articles: Caliphate,
Arab Empire,
Islamic Golden Age
Beginning in the
seventh century AD,
Islam spread to what is now Iraq during the
Islamic conquest of Persia, led by the
Muslim Arab commander
Khalid ibn al-Walid. Under the
Rashidun Caliphate, the prophet
Mohammed's cousin and son-in-law
Ali moved his capital to
Kufa "fi al-Iraq" when he became the fourth
caliph. The
Umayyad Caliphate ruled the province of Iraq from
Damascus in the 7th century. (However, eventually there was a separate, independent
Caliphate of Cordoba.)
The
Abbasid Caliphate built the city of
Baghdad in the 8th century as their capital, and it became the leading metropolis of the
Arab and
Muslim world for five centuries. Baghdad was the largest
multicultural city of the
Middle Ages, peaking at a population of more than a million, and was the centre of learning during the
Islamic Golden Age. The
Mongols destroyed the city during the
sack of Baghdad in the 13th century.
Mongol Conquest
Main articles: Battle of Baghdad (1258),
Mongol invasions
In 1257,
Hulagu Khan amassed an unusually large army, a significant portion of the
Mongol Empire's forces, for the purpose of conquering Baghdad. When they arrived at the Islamic capital, Hulagu demanded surrender but the caliph refused. This angered Hulagu, and, consistent with Mongol strategy of discouraging resistance, Baghdad was decimated. Estimates of the number of dead range from 200,000 to a million.
The Mongols destroyed the
Abbasid Caliphate and The Grand Library of Baghdad (Arabic بيت الحكمة Bayt al-Hikma, lit.,
House of Wisdom), which contained countless, precious, historical documents. The city would never regain its status as major center of culture and influence.
In 1401, warlord of Turco-Mongol descent
Tamerlane (Timul Lenk) invaded Iraq. After the capture of Bagdad, 20,000 of its citizens were massacred. Timur ordered that every soldier should return with at least two severed human heads to show him (many warriors were so scared they killed prisoners captured earlier in the campaign just to ensure they had heads to present to Timur).
[4]
Ottoman Empire
Main articles: Ottoman Empire,
Mesopotamian campaign,
Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire
Later, the
Ottoman Turks took Baghdad from the
Persians in 1535.
The Ottomans lost Baghdad to the
Iranian Safavids in 1609, and took it back in 1632. Ottoman rule lasted until
World War I, during which the Ottomans sided with
Germany and the
Central Powers.
During
World War I the
Ottomans were driven from much of the area by the
United Kingdom during the
dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The British lost 92,000 soldiers in the
Mesopotamian campaign. Ottoman losses are unknown but the British captured a total of 45,000
prisoners of war. By the end of 1918 the British had deployed 410,000 men in the area, though only 112,000 were combat troops.
During World War I the British and French divided the Middle East in the
Sykes-Picot Agreement. The
Treaty of Sèvres, which was ratified in the
Treaty of Lausanne, led to the advent of the modern
Middle East and
Republic of Turkey. The
League of Nations granted
France mandates over
Syria and
Lebanon and granted the
United Kingdom mandates over
Iraq and
Palestine (which then consisted of two autonomous regions:
Palestine and
Transjordan). Parts of the
Ottoman Empire on the
Arabian Peninsula became parts of what are today
Saudi Arabia and
Yemen.
British Mandate of Mesopotamia
At the end of World War I, the
League of Nations granted the area to the United Kingdom as a
mandate. It initially formed two former
Ottoman ''
vilayets'' (regions):
Baghdad, and
Basra into a single country in August 1921. Five years later, in 1926, the northern vilayet of
Mosul was added, forming the territorial boundaries of the modern Iraqi state.
For three out of four centuries of
Ottoman rule, Baghdad was the seat of administration for the vilayets of Baghdad, Mosul, and Basra. During the
mandate,
British colonial administrators ruled the country, and through the use of
British armed forces, suppressed Arab and Kurdish rebellions against the occupation. They established the
Hashemite king, Faisal, who had been forced out of
Syria by the French, as their client ruler. Likewise, British authorities selected Sunni Arab elites from the region for appointments to government and ministry offices..
