Iraq

	جمهورية العراق ; Jumhūrīyat al-`Irāq; كۆماری عێراق `Îraqê; Republic of Iraq
Flag	Coat of arms
	Motto: الله أكبر (Arabic); "Allahu Akbar" (transliteration); "God is Great"
	Anthem: Mawtini (new); Ardh Alforatain (previous)1
Capital	Baghdad2 ; 33°20′N 44°26′E
Largest city	capital
Official languages	Arabic, Kurdish
Government	Developing parliamentary democracy
- President	Jalal Talabani
- Prime Minister	Nouri al-Maliki
Independence
- from the Ottoman Empire	; October 1 1919
- from the United Kingdom	; October 3 1932
Area
- Total	438,317 km² (58th); 169,234 sq mi
- Water (%)	1.1
Population
- 2006 estimate	26,783,3834
- Density	66/km²; 171/sq mi
GDP (PPP)	2006 estimate
- Total	$89.8 billion
- Per capita	$2,900
Currency	Iraqi dinar (IQD)
Time zone	AST (UTC+3)
- Summer (DST)	ADT (UTC+4)
Internet TLD	.iq
Calling code	+964

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The Republic of Iraq, commonly known as Iraq is a country in Southwest Asia spanning most of Mesopotamia as well as the north-western end of the Zagros mountain range and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert.

Iraq was known in ancient times as Mesopotamia, the world's first civilization. The ruins of Ur, Babylon, and other ancient cities are there, as is the legendary location of the Garden of Eden. It was on the banks of the Tigris, which passes through the capital Baghdad, that writing is believed to have originated.

While its proven oil reserves of 112 billion barrels ranks Iraq second in the world behind Saudi Arabia, the United States Department of Energy estimates that up to 90 percent of the country remains unexplored.

Today, Iraq is a developing nation that is the focus of increased attention from the West because of the Iraq War.

Geography

Map of Iraq

There are several suggested origins for the name Iraq. One dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk (or Erech); another posits 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 sixth century, for the land Iraq covers.

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.

At 168,743 square.miles (437,072 square kilometers), Iraq is the 58th-largest country in the world, after Morocco. It is comparable in size to the U.S. state of California, and somewhat larger than Paraguay.

The country has four main zones or regions: the desert in the west and southwest; the rolling upland between the upper Tigris and Euphrates rivers (in Arabic the Dijlis and Furat, respectively); the highlands in the north and northeast; and the alluvial plain through which the Tigris and Euphrates flow. Iraq has a small coastline with the Persian Gulf. Close to the coast and along the Shatt al-Arab (known as arvandrūd among Iranians) there used to be marshlands, but many of these were drained in the 1990s.

The highest point is a 11,847-foot (3611-meter) point, unnamed on the map opposite, but known locally as Cheekah Dar (black tent).

The local climate is mostly desert with mild to cool winters and dry, hot, cloudless summers. The northern mountainous regions experience cold winters with occasional heavy snows, sometimes causing extensive flooding. Average temperatures in range from higher than 120°F (48°C) in July and August to below freezing in January. Most of the rainfall occurs from December through April and averages between four to seven inches (100mm and 180mm) annually.

The Tigris River near Mosul.

The two main rivers are the (Euphrates and Tigris). The Euphrates originates in Turkey, is augmented by the Khabur River in Syria, and flows through Iraq from the northwest to join the Tigris at Al Qurnah. The Tigris also rises in Turkey, is significantly augmented in Iraq by the Khabur River, the Great Zab, the Little Zab, and the Uzaym, above Baghdad, and the Diyala, which joins it below the city. At the Kut Barrage much of the water is diverted into the Shatt al Gharraf, which was once the main channel of the Tigris. Water from the Tigris thus enters the Euphrates through the Shatt al Gharraf well above the confluence of the two main channels at Al Qurnah. The two rivers carry about 60 million cubic metres (78 million cu. yd) of silt annually to the delta.

