Iraq - Iraq [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Iraq

I INTRODUCTION

Iraq, country in the Middle East that has been central to three wars since 1980. Some of the world's greatest ancient civilizations—Assyria, Babylonia, and Sumer—developed in the area that now makes up Iraq. The modern state of Iraq was created in 1920 by the British government, whose forces had occupied it during World War I (1914-1918). The country is officially named the Republic of Iraq (Al Jumh?r?yah al-`Iraqia in Arabic). Baghd?d is the capital and largest city.

Iraq is situated at the northern tip of the Persian Gulf. Its coastline along the gulf is only 30 km (19 mi) long. Thus, the country is nearly landlocked. Its only port on the gulf, Umm Qa?r, is small and located on shallow water, and only small craft can dock there.

Iraq is potentially one of the richest countries in the world. It contains enormous deposits of petroleum and natural gas. It is endowed with large quantities of water, supplied by its two main rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, and their tributaries. Iraq's location between those two great rivers gave rise to its ancient Greek name, Mesopotamia (“the land between the rivers”).

Most of Iraq's people are Arabs. For much of the 20th century, Iraq was politically active in the Arab world, with most of its regimes trying to advance pan-Arab or partial Arab political unification under Iraqi leadership. The country has had tense relations with its eastern neighbor, Iran, resulting in a costly war in the 1980s (see Iran-Iraq War). At times it has claimed neighboring Kuwait, most recently in 1990, leading to the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Iraq was involved in all the Arab-Israeli wars except the Suez Crisis of 1956 (see Arab-Israeli Conflict).

Set up as a monarchy, Iraq became a republic in 1958. It became a dictatorship dominated by a single party in 1968. That dictatorship came under the control of Saddam Hussein in 1979. Under his leadership, Iraq's regional and foreign policies were ambitious, often involving great risk. In the late 20th century Iraq attained a high international profile, unprecedented in the modern history of the Middle East, but at an exorbitant political price. The dictatorship failed in various attempts to topple Arab regimes and to achieve leadership status in the Arab world or even in the Persian Gulf region. It failed in eight years of war in the 1980s to bring down the regime of neighboring Iran. It conquered Kuwait in 1990 but was forced to relinquish it by a coalition of Western and Arab countries in the Persian Gulf War. Afterward, it found itself shackled by an oil embargo and other sanctions imposed by the United Nations (UN). A United States-led invasion overthrew Hussein's regime in April 2003 (see U.S.-Iraq War of 2003) and established an interim Iraqi government.

Amatzia Baram contributed the introduction to this article.

II LAND AND RESOURCES

Iraq has an area of 438,317 sq km (169,235 sq mi). It is bounded on the north by Turkey; on the east by Iran; on the south by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the Persian Gulf; and on the west by Jordan and Syria.

A Natural Regions

Iraq is a land of both barren desert and broad, mighty rivers; of both tall mountains and low-lying swamps. The country can be divided into four major regions: Mesopotamia, the upper river plains, the northeastern mountains, and the western and southern desert.

A1 Mesopotamia

Between the lower stretches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers lies the great delta plain of Mesopotamia. This plain covers roughly 117,000 sq km (45,000 sq mi). The plain is flat and featureless and slopes very gently toward the south. Locally the flatness is broken by natural levees, abandoned channels, irrigation canals, and drainage ditches. The rivers have built up their beds slightly above the general level of the plain in many places. Above Baghd?d the Euphrates is a few feet higher than the Tigris; below Baghd?d the Tigris is slightly higher than the Euphrates. Even so, the slope of the riverbeds toward the Persian Gulf is very slight. Consequently, the plain is poorly drained, and there are extensive marshes in the southeast.

A2 Upper River Plains

The plain of Al Jaz?ah (Arabic for “The Island”) lies between the upper Euphrates and Tigris rivers. This dry plateau region rises gradually to 300 to 500 m (1,000 to 1,500 ft) above sea level near the northwestern border with Turkey. The plain is undulating and rolling, and the rivers are too deeply incised below the general level of the land to be of much use for irrigation.

A3 Mountains

The mountains of northeastern Iraq are an extension of the Zagros Mountains, which lie mainly in western Iran. These peaks reach as high as 3,607 m (11,834 ft) at Mount Ebr?h?m (K?h-e ??j? Ebr?h?m or Haji Ibrahim), the highest point in Iraq. The mountains of northern Iraq are intersected by deep valleys and fertile plains.

A4 Desert

The desert that covers most of western Iraq is part of the Syrian Desert, which extends into Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia as well. Its surface is generally pebbly and rocky, broken in some places by flat-topped buttes and mesas and less frequently by areas of sand dunes. The region is crossed by numerous wadis, wide valleys that carry water only after the infrequent rains of the desert.

B Rivers and Lakes

Since ancient times, the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers have been vitally important to the region, the eastern extent of the Fertile Crescent. However, much of the Tigris-Euphrates system lies in Syria and Turkey, which draw heavily on both rivers before they reach Iraq. The two rivers flow through Iraq from northwest to southeast. They meet at Al Qurnah in southeastern Iraq to form the 170-km- (110-mi)-long Shatt al Arab. The Iraqi port city of Al Ba?rah is located on the Shatt al Arab, about 110 km (about 70 mi) before the river empties into the Persian Gulf.