[5]
Hashemite monarchy
Main articles: Hashemite
Britain granted independence to Iraq in 1932, on the urging of
King Faisal, though the British retained
military bases and transit rights for their forces. King
Ghazi of Iraq ruled as a figurehead after King Faisal's death in 1933, while undermined by attempted military coups, until his death in 1939. The United Kingdom invaded Iraq in 1941, for fear that the government of
Rashid Ali might cut oil supplies to Western nations, and because of his strong ideological leanings to
Nazi Germany. A
military occupation followed the restoration of the
Hashemite monarchy, and the occupation ended on
October 26,
1947. The rulers during the occupation and the remainder of the Hashemite monarchy were
Nuri al-Said, the autocratic prime minister, who also ruled from 1930–1932, and
'Abd al-Ilah, an advisor to the king
Faisal II.
Republic of Iraq
The reinstated
Hashemite monarchy lasted until 1958, when it was overthrown by a
coup d'etat of the
Iraqi Army, known as the
14 July Revolution. The coup brought
Brigadier General Abdul Karim Qassim to power. He withdrew from the
Baghdad Pact and established friendly relations with the
Soviet Union, but his government lasted only until 1963, when it was overthrown by
Colonel Abdul Salam Arif. Salam Arif died in 1966 and his brother,
Abdul Rahman Arif, assumed the presidency. In 1968, Rahman Arif was overthrown by the
Arab Socialist Baath Party. This movement gradually came under the control of
Saddam Hussein al-Majid al Tikriti, who acceded to the presidency and control of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), then Iraq's supreme executive body, in July 1979, while killing many of his opponents.
Saddam Hussein
Saddam's regime lasted throughout the
Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988), during which Iraqi forces attacked
Iranian soldiers and civilians with
chemical weapons. This period is notorious for the Saddam regime's
human rights abuses, for instance, during the
Al-Anfal campaign.
[6][7][8] The war ended in stalemate, largely due to American and Western support for Iraq. This was part of the US policy of "dual containment" of Iraq and Iran.
In 1977, the Iraqi government ordered the construction of
Osirak (also spelled Osiraq) at the Al Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center, 18 km (11 miles) south-east of
Baghdad. It was a 40 MW
light-water nuclear materials testing reactor (MTR). In 1981, Israeli aircraft bombed the facility, in order to prevent the country from using the reactor for creation of nuclear weapons.
Main articles: Gulf War
In 1990, Iraq
invaded Kuwait, resulting in the
Gulf War and
economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations at the behest of the U.S. The economic sanctions were intended to compel Saddam to dispose of
weapons of mass destruction.
[9] Critics estimate that more than 500,000 Iraqi children died as a result of the sanctions.
[10] The U.S. and the UK declared
no-fly zones over Kurdish northern and Shiite southern Iraq to oversee the Kurds and southern Shiites.
Invasion by American-led Coalition forces
Downtown
Baghdad monument of
Saddam Hussein vandalized by Iraqis shortly after the Occupation of Coalition Forces in April 2003.
In March 2003, a United States-organized coalition
invaded Iraq, with the stated reason that Iraq had failed to abandon its nuclear and chemical weapons development program in violation of
United Nations 'resolution 687'. When Iraq invaded Kuwait during the first Gulf War, the
United Nations Security Council, under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, adopted 'resolution 678', authorizing U.N. member states to use ''"all necessary means"'' to "restore
international peace and security in the area." After Iraq was expelled from Kuwait the United Nations passed a
cease-fire resolution 687. The agreement included provisions obligating Iraq to discontinue its
nuclear weapons program. The United States asserted that because Iraq was in "material breach" of resolution 687, the
armed forces authorization of resolution 678 was revived.
The United States gave further justification for the invasion of Iraq in claims that Iraq had
weapons of mass destruction and the opportunity to remove an oppressive dictator from power and bring democracy to Iraq. In his State of Union Address on January 29, 2002,
the American President George W. Bush declared that Iraq was a member of the "axis of evil", and that, like
North Korea and Iran, Iraq's attempt to acquire weapons of mass destruction gave credence to the claim that the Iraqi government posed a serious threat to America's
national security. He added, "Iraq continues to flaunt its hostilities toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and
nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade... This is a regime that agreed to international inspections—then kicked out inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world... By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes [Iran, Iraq and North Korea] pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred."