The combination of rain shortage and extreme heat makes much of Iraq a desert. Because of high rates of evaporation, soil and plants rapidly lose the little moisture obtained from the rain, and vegetation could not survive without extensive irrigation. Some areas, however, although arid, do have natural vegetation in contrast to the desert. For example, in the Zagros Mountains in north-eastern Iraq there is permanent vegetation, such as oak trees, and date palms are found in the south.

Natural hazards include dust storms, sandstorms, and floods.

Government water control projects have drained most of the inhabited marsh areas east of Nasiriyah by drying up or diverting the feeder streams and rivers, thus displacing; a once sizable population of Marsh Arabs, who inhabited these areas for thousands of years. Destruction of the natural habitat poses threats to the area's wildlife populations. Other environmental problems include inadequate supplies of drinking water, air and water pollution, soil degradation (salination) and erosion, and desertification.

Boat on the Euphrates River.

While its proven oil reserves of 112 billion barrels ranks Iraq second in the world behind Saudi Arabia, the United States Department of Energy estimates that up to 90 percent of the country remains unexplored. Unexplored regions of Iraq could yield an additional 100 billion barrels. Iraq's oil production costs are among the lowest in the world. However, only about 2000 oil wells have been drilled in Iraq, compared to about one million wells in Texas

Almost 75 percent of Iraq's population lives in the flat, alluvial plain stretching southeast from Baghdad to Basra and the Persian Gulf. Baghdad, the capital, has a metropolitan area population estimated at seven million people. It is the largest city in Iraq, and the second-largest city in southwest Asia (after Tehran). Baghdad has at least 12 bridges to join the east and west of the city separated by the river Tigris. Other cities include Basra in the south and Mosul in the north.

History

Overview map of ancient Mesopotamia

Iraq was historically known as Mesopotamia, which, in Greek, literally means "between the rivers". Mesopotamia housed some of the world's most ancient states with highly developed social complexity. The region was as one of the famous four river civilizations where writing was invented, along with the Nile valley in Egypt, the Indus Valley in the Indian Subcontinent and Yellow River valley in China.

The Tigris and Euphrates rivers are mentioned in the Book of Genesis in The Bible, in connection with a river that flowed out of the Garden of Eden, although further analysis would locate the garden generally in the Taurus Mountains, in Anatolia.

Sumerian culture

It was home to the world's first known civilization, the Sumerian culture, that flourished around 3000 B.C.E. The Sumerians, built irrigation systems, developed cereal agriculture, invented the earliest form of writing, a system of mathematics upon which time in the modern world is based, invented the wheel, and the first plough. Their literature included the first known recorded story, the Epic of Gilgamesh. Sumerians believed in private property, still an important notion in Iraq today. The Sumerians battled the Elamites living in what is now western Iran.

In 2340 B.C.E., the great Akkadian leader Sargon of Akkad conquered Sumer and built the Akkadian Empire stretching over most of the Sumerian city-states and extending as far away as Lebanon. The Akkadians were a Semitic people, who had migrated from the Arabian Peninsula. In 2125 B.C.E., the Sumerian city of Ur in southern Mesopotamia rose up in revolt.

The upper part of the stela of Hammurabi's code of laws

King Hammurabi of Babylon (1792-1750 B.C.E.) re-united the region. Babylonian rule covered most of the Tigris-Euphrates river valley from Sumer and the Persian Gulf, and extended to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Assyrians (ca 2000 B.C.E. to 700 B.C.E.) came to control Babylonia, until revolts in turn deposed them and set up a new dynasty, known as the Second Dynasty of Isin. Nebuchadnezzar I (Nabu-kudurri-usur; c. 1119 B.C.E. to 1098 B.C.E.) is the best-known ruler from this dynasty.