B1 Euphrates

The Euphrates begins in Turkey, crosses Syria, and enters Iraq at Ab? Kam?l. The flow of the Euphrates into Iraq has been greatly reduced by dams built by Turkey and Syria. The gradient of the Euphrates above the town of H?t, in west central Iraq, is steep. In the 2,640 km (1,640 mi) from its source in Turkey to H?t, the river falls from 3,000 m (10,000 ft) to a low water elevation of 50 m (170 ft) above sea level, an average drop of 1 m per km (6 ft per mi). In Iraq below H?t the fall is very slight—about 8.9 cm per km (about 3.5 in per mi).

B2 Tigris

The Tigris rises in Turkey and flows southeast to form the northernmost 5 km (3 mi) of Iraq's border with Syria before entering Iraq. In Iraq the river falls almost 300 m (1,000 ft). At the city of S?marr?', in north central Iraq, the low water elevation of the river is 60 m (190 ft) above sea level. Turkey also draws heavily on the Tigris. However, the Tigris, unlike the Euphrates, receives a number of sizable, permanent tributaries after it enters the steppe area of northern Iraq. The Great Zab, Little Zab, Al `Uzaym, and Diyala enter the Tigris from the Zagros Mountains.

B3 Drainage Issues

The flow and volume of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers vary greatly with the seasons. Evaporation during the long, hot, and dry summers reduces the flow of the rivers considerably by autumn; but both rivers show an appreciable increase as winter rains fill their catchment basins. Both rivers reach a maximum volume in spring, the Tigris reaching flood stage in April and the Euphrates in May. Historically, Iraq has suffered from many disastrous floods, but since the mid-20th century, dams, barrages, and storage reservoirs have controlled the floods. In ancient times the two rivers were joined by a network of canals and irrigation ditches, which directed the water of the higher-lying and more westerly Euphrates across the valley into the Tigris. In modern times irrigation canals remain important.

The Tigris-Euphrates-Shatt al Arab system carries huge loads of chemicals and sediments in suspension, which are deposited on the plain by floods and irrigation systems. As the water evaporates, huge amounts of salts are left behind each year. As a result, the soil is increasingly saline from Baghd?d south to the Persian Gulf, severely limiting agriculture in the region south of the city of Al `Am?rah.

B4 Lakes

In the flat plains of Mesopotamia, several large areas are permanently flooded. The largest of these lakes are Bu?ayrat ath Tharth?r and Ba?r al Milh, in central Iraq, and Hawr al ?amm?r near the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates.

C Climate

Iraq has two seasons: a long, hot, and dry summer, lasting from May to or through October; and a relatively short, cool, and occasionally cold winter, lasting from December through March. Precipitation is sparse in almost all of Iraq. In the northeastern highlands rainfall is considerable from October to May, ranging from 305 to 559 mm (12 to 22 in); but farther south, on the central alluvial plain and near the Persian Gulf, precipitation is slight, averaging 150 mm (6 in) annually. The Syrian Desert gets little or no precipitation.

Average summer temperatures in Iraq reach 32 to 35C (90 to 95F). Summer daytime maximum temperatures may reach 40C (110F) or even 50C (120F). Summer nights are comfortable, as temperatures normally drop by 14 to 19 degrees C (25 to 35 degrees F). Except near rivers, marshes, and coasts, humidity is low. The summers are essentially rainless, with no rainfall in four of the summer months and less than 13 mm (.5 in) of rain in the others. Skies are clear, and both sunlight and heat are intense during the day. In the south the summers tend to be a little hotter, a little longer, and usually somewhat more humid. The mountains in the northeast are cooler and are high enough to receive occasional summer showers.

Average winter temperatures range from 4C (40F) in the north to 10 to 13C (50F to 55F) in the south, but winter nights are often quite cold. Mosul, in the north, has recorded temperatures of -11C (12F), and Al Ba?rah, in the south, has had temperatures of -4C (24F). Winter days, except during occasional cold spells, are mild. Most precipitation occurs during winter in the form of rain. The first rainfall usually occurs in November, but most of the rain comes in late January or early February. Heavy snow falls in the mountains in winter.

D Plant and Animal Life

Plant life is sparse throughout Iraq. The natural vegetation consists mostly of bushes, shrubs, and grasses. Forests of oak and pine cover limited parts of the northeastern mountains. In the delta area are dense groves of date palm trees and thickets of reeds, which may grow to 6 m (20 ft) in height. Among the animals found in Iraq are gazelle and other antelope, wild ass, hyena, wolf, jackal, wild pig, hare, jerboa, and bat. Numerous birds of prey are found in Iraq, including the vulture, buzzard, raven, owl, and various species of hawk; other birds include the duck, goose, partridge, and sand grouse. Lizards are fairly common.

E Environmental Issues

Devastating wars and years of economic isolation have seriously degraded Iraq's environment. During the Persian Gulf War, much of Iraq's infrastructure was destroyed, including equipment involved in the country's petroleum industry. Although Iraq restored many oil wells and refineries after the end of the war, the Iraqi government contended that the international economic embargo established by the UN prevented the repair of equipment needed to safely process the toxic byproducts of oil refining. As a result, hazardous wastes are being released into the air or dumped into depleted wells.

Iraq's farmland is declining in productivity as a result of soil salinization, which is caused by insufficient drainage and by saturation irrigation practices. Government water-control projects have destroyed wetland habitats in eastern Iraq by diverting or drying up tributary streams that formerly irrigated wetland areas.