[11]
Post-invasion
Main articles: Post-invasion Iraq, 2003–present
Following the invasion, the United States established the
Coalition Provisional Authority to govern Iraq.
[12] Government authority was transferred to an
Iraqi Interim Government in June 2004 and a permanent government was elected in October 2005. More than 140,000 Coalition troops remain in Iraq.
Studies have placed the number of civilians deaths as high as 655,000 (see
The Lancet study), although most studies have put the number much lower: the
Iraq Body Count project has a figure of less than 10% of The Lancet Study. The website of the Iraq body count however states, "Our maximum therefore refers to reported deaths - which can only be a sample of true deaths unless one assumes that every civilian death has been reported. It is likely that many if not most
civilian casualties will go unreported by the media."
[13].
After the invasion, al-Qaeda took advantage of the insurgency to entrench itself in the country concurrently with an Arab-Sunni led insurgency and
sectarian violence.
On
December 30,
2006, Saddam Hussein was hanged
[14]. Hussein's half-brother and former intelligence chief
Barzan Hassan and former
chief judge of the Revolutionary Court
Awad Hamed al-Bandar were likewise executed on
January 15,
2007;
[15] as was
Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam's former deputy and former vice-president (originally sentenced to life in prison but later to death by hanging), on
March 20,
2007. Ramadan was the fourth and last man in the
al-Dujail trial to die by hanging for
crimes against humanity.
At the Anfal genocide trial, Saddam's cousin
Ali Hassan al-Majid (aka Chemical Ali), former defense minister
Sultan Hashim Ahmed al-Tay, and former deputy Hussein Rashid Mohammed were sentenced to hang for their role in the
Al-Anfal Campaign against the Kurds on
June 24,
2007.
Acts of sectarian violence have led to claims of
ethnic cleansing in Iraq, and there have been many attacks on
Iraqi minorities such as the
Yezidis,
Mandeans,
Assyrians and others.
[16]
In 2007
Foreign Policy Magazine named Iraq as the second most unstable nation in the world after
Sudan[17].
The U.N. reported recently of a Cholera outbreak in Iraq.
[18]
Iraqi diaspora
The dispersion of native Iraqis to other countries is known as the Iraqi diaspora. There have been many large-scale waves of emigration from Iraq, beginning early in the regime of Saddam Hussein and continuing through to 2007. The
UN High Commission for Refugees has estimated that nearly two million Iraqis have fled the country in recent years, mostly to Jordan and Syria
[19]. Although some expatriates returned to Iraq after the 2003 invasion, the flow had virtually stopped by 2006
[20].
In addition to the 2 million Iraqis who fled to neighbouring countries, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre estimates the number of people currently displaced within the country at 1.9 million
[21].
Roughly 40% of Iraq's middle class is believed to have fled, the U.N. said. Most are fleeing systematic persecution and have no desire to return.
[22] Refugees are mired in poverty as they are generally barred from working in their host countries.
[23][24]
Governorates and districts
Main articles: Governorates of Iraq,
Districts of Iraq
Iraq is divided into eighteen
governorates (or
provinces) (Arabic: ''muhafadhat'', singular - ''muhafadhah'', Kurdish: پاریزگه ''Pârizgah''). The governorates are subdivided into ''districts'' (or ''qadhas'').
{| border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" align="center"
The new
constitution of Iraq provides for regions to be created by combining one or more governorates. There is currently only one Region in existence -
Iraqi Kurdistan - and there are proposals for one or more further regions to be created in the south.
Politics
Main articles: Politics of Iraq,
Minority politics in Iraq
Iraq was under
Baath Party rule from 1968 to 2003; in 1979
Saddam Hussein took control and remained president until 2003 after which he was unseated by a US-led
invasion.
On
October 15,
2005, more than 63% of eligible Iraqis came out across the country to vote on whether to accept or reject the new
constitution. On October 25, the vote was certified and the constitution passed with a 78% overall majority, with the percentage of support varying widely between the country's territories.