Eventually, during the 800s B.C.E., a powerful tribe from outside Babylon, the Chaldeans, rose to power in Babylonia, which came to be known as Chaldea. In 626 B.C.E., the Chaldeans helped Nabo-Polassar to take power in Babylonia. At that time, Assyria was under considerable pressure from the Iranian Medes (from Media). Nabo-Polassar allied Babylonia with the Medes. In 612 B.C.E., Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, fell. The entire city, once the capital of a great empire, was burned and sacked.

Nebuchadrezzar II (604-562 B.C.E.), who was Nabopolassar's son, inherited the empire of Babylonia. In the (586 B.C.E.), Nebuchadrezzar II conquered Judea, destroyed Jerusalem, including Solomon's Temple, and sent an estimated 15,000 captives, into exile in Babylonia. Nebuchadrezzar is credited for building the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

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". Ancient Mesopotamian civilization dominated other civilizations. Mesopotamia housed historically important cities such as Uruk (ca 4000 B.C.E. - 3100 B.C.E.), Nippur (from 5000 B.C.E.), Nineveh (ca 1800 B.C.E.- 612 B.C.E.), and Babylon as well as the Third Dynasty of Ur (ca 2119 B.C.E. - 2004 B.C.E.)

Persian domination

File:Lagash.JPG

Archaeological sites of Mesopotamia

Various invaders conquered the land after Nebuchadrezzar's death, including Persian Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C.E., and Alexander the Great in 331 B.C.E., who died there in 323 B.C.E. It remained under Greek rule under the Seleucid dynasty for nearly two centuries. Babylon declined after the founding of Seleucia on the Tigris, the new Seleucid Empire capital. A Central Asian tribe of Iranian peoples called Parthians then annexed the region followed by the Sassanid Persians until the seventh century]].

The Arabic term "Iraq" is widely used in the medieval Arabic sources for the area in the centre and south of the modern republic as a geographic rather than a political term, implying no precise boundaries. Until 602 C.E., the desert frontier of greater Iran had been guarded by the Lakhmid kings of Al-Hirah, who were Arabs ruling a settled buffer state. In that year Shahanshah Khosrow II Aparviz rashly abolished the Lakhmid kingdom and laid the frontier open to nomad incursions. Syria and Turkey (which is inhabited by Kurds of Iranian race) were parts of Iran. Iraq was the capital of Iran for more than 1000 years. After Islam, the holy shiite places like Najaf and Karbala made Iraq the capital of shiite Muslims and the center of Iranian civilization until the establishment of modern Iraq. Iranians continue to call Iraqis brothers, and numerous Iraqis speak Iranian languages like Kurdish and Farsi.

The desert frontier of greater Iran had been guarded by the Lakhmid kings of Al-Hirah, who were Arabs ruling a settled buffer state. In 602 C.E.,Shahanshah Khosrow II Aparviz rashly abolished the Lakhmid kingdom and laid the frontier open to nomad incursions. Syria and Turkey (which is inhabited by Kurds of Iranian race) were parts of Iran. Iraq was the capital of Iran for more than 1000 years. After Islam, the holy Shi’ite places like Najaf and Karbala made Iraq the capital of shiite Muslims and the center of Iranian civilization until the establishment of modern Iraq. Iranians continue to call Iraqis brothers, and numerous Iraqis speak Iranian languages like Kurdish and Farsi.

Arab conquest

The Arab Empire at its greatest extent

Beginning in the seventh century C.E., 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, ruling from Damascus in the seventh century, ruled the province of Iraq.

The city of Baghdad was built in the eighth century as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, and became the leading city 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, until its eventual destruction during the Battle of Baghdad in 1258.

Mongol conquest

Hulagu's army attacks Baghdad.