III PEOPLE AND SOCIETY

The population of Iraq (2005 estimate) is 26,074,906. The estimated overall population density is 60 persons per sq km (156 per sq mi). The density varies markedly, with the largest population concentrations close to the Tigris or Euphrates rivers.

The population is 67 percent urban. In the rural areas of the country many of the people still live in tribal communities.

The population growth rate, which was 3.2 percent per year in the 1980s, declined in the early 1990s as the country's birth rate fell. By the end of the decade, however, it had regained its former level. In 2005 the rate of population growth was 2.70 percent, the birth rate was 32.5 per 1,000 persons, and the death rate was 5.5 per 1,000 persons.

A Principal Cities

Baghd?d is the capital and largest city of Iraq, with a population of 4,797,000 in 2000. Other major cities include the northern metropolises of Irb?l (population 2,369,000), Mosul (1,034,000), and Kirk?k (418,624, in 1987); the southern port city of Al Ba?rah (406,296); and the Shia Muslim center of An Najaf (309,010) in south central Iraq.

B Ethnic Groups

About 75 to 80 percent of the population of Iraq is Arab. Kurds, the country's largest minority group, constitute 15 to 20 percent of the population. Most Kurds dwell in the highlands of northern Iraq, where they are in the majority. Smaller groups include Turkmen, Armenians, and Assyrians.

C Language

Under the interim Iraqi constitution of 2004, Arabic and Kurdish are the official languages of Iraq. Arabic is spoken by the majority of the population, and the Kurdish minority speaks Kurdish. Armenian and Assyrian are spoken in rural areas in the north and west.

D Religion

Muslims make up 96 percent of Iraq's population. About 60 to 65 percent of the Muslims adhere to the Shia branch, and the rest adhere to the Sunni branch. The Shias live mostly in central and southern Iraq, and the Sunnis live principally in the north. Most of the Kurds are Sunnis. Several of the holy cities of the Shias, notably An Najaf and Karbal?', are situated in Iraq. Among the few Christian sects in Iraq are the Nestorians (see Nestorianism), the Jacobite Christians, and offshoots of these two sects, respectively known as Chaldean and Syrian Catholics. In addition, smaller religious groups include the Yazidis, who live in the hill country north of Mosul, and a Gnostic group (see Gnosticism) known as the Mandaean Baptists living in Baghd?d and Al `Am?rah. The Yazidis are a syncretic sect, which combines the beliefs of different religions. A small community of Jews lives in Baghd?d.

E Education

Education in Iraq is free. Six years of primary education are compulsory, but many children do not attend school as they must work to help support their families. Instruction is in Arabic, although in much of the Kurdish-inhabited northern region, which has been autonomous since 1991, Kurdish is used in all levels of education alongside Arabic. Only 41 percent of Iraqis aged 15 or older are literate. In the 1998-1999 academic year 3.1 million pupils attended elementary schools, and 619,114 students were enrolled in secondary schools. More students attended vocational or teacher-training institutions. Iraq has a number of large universities, including the University of Baghd?d (founded in 1957), the University of Al Ba?rah (1964), and the University of Mosul (1967). The country also has about 20 technical institutes.

F Social Structure

Iraq's enormous petroleum resources make it potentially one of the richest countries in the world. Before Iraq invaded Iran in 1980, no less than 95 percent of the value of its exports came from sales of petroleum. The Iran-Iraq War, which lasted from 1980 to 1988, seriously reduced Iraq's production and sales of petroleum and harmed the economy as a whole. The Persian Gulf War (1991), which resulted from Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, further devastated the economy. An international oil embargo and other economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations (UN) in response to the invasion of Kuwait caused much hardship to Iraq and its citizens.

The repressive dictatorship of Saddam Hussein also had a stifling influence. Iraqis are relatively well educated and considered industrious. However, the nation was unable to realize its huge potential under Hussein's leadership.

Under Hussein's rule most of the ruling elite hailed from the Sunni population. Few Shias were found in the middle and upper ranks of society. Poverty was particularly widespread among the Shias, even those who lived in Baghd?d. The Kurds, for their part, did not enjoy even the limited representation that the Shias had in Baghd?d's corridors of power. Beginning in 1961 the Kurdish north was off-and-on in a state of revolt. Hussein was overthrown by a U.S.-led invasion in 2003 (see U.S.-Iraq War of 2003). It was unclear what effect Hussein's fall would have on these social dynamics.

Another cleavage in Iraqi society is that between the urban population and the rural population. Despite a rapid pace of urbanization, many Iraqis, particularly those in rural areas, still retain their extended family and tribal connections. Recent economic hardships, as well as government encouragement of tribal organization and values, have made extended kin ties even more prominent than in the past.

G Health and Welfare

Health standards in Iraq are low because of poor sanitary conditions and many endemic diseases. In 2005 the average life expectancy at birth was 41 years; the infant mortality rate was estimated at 50 per 1,000 live births in 2005. Iraq has 1 physician for every 2,091 people and 1 hospital bed for every 690 people. Under Hussein, most of the medical facilities were controlled by the central government. Working conditions were regulated by a social security law introduced in 1957, which also provided maternity, disability, old-age, and unemployment insurance. Following the Persian Gulf War, sanctions imposed against Iraq resulted in falling health standards.