[25] The new constitution had overwhelming backing among the Shia and Ķurdish communities, but was overwhelmingly rejected by Arab Sunnis. Three majority Arab Sunni provinces rejected it (
Salah ad Din with 82% against,
Ninawa with 55% against, and
Al Anbar with 97% against).
Under the terms of the constitution, the country conducted
fresh nationwide parliamentary elections on December 15 to elect a new government. The overwhelming majority of all three major
ethnic groups in Iraq voted along ethnic lines, turning this vote into more of an ethnic
census than a competitive election, and setting the stage for the division of the country along ethnic lines.
Iraqi politicians have been under significant threat by the various factions that have promoted violence as a political weapon. The ongoing violence in Iraq has been incited by an amalgam of religious extremists that believe an Islamic
Caliphate should rule, old sectarian regime members that had ruled under Saddam that want back the power they had, and Iraqi nationalists that are fighting the
U.S. military presence.
Iraq has number of ethnic minority groups in Iraq:
Kurds,
Assyrians,
Mandeans,
Iraqi Turkmen,
Shabaks and
Roma. These groups have not enjoyed equal status with the majority Arab populations throughout Iraq's eighty-five year history. Since the establishment of the "no-fly zones" following the
Gulf War of 1990–1991, the situation of the Kurds has changed as they have established their own
autonomous region. The remainder of these ethnic groups continue to suffer discrimination on religious or ethnic grounds.
Economy
Main articles: Economy of Iraq
An old 50 dinar bill
Iraq's economy is dominated by the
oil sector, which has traditionally provided about 95% of foreign exchange earnings. In the 1980s financial problems caused by massive expenditures in the
eight-year war with
Iran and damage to oil export facilities by Iran led the government to implement
austerity measures, borrow heavily, and later reschedule
foreign debt payments. Iraq suffered economic losses from the war of at least
US$100
billion. After hostilities ended in 1988, oil exports gradually increased with the construction of new pipelines and restoration of damaged facilities. A combination of low oil prices, repayment of
war debts (estimated at around
US$3 billion a year) and the costs of reconstruction resulted in a serious financial crisis which was the main short term motivation for the
invasion of Kuwait.
On
November 20 2004, the
Paris Club of creditor nations agreed to write off 80% ($33 billion) of Iraq's $42 billion debt to Club members. Iraq's total external debt was around $120 billion at the time of the 2003 invasion, and had grown by $5 billion by 2004. The
debt relief will be implemented in three stages: two of 30% each and one of 20%.
[26]
At the end of 2005, and in the first half of 2006, Iraq implemented a restructuring of about $20 billion of commercial debt claims on terms comparable to that of its November 2004 Paris Club agreement (i.e. with an 80% writeoff). Iraq offered to its larger claimants a U.S. dollar denominated bond maturing in 2028. Smaller commercial claimants received a cash settlement of comparable value.
Reconstruction
Main articles: Reconstruction of Iraq
Reconstruction of Iraq has been difficult mainly due to the amount of damage done to Iraq's basic infrastructure, the influx of the US invasion and strife among factions within the native populace. Large-scale reconstruction efforts have had, at best, limited success.
Demographics
Main articles: Demography of Iraq
A July 2006 estimate of the total Iraqi population is 26,783,383.
Seventy-four percent of Iraq's population are
Arabs; the other major ethnic groups are the
Kurds at 15%,
Assyrians,
Iraqi Turkmen and others (5%), who mostly live in the north and northeast of the country. Other distinct groups are
Persians and
Armenians. About 25,000–60,000
Marsh Arabs live in southern Iraq.
Arabic and
Kurdish are
official languages.
Assyrian and
Turkmen are official languages in areas where the Assyrians and Iraqi Turkmen are located respectively.
Armenian and
Persian are also spoken but to a lesser extent.
English is the most commonly spoken Western language.
Ethnic composition includes:
★
Arab, 80%;
Kurdish, 15%; Turkoman, Assyrian or other 5%.
Religious composition includes:
★ Muslim, 97%; Christian or other, 3%.