In 1257, Hulagu Khan amassed an unusually large army, perhaps 10 percent of all available Mongol fighters, 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, Bagdhad was decimated. Estimates of the numbers killed range from 200,000 to a million. The Grand Library of Baghdad, containing countless precious historical documents was destroyed along with the Abbasid Caliphate. The caliph was captured, forced to watch as his citizens were murdered and his treasury plundered, and was killed by trampling. The Mongols rolled the caliph up in a rug, and rode their horses over him, as they believed that the earth was offended if touched by royal blood. All but one of his sons was killed. The canals and dykes forming the city's irrigation system were also destroyed. Baghdad was a depopulated, ruined city for several centuries and only gradually recovered some of its former glory.

Ottoman rule

At this point Baghdad was ruled by the Il-Khanids, the Mongol emperors of Iran. In 1401, Baghdad was again sacked, by Timur ("Tamerlane"). It became a provincial capital controlled by the Jalayirid (1400–1411), Qara Quyunlu (1411–1469), Aq Quyunlu (1469–1508), and Safavid (1508–1534) dynasties. The Ottoman Empire took Baghdad in 1535, cementing Suleiman I as the leader of the Islamic world and the legitimate successor to the Abbasid Caliphs. Ottoman rule lasted until World War I, during which the Ottomans sided with Germany and the Central Powers.

World War I

During World War I the British drove the Ottomans from much of the area 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

At the end of World War I, the League of Nations granted the area to the United Kingdom as a mandate. It was formed out of three former Ottoman vilayets (regions): Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra. For three out of four centuries of Ottoman rule, the vilayets of Baghdad, Mosul, and Basra were administered from Baghdad. During the British mandate, British colonial administrators who used the British armed forces to put down rebellions ruled the country. They selected the Hashemite king, Faisal I, who had been forced out of Syria by the French, to be their client ruler. The government and ministries' officers were likewise appointed by British authorities, selected from the Sunni Arab elite in the region.

Before the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the British-controlled Turkish Petroleum Company had held concessionary rights to the Mosul province. In March 1925, after acrimonious discussions over the oil concession, an agreement was concluded that granted the renamed Iraq Petroleum Company a concession for 75 years.

Hashemite monarchy

Iraq was granted independence in 1932 on the urging of King Faisal, though the British retained military bases and transit rights for their forces. King Ghazi ruled as a figurehead after King Faisal's death in 1933, while undermined by attempted military coups (dictatorships), 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 idealogical 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

A coup d'etat of the Iraqi Army, known as the 14 July Revolution, in 1958, overthrew the reinstated Hashemite monarchy, and 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, who died in 1966 and his brother, Abdul Rahman Arif, assumed the presidency. In 1968, the Arab Socialist Baath Party seized power. 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 off many of his opponents.

Saddam Hussein

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Saddam Hussein, c. 2000

Saddam's regime lasted throughout the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988), during which Iraqi forces attacked Iranian soldiers and civilians with chemical weapons. The war ended in stalemate. This period is notorious for the Saddam regime's human rights abuses, for instance, during the Al-Anfal campaign.

Osirak (also spelled Osiraq) was constructed by the Iraqi government at the Al Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center, 18 km (11 miles) south-east of Baghdad in 1977. It was a 40 MW light-water nuclear materials testing reactor (MTR). Israeli aircraft bombed it in 1981, in order to prevent the regime from using the reactor for creation of nuclear weapons.

Gulf War

Main article: 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. Critics estimate that more than 500,000 Iraqi children died as a result of the sanctions. The U.S. and the UK declared no-fly zones over Kurdish northern and Shiite southern Iraq to oversee the Kurds and southern Shiites.

2003 invasion

Downtown Baghdad monument of Saddam Hussein vandalized by Iraqis shortly after the Occupation of Coalition Forces in April 2003.

Iraq was invaded in March 2003 by a United States-organized coalition, with the stated reason that Iraq had not abandoned its nuclear and chemical weapons development program according to United Nations resolution 687. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, the United Nations Security Council, under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, adopted resolution 678, authorizing armed action against Iraq. 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 public justifications, given for invasion including purported Iraqi government links to Al Qaeda, claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and that they had the opportunity to remove an oppressive dictator from power, and to 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 credentials to the claim that the Iraqi government posed a serious threat to America's national security.”