Amatzia Baram contributed the People and Society section of this article.

IV ARTS

The cultural heritage of Iraq is primarily Arabic, although long before the advent of Islam in the 7th century ad, the area known as Mesopotamia was the center of the Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations. The Arabic influence is represented today in much of the surviving antiquities, including the Kazimayn Mosque, begun in the 11th century and completed in the 19th century; Baghd?d's Abbasid Palace, built in the 12th century; and the Shrine of S?marr?', constructed in the 9th century. Iraq is known for producing fine handicrafts, including rugs and carpets.

A Literature

Modern Iraq is an important cultural powerhouse of the Arab world. Iraqi poets have been in the forefront of contemporary Arabic culture. In the 1920s and 1930s Ma`ruf al-Rusafi, Jamil Sidqi al-Zahawi, and Muhammad Mahdi al-Jawahiri became prominent among the poets of the Arab world. All three wrote in the neoclassical style, with beautiful rhymes and strict rules of meter and verse. Rusafi wrote poems about the suffering of the Iraqi people and their struggle toward independence. Jawahiri drew close to the Communist Party in the 1940s and expressed strong anticolonialist sentiment in his poetry. The early 1950s saw an explosion of poetic and other literary creativity in Iraq. Most prominent among the new generation of Iraqi poets, who engaged in blank or free verse poetry as opposed to the neoclassical style, were Badr Shakir al-Sayyab and `Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati. Both dedicated much of their poetry to Iraq, its society, and its politics, and both engaged in symbolic-mystical writing, borrowing mythological themes from their country's ancient pre-Islamic history. A prominent female poet of the same generation is Nazik al-Mala'ika.

The quality of Iraqi poetry seems to have deteriorated since the 1970s, when government control of culture became near absolute. Poets who chose to remain in Iraq were forced to write verses in praise of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. However, many Iraqi poets also compose poetry in colloquial Arabic that many people enjoy. Their poetry is easily understood, even by people who cannot read, as it is only recited, never written. It fills radio and television broadcasts and has enthusiastic listeners.

The most famous novelist in Iraq during the first half of the 20th century was Dhu al-Nun Ayyub, whose stories revolved mostly around social issues. Iraq has produced a number of good playwrights, such as Khalid al-Shawaf, who wrote in the 1940s and 1950s, and `Adil Kazim, who wrote in the 1960s and 1970s. From the late 1930s to the late 1960s most of Iraq's greatest writers were inclined toward the political left, some of them close to the Communist Party.

B Art and Architecture

Much like its poets, Iraq's painters and sculptors are among the best in the Arab world, and some of them are world-class. The first generation, which became active in the 1940s, included Fa'iq Hasan and Isma'il al-Shaykhali. Their paintings are figurative works in the impressionist style. Other important artists of this generation are Jawad Salim, Nuri al-Rawi, Mahmud Sabri, and Tariq Mazlum. Jawad Salim was deeply influenced by the cubist style of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (see cubism), as well as by ancient Mesopotamian art and the Soviet style known as socialist realism. To a younger generation, active since the late 1950s, belong painters Diya al-`Azzawi and Hamid al-`Attar. Baghd?d is rich in open-air sculptures and monuments designed by many of these great artists and financed by the Hussein regime. Some of the monuments glorify Hussein, others glorify Hussein's Baath Party, but many are dedicated to the Iraqi people and the rich history of the country.

Iraqi architecture is best exemplified in the sprawling metropolis of Baghd?d. The city's architecture is almost entirely new, with some islands of exquisite old buildings and compounds. There are many colonial buildings dating back to the period of British occupation and mandate (1917-1932). A few buildings date back to the 18th and 19th centuries, when the Ottoman Empire controlled the area. Some traditional private homes built in the 18th and 19th centuries have been preserved. These buildings include the shanashil, a porch with netlike woodwork screens overlooking the street. Most of the public buildings in contemporary Baghd?d are modern. Government offices are usually far from aesthetic, but there are a few beautiful modern hotels, some of which draw their inspiration from Babylonian and classical Islamic architecture. There are modern art galleries, museums, and public libraries, their designs mostly inspired by Islamic architecture. Some old mosques in the Baghd?d area are impressive, in particular the gold-domed mosque in the suburb of Kazimayn, the burial place of two Shia imams (spiritual leaders).

C Music

Iraqi singers enjoy great popularity in the Arab world. Jewish singers and musicians made an important contribution to Baghd?d's culture from the 1920s until 1951, when most of them left the country. Among them were the brothers Saleh and Da'ud al-Kuwaiti. In the 1940s and 1950s the four most important types of music in Baghd?d were Maqamat, Monologat, Pestat, and Budhiyat. Maqamat, a form of classical Arab music, is a kind of high-pitched, sophisticated Arab blues, accompanied by `ud, violins, and drums. Monologat consists of nonclassical songs that include elements of humor and cynicism. Pestat is popular poetry sung to music. Budhiyat is a hymnlike type of music reminiscent of Buddhist chanting.

From the late 1940s to the late 1970s tastes in music shifted from traditional Maqamat to a mix of Maqamat and songs based on lighter, more popular Arab music. Uniquely Iraqi styles blended gradually with other Arab styles, mainly under Egyptian influence. Nazim al-Ghazali, who was popular in the 1950s and 1960s, was the main representative of this trend, although most of his songs were in the classical Maqamat style. Beginning in the late 1970s a combination of Arab and European music was introduced, creating Arab pop music.