There are no official figures available, mainly due to the highly politically charged nature of the subject. Two estimates of the Muslim proportions of the population are:
★ Shi'a as much as 60%, Sunni about 40% (source:
Britannica, Religion section of Iraq article).
Shi'a 60%-65%, Sunni 32%-37% (source:
CIA World Fact Book).
The
Shi'a are mostly
Arabs, some are
Turkmen and
Faili Kurds, and almost all are
Twelver school.
Sunnis are composed of
Arabs,
Turkmen who are
Hanafi school and
Kurds who are
Shafi school.
According to most western sources the majority of Iraqis are
Shi'ite Arab Muslims (around 60%), and
Sunnis represent about 40% of the population made up of
Arabs,
Kurds and
Turkmen. Sunnis hotly dispute these figures, including an ex-Iraqi Ambassador,
[27] referring to American sources.
[28] They claim that many reports or sources only include Arab Sunnis as 'Sunni', missing out the Kurdish and Turkmen Sunnis.
Ethnic Assyrians (most of whom are adherents of the
Chaldean Catholic Church and the
Assyrian Church of the East) account for most of Iraq's
Christian population, along with Armenians.
Bahá'ís,
Mandaeans,
Shabaks, and
Yezidis also exist. Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims, although the Faili (Feyli) Kurds are largely Shi'a.
As of
November 4,
2006, the
UNHCR estimated that 1.8 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighboring countries, and 1.6 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to
Syria and
Jordan each month.
[29] A May 25, 2007 article notes that in the past seven months only 69 people from Iraq have been granted
refugee status in the
United States.
[30]
Culture
Main articles: Culture of Iraq
In the most recent
millennium, what is now Iraq has been made up of five cultural areas: Kurdish in the north centered on
Arbil, Sunni Islamic Arabs in the center around Baghdad, Shi'a Islamic Arabs in the south centered on Basra, the
Assyrians, a Christian people, living in various cities in the north, and the
Marsh Arabs, a
nomadic people, who live on the marshlands of the central river. There are also the
Bedouin tribes primarily in southern and western Iraq, with smaller groups scattered throughout the country Markets and bartering are the common form of trade.
Music
Main articles: Music of Iraq,
Kurdish music,
Assyrian music
Iraq is known primarily for an instrument called the ''
oud'' (similar to a
lute) and a ''
rebab'' (similar to a
fiddle); its stars include
Ahmed Mukhtar and the Assyrian
Munir Bashir. Until the fall of Saddam Hussein, the most popular
radio station was the Voice of Youth. It played a mix of western
rock,
hip hop and
pop music, all of which had to be imported via
Jordan due to international economic sanctions. Iraq has also produced a major pan-Arab pop star-in-exile in
Kathem Al Saher, whose songs include ''Ladghat E-Hayya,'' which was banned for its racy lyrics.
Sport
Main articles: Sport in Iraq
See also
Main articles: List of Iraq-related topics
References
1. Foreign Policy Magazine: The Failed States Index 2007
2. Reuters: Iraq world's No. 2 failed state
3. US Department of Energy Information
4. The annihilation of Iraq
5. Tripp, Charles:''A History of Iraq'',Cambridge:Cambridge University Press,2000
6. Genocide in Iraq : the Anfal campaign against the Kurds / Middle East Watch., , George, Black, Human Rights Watch, ,
7.
Bureaucracy of repression : the Iraqi government in its own words / Middle East Watch., , Joost R., Hiltermann, Human Rights Watch, ,
8. "Charges against Saddam dropped as genocide trial resumes", ''AFP'', 2007
9. (April 8, 1991), "UN Security Council Resolution 687", ''MidEast Web'', Accessed Sep 17 2006
10. Hay Brown jr, Matthew, (October 23, 2000), "Iraqi Sanctions: Without Medicine And Supplies, The Children Die", ''Common Dreams News Centre'', Accessed Sep 17 2006
11. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020129-11.html The President State of Union Address, January 29,2002,Washington, D.C.