Post-invasion Iraq

The United States established the Coalition Provisional Authority to govern Iraq. Government authority was transferred to an Iraqi Interim Government in 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 civilian deaths as between 65,500 and 655,000. After the invasion, al-Qaeda took advantaged of the insurgency to entrench itself in the country concurrently with a Arab-Sunni led insurgency and sectarian violence. In 2006 Foreign Policy Magazine named Iraq as the fourth most unstable nation in the world.

On December 30, 2006, Saddam Hussein was hanged. Hussein's half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court Awad Hamed al-Bandar were likewise executed on January 15, 2007, 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.

Government and politics

File:IRAQ map black nad white.jpg

Printable map of Iraq

The politics of Iraq takes place in a framework of a more or less federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the prime minister is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system.

According to the 2005 constitution, the executive branch of government comprises the Prime Minister, who was Nouri al-Maliki in 2007, who holds most of the executive authority and appoints the cabinet, and the president, who was Jalal Talabani in 2007, who serves in a figurehead capacity, with few powers. The president and vice presidents comprise the Presidency Council, which appoints a 37-minister cabinet.

The constitution includes a bicameral legislative body, or parliament. The lower house is the Council of Representatives, consisting of 275 members of parliament, elected nationwide by a closed-list, proportional representation system. Elections, held on December 15, 2005, resulted in the Unified Iraqi Alliance taking 41percent of the vote, Kurdistan Alliance 22 percent, Tawafuq Coalition 15 percent, Iraqi National List 8 percent, Iraqi Front for National Dialogue 4 percent, and other, 10 percent. The speaker was to be elected by the House.

December 2005 election results by plurality (not proportional representation, as was used).

The upper house would be the Council of Union, and the members would be known as senators. It would have 50 senators from each Sunni, Kurdish, and Shia senatorial districts. The president of the senate would be a vice president in the Presidency Council chosen by the president.

The constitution calls for a Federal Judicial Authority, comprised of the Higher Juridical Council, Supreme Federal Court, Federal Court of Cassation, Public Prosecution Department, Judiciary Oversight Commission and other federal courts to be regulated in accordance with the law.

Ba'ath rule

Before the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the Ba'ath Party officially ruled Iraq through a nine-member Revolutionary Command Council, which enacted legislation by decree. The council's president (chief of state and supreme commander of the armed forces) was elected by a two-thirds majority of the council. A council of ministers (cabinet), appointed by the council., had administrative and some legislative responsibilities. A 250-member National Assembly consisting of 220 elected by popular vote who serve a four-year term, and 30 appointed by the president to represent the three northern provinces, was last elected in March 2000.

A constitution, voted on by 63 percent of eligible voters on October 15, 2005, was passed with a 78 percent overall majority. The degree of support varied widely, with overwhelming backing among the Shia and Ķurdish communities, but overwhelmingly rejection by Arab Sunnis. Three majority Arab Sunni provinces rejected it (Salah ad Din with 82 percent against, Ninawa with 55 percent against, and Al Anbar with 97 percent 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.

Factions

Iraqi politicians have been under significant threat by the various factions that have promoted violence as a political weapon. An insurgency against the Government of Iraq and Coalition forces is concentrated in Baghdad and in areas north, northeast, and west of the capital. The diverse, multi-group insurgency consists principally of Sunni Arabs, whose only common denominator is a shared desire to oust the Coalition and end U.S. influence in Iraq, a number of predominantly Shia militias, and some associated with political parties, challenge governmental authority in Baghdad and southern Iraq.

The capital of Baghdad was in the middle of a power struggle in 2007, with insurgents forcing out Shi'ite residents in some areas of western Baghdad where the Sunni sect is in the majority. After the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad, Shi'ite militias retaliated and forced out some Sunnis from predominantly Shi'ite areas.