Important singers since the late 20th century have included Ilham al-Madfa`i, Kazim al-Sahir, Sa`dun Jaber, Fu'ad Salem, and Haytham Yusuf. Ilham al-Madfa`i usually accompanies his singing with a Spanish guitar. His main contribution is in modernizing old Maqamat songs. Kazim al-Sahir combines traditional Arab and modern Western singing styles. Most of his songs are personal, but some of them are political, notably “Jerusalem,” “Risala ila al-`Alam” (“A Message to the World”), and “Baghd?d.” The music of the late Nazim al-Ghazali is still popular, as are the songs of his wife, Salima Murad (or Salima Pasha).

Bedouin songs, accompanied by a simple string instrument, the rababah, are popular in the countryside. Since the late 20th century, Bedouin music, songs, and dance became popular in Baghd?d under Hussein's regime, owing to the rural background of the former ruler.

D Libraries and Museums

The leading libraries of Iraq include the University of Al Ba?rah Central Library (founded in 1964); the University of Mosul Central Library (1067); and the Iraq Museum Library (1934), in Baghd?d. Public libraries are located in most of the provincial capitals. Both the National Library (1961), in Baghd?d, and the University of Baghd?d Central Library (1960) were looted and partially destroyed in the aftermath of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq (see U.S.-Iraq War of 2003).

Baghd?d is home to the Iraq Museum (1923), which houses important collections of relics of early Mesopotamian cultures. In the aftermath of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, looters made off with many of the Iraq Museum's prized artifacts and caused significant damage to the museum. Also in Baghd?d are the Iraq Natural History Museum (1946) and the Iraq Military Museum (1974). Other museums include the Babylon Museum (1949), at the site of ancient Babylon south of Baghd?d, which exhibits models, pictures, and paintings of ancient Babylon; and the Mosul Museum (1951), containing exhibits of Assyrian art and other antiquities.

Amatzia Baram contributed the Arts section of this article.

V ECONOMY

The modern Iraqi economy is largely based on petroleum. Most of the few large manufacturing industries have to do with oil.

A Iraqi Economy Under Hussein

During the rule of dictator Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi economy was adversely affected by four major factors: the Iran-Iraq War during the 1980s, an international oil glut in the 1980s and 1990s, the economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations (UN) after the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and the Persian Gulf War in 1991. The combined effect of all these factors was the destruction of Iraq's basic infrastructure (roads, bridges, power grids, and the like) and the country's financial bankruptcy.

Studies done at the end of the 20th century revealed that Iraq's real gross domestic product (GDP)—that is, its GDP adjusted for inflation—fell by 75 percent from 1991 to 1999. In the late 1990s the country's real GDP was estimated at about what it was in the 1940s, prior to the oil boom and the modernization of the country. As a result, per capita income and the people's calorie intake plunged from the levels of relatively better-off Third World countries to those of the desperately poor Fourth World states, such as Rwanda, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Somalia. Other reports indicated that following the end of the Persian Gulf War all aspects of Iraq's economy were devastated. Its valuable assets, as well as its basic social and economic infrastructure, were squandered, eroded, or irrevocably destroyed. Iraq's best-educated people fled, and the value of its national currency, the dinar, continued to decline, driving prices ever upward. Under Hussein, the government continued to finance its spending commitments by printing money, thus guaranteeing that inflation would continue unabated.

The UN sanctions created widespread unemployment, skyrocketing inflation, and severe shortages of previously imported commodities, including medicine, medical equipment, animal vaccines, farm machinery, electricity-generating equipment, and water purification supplies. As a result of these shortages and the damage done to water and sewage treatment systems during the Persian Gulf War, the incidence of disease and malnutrition rose sharply.

In 1996 the UN began to allow Iraq to swap oil for food and medical supplies, marking the country's first step away from near-total diplomatic and economic isolation since its invasion of Kuwait. However, this program was not going to solve the fundamental problems of a devastated economy and of a population impoverished by two successive wars and about a decade of severe economic sanctions. To make matters worse, Iraq's official foreign reserves (estimated at $35 billion to $40 billion at the beginning of the 1980s) were totally drained, either spent to finance the war with Iran or misallocated on projects such as building dozens of luxury palaces for Hussein and his family. On top of this, the country was sinking in a mire of foreign debt, war reparations, and other financial obligations, which were certain to keep it in economic shambles for decades to come.

Following the U.S.-Iraq War of 2003, the United States spent billions of dollars to revive Iraq's oil industry. By March 2004 Iraq was producing about 2.5 million barrels of oil per day, nearly as much as it produced prior to the 2003 war. The U.S. expenditures were also aimed at restoring and upgrading Iraq's oil fields and refineries. Much of the work was contracted to U.S. and other foreign oil companies.

B Government Role in the Economy

The early 1970s was a time of important development for the Iraqi economy and the government's role in it. In 1972 the government nationalized the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), which had been owned by foreign oil companies. The nationalization, together with the steep rise in the price of crude oil that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) engineered in 1973, had the effect of raising Iraq's oil revenues more than eightfold—from $1 billion in 1972 to $8.2 billion in 1975. This sharp increase in revenue solidified the government's role in the economy, making the government the primary agent for transferring wealth from the petroleum industry to the rest of the economy. In this way the government acquired the unprecedented power to allocate economic resources to various sectors of the economy and among different social classes and groups. Beginning in the 1970s, the Iraqi government came to be the primary determiner of employment, income distribution, and development, both of economic sectors and of geographical regions. It carried out extensive economic planning and exercised heavy control over agriculture, foreign trade, communication networks, banking services, public utilities, and industrial production, leaving only small-scale industry, shops, farms, and some services to the private sector.