12. CPA Website
13. Iraq bodycount webpage
14. Saddam death 'ends dark chapter'
15. Saddam Hussein's Two Co-Defendants Hanged in Iraq
16. http://www.miamiherald.com/851/story/214807.html
17. Iraq, 'Sinking Fast,' Is Ranked No. 2 on List of Unstable States
18. U.N. reports cholera outbreak in northern Iraq
19. Warnings of Iraq refugee crisis
20. Iraq Situation Map
21. A displacement crisis
22. 40% of middle class believed to have fled crumbling nation
23. Doors closing on fleeing Iraqis
24. Plight of Iraqi refugees worsens as Syria, Jordan impose restrictions
25. Wagner, Thomas, (October 25, 2005), "Iraq's Constitution Adopted by Voters", ''ABC News'', Accessed Sep 17 2006
26. Bohsem, Guido & Somerville, Glen, (November 20, 2004), "G7, Paris Club Agree on Iraq Debt Relief", ''Reuters'', Accessed Sep 17 2006
27. "Iraqis By the Numbers" by FARUQ ZIADA [1]
28. Map on the distribution of religious groups, from the Baker--Hamilton Committee report, page 102
29. U.N.: 100,000 Iraq refugees flee monthly. Alexander G. Higgins, ''Boston Globe,'' November 3, 2006
30. Ann McFeatters: Iraq refugees find no refuge in America. ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' May 25, 2007
Further reading
★ Interview with Refugees International's Sean Garcia on the plight of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees
[2]
★ Shadid, Anthony 2005. ''Night Draws Near''. Henry Holt and Co.,
NY,
USA. ISBN 0-8050-7602-6
★ Hanna Batatu, "The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq", Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1978
★ Iraq was one of the major settings for the John J. Rust science fiction novel "Epsilon"
★
A Dweller in Mesopotamia, being the adventures of an official artist in the garden of Eden, by Donald Maxwell, 1921. ''(a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries;
DjVu &
layered PDF format)''
★
By Desert Ways to Baghdad, by Louisa Jebb (Mrs. Roland Wilkins) With illustrations and a map, 1908 (1909 ed). ''(a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries;
DjVu &
layered PDF format)''
External links
'Government'
★
Iraqi Government official government site
★
New Iraqi government structure (PDF) (As of July 17, 2006)
★
Kurdistan Regional Government
★
Ministry of Industry and Minerals
'Overviews'
★
''Encarta Encyclopedia''
★
Baghdad's Golden Period
★
al-Bab - ''Iraq''
★
Encyclopaedia Britannica ''Iraq'' Country Page
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BBC News Country Profile - ''Iraq''
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CIA World Factbook - ''Iraq''
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US State Department - ''Iraq'' includes Background Notes, Country Study and major reports
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Read Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Iraq
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Iraq Country Profile from
Reuters AlertNet
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Country Briefing: Iraq from
The Economist
'News'
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Focus on Iraq Daily News on Iraq
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Iraq News and Iraqi views from Electronic Iraq
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News in Depth from the Financial Times
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Diplomacy Monitor-Iraq
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IPS Inter Press Service Independent news about Iraq
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Iraqis react with joy, anger to Hussein death sentence CNN story on Hussein's
death sentence
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Hometown Baghdad Documentary series shot by an all-Iraqi crew. Tells the stories of three young people trying to survive in Baghdad.
'Other'
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Operation Iraqi Children
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Iraq Image, a cultural resource on Iraq cities and locations
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Juan Cole, a leading scholar and public intellectual
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The Ground Truth Project -- A series of exclusive interviews and other resources capturing the voices of Iraqis,
aid workers,
military personnel and others who have spent significant time on-the-ground in Iraq.
★
★
Alternate wiki article about Iraq
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Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC) -- A Washington DC-based
nonprofit organization promoting a free and secure Iraq
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Amnesty International Report on Iraq
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Internal Displacement in Iraq - Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
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Coalition Provisional Authority Now-defunct occupation authority; site is archived
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Iraq Law from the University of Pittsburgh’s Jurist project
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1900–2000 a history of Iraq
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US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq
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Iraqi Familiarization Guide - ''(546 kilobyte PDF file)''
★
Short Guide to Iraq (WWII U.S. Military Guide)
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