There are a number of ethnic minority groups in Iraq: Kurds, Assyrians, Mandeans, Iraqi Turkmen, Shabaks and Roma people. These groups have not enjoyed equal status with the majority Arab populations throughout Iraq's 85-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.

Iraq is divided into 18 governorates (or provinces). The governorates are subdivided into qadhas (or districts). The new constitution provides for regions to be created by combining one or more governorates. There was only one region in existence in 2007 - Iraqi Kurdistan - and there are proposals for one or more further regions to be created in the south. The 2007 governorates were: Baghdad, 1; Salah ad Din, 2; Diyala, 3; Wasit, 4; Maysan, 5; Al Basrah, 6; Dhi Qar, 7; Al Muthanna, 8; Al-Qādisiyyah, 9; Babil, 10; Karbala, 11; An Najaf, 12; Al Anbar, 13; Ninawa, 14; Dahuk, 15; Arbil, 16; At Ta'mim (Kirkuk), 17; and As Sulaymaniyah, 18.

Economy

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An old 50 dinar bill

File:Tahrir Sq-3D1.jpg

A Rendering of Tahrir Square, the first phase of the Baghdad Renaissance Plan, a private investment reconstruction effort.

Iraq's economy is dominated by the oil sector, which has traditionally provided about 95 percent 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. Iraq's seizure of Kuwait in August 1990, subsequent international economic sanctions, and damage from military action by an international coalition beginning in January 1991 drastically reduced economic activity.

Although government policies supporting large military and internal security forces and allocating resources to key supporters of the regime hurt the economy, implementation of the UN's oil-for-food program, which began in December 1996, helped improve conditions for the average Iraqi citizen. Iraq was allowed to export limited amounts of oil in exchange for food, medicine, and some infrastructure spare parts. In December 1999, the UN Security Council authorized Iraq to export under the program as much oil as required to meet humanitarian needs.

The concept of private property introduced by the Sumerians, was re-introduced in the late nineteenth century, transforming Iraq from a feudal society, where sheikhs provided spiritual and tribal leadership, to a society separated between landowners and sharecroppers. While under sanctions during the 1990s, many people sold their land to the government to buy food and medicine.

The military victory of the US-led coalition in March-April 2003 resulted in the shutdown of much of the central economic administrative structure. Although a comparatively small amount of capital plant was damaged during the hostilities, looting, insurgent attacks, and sabotage have undermined efforts to rebuild the economy. Attacks on key economic facilities - especially oil pipelines and infrastructure - have prevented Iraq from reaching projected export volumes, but total government revenues have been higher than anticipated due to high oil prices.

On November 20, 2004, the Paris Club of creditor nations agreed to write off 80 percent ($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.

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Baghdad Bank

Despite political uncertainty, Iraq is making some progress in building the institutions needed to implement economic policy. An International Compact with Iraq is being established to integrate Iraq into the regional and global economy, while recognizing the need to resolve destabilizing security and political conflicts. Additionally, the Iraqi government is seeking to pass laws to strengthen the economy. This legislation includes a hydrocarbon law to encourage contracting with foreign investors and a revenue sharing law to equitably divide oil revenues within the nation. Controlling inflation, reducing corruption, and implementing structural reforms such as bank restructuring and developing the private sector, will be key to Iraq's economic prospects.

Exports totalled $32.19-billion in 2006. Export commodities were crude oil 84 percent, crude materials excluding fuels 8 percent, and food and live animals 5 percent. Export partners were the U.S. 49.7 percent, Italy 10.4 percent, Spain 6.3 percent, Canada 5.6 percent. Imports totalled $20.76-billion. Import commodities were food, medicine, and manufactures, Import partners were Turkey 23.4 percent, Syria 23.1 percent, the U.S. 11.7 percent, Jordan 6.3 percent.

Per capita GDP was $2900 in 2006. The unemployment rate was 25 percent to 30 percent in 2005.