Saddam Hussein, in power from 1979 until 2003, maintained the government's central role in the economy. The crushing nature of the UN sanctions meant that Iraq's economic policy at the start of the 21st century focused mainly on building a coalition of nations to support the removal of the sanctions. The primary way the Iraqi government could win support from other nations was by promising lucrative post-sanction oil contracts to potential allies. Most experts believed that Russia, China, and France would have been the main beneficiaries of these promises. The Hussein government focused on circumventing the sanctions, primarily through oil smuggling.

Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the U.S. civil administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer III, undertook a number of unilateral initiatives to convert Iraq from a state-run economy to a market economy. Bremer ordered the privatization of all state-owned enterprises, with the exception of the oil industry, and allowed those enterprises to be wholly owned by foreign investors. The orders also allowed foreign investors to withdraw all of their profits and dividends without reinvestment in Iraq. The banking sector was also privatized, and foreign banks were allowed to enter Iraq and own up to 50 percent of an Iraqi bank.

C Labor

The Iran-Iraq War, the Persian Gulf War, and the UN sanctions crippled the Iraqi economy, resulting in an unprecedented rate of unemployment. According to World Bank statistics, in 2003 the labor force consisted of 7 million workers. In 1996, 66.4 percent of the labor force was employed in services, 17.5 percent in industry, and 16.1 percent in agriculture. Women accounted for 20.9 percent of the labor force. Before economic sanctions took effect in 1990, Iraq had many foreign workers, the majority of them Egyptian agricultural workers. Following the U.S.-Iraq war of 2003, Iraq's minister of planning and international cooperation estimated unemployment at more than 50 percent.

D Mining

Petroleum is the most important natural resource of Iraq. The country is estimated to have about 10 percent of the world's supply of proved petroleum reserves. The oil fields are located in two main regions: in the southeast, just inland from the Persian Gulf, near Ar Rumaylah, and in the north-central part of the country, near Mosul and Kirk?k. Small deposits of various other minerals are found, principally ores of iron, gold, lead, copper, silver, platinum, and zinc. Phosphates, sulfur, salt, and gypsum are fairly abundant, and seams of brown coal are numerous.

The production of petroleum is the mainstay of Iraq's economy. The oil wells also yield sizable quantities of natural gas. Refineries are located at Baghd?d, Al Ba?rah, ?ad?thah, Kh?naq?n, Kirk?k, and Al Qayy?rah. A plant for processing and bottling liquefied petroleum gases is situated at At T?j?, near Baghd?d.

Until the early 1970s four foreign-owned companies controlled the Iraqi petroleum industry. The two leading firms were the IPC, which held concessions in the north, around Kirk?k and Mosul, and the Basra Petroleum Company, which operated in the southeast, near Al Ba?rah. From 1972 to 1975 all the foreign oil companies were fully nationalized by the government, and their operations were taken over by the Iraq National Oil Company and the Northern Petroleum Organization.

Falling oil prices and the war with Iran severely hampered the petroleum industry during the 1980s. The industry was dealt another crippling blow in 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait and the UN responded with an embargo on Iraqi oil. In order to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people due to the embargo, the UN in 1995 voted to allow Iraq to export limited amounts of oil so the country could buy food, medicine, and other basic goods. Such oil exports began at the end of 1996. Iraq produced an estimated 739 million barrels of petroleum and 2.4 billion cu m (83 billion cu ft) of natural gas in 2002. By comparison, in 1979, the year of its peak production, Iraq produced almost 1.3 billion barrels of petroleum.

E Agriculture

Although oil dominates its economy, Iraq is also an agricultural country. Approximately 13 percent of the land is under cultivation. Most farmland is in the region of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The most important crops are wheat, barley, and rice. Before the imposition of UN sanctions, exports of dates from Iraq accounted for a major share of world trade in dates. Other fruits produced include apples, figs, grapes, olives, oranges, pears, and pomegranates.

Livestock raising is an important occupation for Iraq's nomadic and seminomadic peoples. Sheep, goats, cattle, and poultry are the most commonly raised livestock animals. In addition, the world-famous Arabian horse is extensively bred.

F Manufacturing

Despite efforts by Hussein to reduce the country's dependence on oil, Iraq's manufacturing industry is not well developed. Besides petroleum and natural gas products, manufactures are largely limited to goods such as processed foods and beverages, textiles and clothing, metal products, furniture, footwear, cigarettes, and construction materials. Baghd?d is the leading manufacturing center of Iraq.

G Services

Many Iraqis work for the government in social services such as health and education. Financial and personal services are also important income earners.

H Energy

Power plants fueled by oil or natural gas produce 98 percent of Iraq's electricity. Hydroelectric facilities operate on the Tigris River and some of its tributaries.

I Transportation

Iraq has railroad connections through Syria with Turkey and Europe. The Iraqi state railway system consists of about 2,440 km (about 1,515 mi) of track. The country's road network is well developed: About 84 percent of roads are paved. International airports serve Baghd?d and Al Ba?rah. Al Ba?rah, on the Shatt al Arab, and Umm Qa?r, on the Persian Gulf, are the main ports for oceangoing vessels, and river steamers are able to navigate the Tigris from Al Ba?rah to Baghd?d.