Demography

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Distribution of Religious and Ethnic Groups in Iraq

A July 2006 estimate of the total Iraqi population is 26,783,383. The Sadr City district of the capital Baghdad is the most densely populated area in Iraq home to around two million impoverished Shi'ite Muslims. Life expectancy for the total population was 69.01 years in 2007.

An oil-fueled economic boom that hit Iraq in the 1970s brought a migration to urban centers. Rural dwellers cluster near the rivers, streams, and irrigation canals as nucleated settlements rather than dispersed farmsteads.The Marsh Arabs (the Madan) of the south lived in small clusters of two or three houses kept above water by rushes. Some of these people are water buffalo herders and lead a semi-nomadic life.

The war caused many of the Marsh Arabs to migrate to settled communities away from the marshes. Some were forced by government decree to relocate within the marshes. Also, in early 1988, the marshes had become the refuge of deserters from the Iraqi army

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. Although some expatriates returned to Iraq after the 2003 invasion, the flow had virtually stopped by 2006.

Ethnicity

Seventy-four percent of Iraq's population are Arabs; the other major ethnic groups are the Kurds at 22 to 24 percent, Assyrians, Iraqi Turkmen and others (5 percent), 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. The Kurds continually battle the majority Arabs, and the Turkomans, in the northern mountainous areas, have existed as buffers between Arab and Kurdish areas. The Yazidis, are of Kurdish descent, but have a unique religion. The Assyrians descend from the ancient Mesopotamian people, speak Aramaic, and are Christian.

Religion

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Imam Ali's Shrine

There are no official figures on religious affiliation available, mainly due to the highly politically charged nature of the subject. Ninety seven percent of the total population is Muslim, and the remaining 3 are classified as Christian or other. The CIA World Fact Book analyses the Muslim population as comprising Shi'a 60 percent-65 percent, and Sunni 32 percent -37 percent. The Shi'ites are mostly Arabs, with some Turkmen and Faili Kurds, and almost almost all are Twelver school. SunniMuslims comprise Arabs, Turkmen, who are Hanafi school, and Kurds, who are Shafi school

Sunnis hotly dispute these figures, claiming that many sources only include Arab Sunnis as “Sunni”, missing out the Kurdish and Turkmen Sunnis. Some argue that the 2003 Iraq Census shows that Sunnis were a slight majority, with Sunnis making 59 percent of the population, and Shi’ites 40 percent. 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 sizable 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.

Most Shi'as accept that Imam Ali, the Prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, who was the first Shi’a Imam and the fourth Sunni Caliph, was buried at a secret location at what is now the city of Najaf, which grew around the mosque and shrine called Masjid Ali.

Long before Saddam, Iraq had been split along social, ethnic, religious, and economic fault lines: Sunni versus Shi'ite, Arab versus Kurd, tribal chief versus urban merchant, nomad versus peasant. (Humphreys, 78) Stable rule in a country rife with factionalism required both massive repression and the improvement of living standards. (Humphreys, 78)

Language

Almost all Iraqis understand their official language, Arabic, which is a Semitic language, introduced by the Arab conquerors. It has three different forms. Classical Arabic is the written language of the Qur'an. Modern standard Arabic is taught in schools for reading and writing. The spoken language, Iraqi Arabic, is similar to that which is spoken in Syria, Lebanon, and parts of Jordan. Kurdish, another official language, is the official language in Kurdistan, and is a distinct language from the Indo-European family. 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.

Men and women

During the Iran-Iraq War, women studied and worked in fields normally filled by men. Under the Ba’athist regime, there was a government organization known as the General Federation for Iraqi Women, with a branch in each province, with a stated aim to promote literacy and higher education for women. Iraq was the first Arab country to elect a woman to a parliamentary position, although many believed she was put in power to show that Saddam Hussein’s regime was progressive. There are clearly different attitudes for men and women. Girls are taught the value of weakness, naïveté, resignation, and passivity. Boys spend time with men from an early age to learn about authority and dominance.

Marriage and the family

Arranged marriages have become rare. The Muslim majority views marriage as a contract between two families. In urban areas, couples tend to choose their spouses, although parental approval is required. The loss of men in the Iran-Iraq War prompted the government to provide grants to men to marry war widows, to increase the population. Polygamy became more common. Divorce is easy for the husband but difficult for a woman to initiate. Custody is granted based on what is best for the child.

Economic hard-ships mean that families tend to live with extended households, including the older couple, sons, their wives and families, unmarried daughters, and possibly other dependent relatives. The oldest male heads the group, manages property and decides upon their children’s education, occupations, and marriage partners. Women share household and child-rearing tasks. Following the Islamic rule, a man inherits twice as much as a woman, since he must provide protection for the woman.

Large kin groups are more important than ethnic, social class, and sectarian lines. Family loyalty is essential, and family members protect each other. The kin group involves three generations, who tend to live together, and cooperate in agriculture and land ownership. A boy's birth is celebrated, while a girl's is not, since the boy is thought to be more valuable, given his potential to work, while the girl is considered more of a dependent. At puberty girls are separated from boys and have less freedom. A good child is loyal, and obedient. Premarital chastity is stressed.

Education

Education is free, and six years of primary education are compulsory. Many children in rural areas do not attend schools because facilities are not available. Instruction is mostly in Arabic, although Kurdish is used in schools in some northern districts. In 2003, 40.4 1 per cent of Iraqis aged 15 or older were literate, while in the 1980s the literacy rate was about 80 percent. In 1998–1999 3,128,358 pupils attended 8145 primary schools, and 619,114 students were enrolled in around 4000 secondary schools. At tertiary level, about 135,700 students attended 310 vocational or teacher-training institutions. Iraq has 15 universities, and a number of technical institutes. Before the Persian Gulf War, higher education was greatly prized, and the state used to pay for it, even literacy classes for adults. Many schools were destroyed during the war and its aftermath. The Coalition Provisional Authority estimated that 2500 schools were reconstructed since the end of the war and that school attendance had returned to pre-war levels.

Class

Arabs, Kurds, and other ethnic groups each have their own social stratification. There continues to be a great disparity between rich and poor. Under the Ba’athist regime, those in the high class were chosen by the government, since there was no opportunity to start a business or make a name for oneself without government approval. The once-dominant middle class of the 1970s deteriorated under economic crisis, so that well educated people came to perform unskilled labor.

Culture

An Iraqi girl living next to Al Daura Oil Refinery.

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. Markets and bartering are the common form of trade.

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 Kazem al Saher, whose songs include Ladghat E-Hayya, which was banned for its racy lyrics.

Gallery

Ishtar Gate (Bab Ishtar) 604 to 562 B.C.E. Ancient Babylon
Hatra ruins.jpg

Hatra ruins

Shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

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
BBC News Country Profile - Iraq
CIA World Factbook - Iraq
US State Department - Iraq includes Background Notes, Country Study and major reports
Read Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Iraq
Iraq Country Profile from Reuters AlertNet
Country Briefing: Iraq from The Economist

News

Focus on Iraq Daily News on Iraq
Iraq News and Iraqi views from Electronic Iraq
News in Depth from the Financial Times
Diplomacy Monitor-Iraq
IPS Inter Press Service Independent news about Iraq
Iraqis react with joy, anger to Hussein death sentence CNN story on Hussein's death sentence

Other

Juan Cole, a leading scholar and public intellectual
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.
Travel guide to Iraq from Wikitravel
Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC) — A Washington DC-based nonprofit organization promoting a free and secure Iraq
Amnesty International Report on Iraq
Coalition Provisional Authority Now-defunct occupation authority; site is archived
Iraq Law from the University of Pittsburgh’s Jurist project
1900 - 2000 a history of Iraq
US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq
Iraqi Familiarization Guide - (546 kilobyte PDF file)

Iraq

Contents

Geography