During the Persian Gulf War, bombing by United States-led coalition air forces demolished many transport facilities, such as bridges, ports, and airports. Some estimates suggest that the bombing destroyed more than 80 bridges. Iraq was able to rebuild some bridges and other facilities in the years after the war.

J Communications

Much of Iraq's telecommunication network was also destroyed in the Persian Gulf War. After Hussein's overthrow in 2003, the new Iraqi administration began rebuilding and upgrading the country's telephone mainline and mobile telephone systems. The Iraqi Media Network oversees the operation of a number of television and radio stations. Under Hussein's rule, only a small number of newspaper and periodicals were printed, but since his overthrow, dozens of new publications have been founded.

K Foreign Trade

Before the UN imposed a trade embargo on Iraq following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, average annual exports were estimated at $10.4 billion and imports at about $6.6 billion. Petroleum sales accounted for almost all the export earnings; other exports were dates, raw wool, and hides and skins. Leading imports were machinery, transportation equipment, foodstuffs, and pharmaceuticals.

With the trade embargo in place, Iraq virtually ceased earning income from exports. In 1996, under the oil-for-food agreement, the UN permitted Iraq to export oil worth $2 billion every six months to purchase food and medicine for its civilian population. However, Iraq could not pump that much oil for a variety of reasons, such as damage to equipment and loss of skilled workers. Therefore Iraq did not export as much oil as was allowed. Consequently, in 1996 Iraq exported oil worth only $400 million and imported food and medicine worth $492 million. The UN agreed in 1998 to increase the value of the oil-for-food arrangement to $5.2 billion every six months.

After Hussein's overthrow in 2003, the UN ended the Iraqi trade embargo. The U.S.-led transitional authority established the Trade Bank of Iraq to oversee the return of unfettered foreign trade.

L Currency and Banking

The monetary unit is the Iraqi dinar, consisting of 1,000 fil or 20 dirham (0.31 dinars equal U.S.$1; fixed rate). Currency is issued by the Central Bank of Iraq, which was entirely state-run and controlled the banking system and foreign exchange transactions until Hussein's overthrow in 2003. The banking sector was subsequently privatized, and foreign banks were allowed to enter Iraq and own up to 50 percent of an Iraqi bank.

Wajeeh Elali contributed the Economy section of this article.

VI GOVERNMENT

From 1968 until 2003 the Iraqi government was a dictatorship dominated by a single political party, the Baath Party. From 1979 until 2003, the Baath Party and the government were controlled by Saddam Hussein. Under Hussein, the people had little if any influence on the government. There were occasional elections to the legislature, and Hussein was once confirmed as president in 1995 in a public referendum, but none of these seemingly democratic procedures was truly democratic. Until 2003 Iraq was governed by a 1969 constitution that defined Iraq as “a sovereign people's democratic republic,” dedicated to the ultimate realization of a single Arab state and to the establishment of a socialist system.

A Post-Hussein Government

A U.S.-led invasion toppled Hussein's regime in 2003, and the United States began the process of establishing an interim Iraqi government. The U.S.-led coalition established the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), headed by U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer III. The CPA selected a 25-member Iraqi Governing Council, with seats distributed among the country's different religious and ethnic groups as well as existing political organizations.

A1 Interim Constitution of 2004

The Iraqi Governing Council approved an interim Iraqi constitution, also known as the transitional administrative law, in March 2004. The constitution was hailed as one of the most democratic in the region, consisting of a bill of rights that guaranteed personal freedoms, including freedom of speech and freedom of religion. The interim constitution recognizes Islam as the official religion of Iraq but guarantees that this recognition does not override freedom of religion or other personal freedoms. It also recognizes Arabic and Kurdish as official languages.

The interim constitution was approved despite the opposition of 12 Shia members of the 25-member council, who objected to several provisions they considered undemocratic. These provisions were also opposed by the most powerful religious leader in Iraq, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a Shia cleric. Sistani objected to the fact that the interim constitution was drafted by a handpicked council and said it would not be legitimate until it was approved by a democratically elected national assembly.

Shia dissenters argued particularly against a provision requiring a two-thirds vote by at least three of Iraq's provinces in favor of the permanent constitution. The Kurds, who currently have autonomy (self-rule) in three provinces, sought this provision as a way of guaranteeing continued autonomy and other democratic rights for the Kurdish minority. The Shia dissenters objected that this provision gave too much veto power over the constitution to a minority of voters, including Arab Sunnis, many of whom were supporters of Saddam Hussein.

A2 Interim Government

On June 1, 2004, the Iraqi Governing Council announced the formation of a new interim government and dissolved itself. This new government (whose members had been selected by the Iraqi Governing Council and the CPA) was led by a prime minister and a president. The leaders were assisted by a deputy prime minister, two vice presidents, and a cabinet. On June 28 Bremer dissolved the CPA and formally transferred sovereignty to the new Iraqi interim government.

General elections to select a transitional National Assembly were held at the end of January 2005. Women must be represented in the assembly, and the interim constitution sets a target of 25 percent representation. Under the interim constitution, the new National Assembly must draft a permanent Iraqi constitution by August 15, 2005, and a national referendum on the draft constitution must be held by October 15. Elections for an Iraqi government under the new constitution are to be held by December 15.

B Political Divisions

Iraq is divided into 18 provinces, of which three are officially designated as a Kurdish autonomous region. The Kurdish autonomous region, first established in 1970, has an elected legislature. This region came under UN and coalition protection after the Persian Gulf War, to prevent Hussein from taking military action against rebellious Kurds. However, infighting among Kurdish groups rendered the government largely ineffective. In 1998 two rival Kurdish parties signed an agreement, brokered by the United States, that provided for a transitional power-sharing arrangement. However, the agreement has not been implemented, and each of the two parties governs its own slice of Kurdish territory. Under the 2004 interim constitution, the Kurds continue to have autonomy in the three provinces where they are a majority, and Kurdish is recognized as an official language throughout Iraq.

C Political Parties

The leading political organization in Iraq under Saddam Hussein was the Arab Baath Socialist Party (see Baath Party), which bases its policies on pan-Arab and socialist principles. Other political groups included the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP), the Kurdist?n Democratic Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdist?n (PUK), and a few other Kurdish parties. The two most important Shia opposition parties were the Da`wa Islamic Party and the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI). Until Hussein's overthrow, all these opposition parties were illegal outside the Kurdish autonomous region. Following the U.S. invasion, several parties formed a coalition called the Iraqi National Congress, which soon emerged as an important political force. The Baath Party remained a legal and open party. However, the U.S. administrator for Iraq banned some high-level Baath Party members from employment in the public sector.

D Defense

Under the Hussein government, military training in Iraq was compulsory for all males when they reached the age of 18; it consisted of about two years in active service and an additional period in the reserve. In 2002 the Iraqi army had about 350,000 members (including a large active reserves); the air force, 17,000 members; and the navy, 2,000 members.

Following the U.S. invasion, the U.S. civil administrator for Iraq dissolved the Iraqi military and outlined plans for a new force that would be limited to about 40,000 members. While establishing and training this new Iraqi force, the United States continued to station more than 100,000 U.S. troops in Iraq following the transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis in June 2004. The 2004 interim constitution called for the dissolution of private militias, such as those maintained by Kurds and some Shia political parties, although it allowed the Kurds to maintain their militia for an interim period.

E International Organizations

Iraq is a charter member of the United Nations (UN) and a founding member of the Arab League. The country is also a founding member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which promotes solidarity among nations where Islam is an important religion, and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Amatzia Baram contributed the Government section of this article.

VII HISTORY

The territory of modern Iraq is roughly equivalent to that of ancient Mesopotamia, which fostered a succession of early civilizations. Of these, the earliest known was the civilization of Sumer, which arose probably in the 4th millennium bc and had its final flowering under the 3rd Dynasty of Ur at the close of the 3rd millennium bc. Periods of control by Babylonia and Assyria followed. In 539 bc Cyrus the Great of Persia gained control of the region and incorporated it into the Persian Achaemenid empire. Achaemenid rule lasted until the military conquests of Macedonian king Alexander the Great in 331 bc. After Alexander's death the Greek Seleucid dynasty reigned in Mesopotamia, infusing the region with Hellenistic culture. About 100 years later the area was absorbed into the Parthian Empire (see Parthia), which except for two brief interludes of Roman rule survived until a new Persian force, the Sassanids, conquered the region in ad 227. Their rule stretched from eastern Persia to the Syrian Desert and Anatolia. Under 400 years of Sassanid rule, Mesopotamia was neglected and in decline.

A Arab Islamic Conquest

In the 7th century Arab adherents of the new religion of Islam began conquering large parts of the Middle East and North Africa (see Spread of Islam). The Arab Islamic conquest of what is now Iraq started in 633 ad and culminated in 636 at the Battle of Qadisiyya, a village on the Euphrates south of Baghd?d. At that battle an Islamic Arab army decisively defeated a Sassanid army that was six times larger. The Arab army moved quickly to Ctesiphon, the capital of the Sassanid Empire, where in 637 it seized a huge Persian treasure trove. The region was then absorbed into the expanding caliphate, or Islamic empire. Many tribes in the conquered land were Christian Arabs. Some of them converted to Islam, and the others were allowed to stay provided they paid a tax.

From the mid-8th century to 1258 Baghd?d was the capital of the Abbasid caliphate. The Abbasid period was a golden age of Islamic power and culture. During that period Baghd?d became the second largest city in the known world, after Constantinople, and the most important center of science and culture. For a time, the Abbasid realm was a mighty military power, its borders reaching southern France in the west and the borders of China in the east. In the mid-9th century the Abbasid caliphate began a slow decline. Turkic warrior slaves known as Mamluks became so prominent at the caliph's court that they almost monopolized power. In 945 the Buwayhids, an Iranian Shia dynasty, conquered Baghd?d. However, they allowed the Abbasid caliph to remain in office as a symbol of continuity and legitimacy. In 1055 the Seljuks, a Turkish Sunni clan, drove out the Buwayhids and reestablished Sunni rule in Baghd?d. The Seljuks respected the Abbasid caliph but allowed him to be only a figurehead. At the end of the 11th century Seljuk power started to decline.

B Mongol and Persian Rule

In 1258 Baghd?d was conquered and sacked by Hulagu, grandson of the great Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan. Hulagu killed all the scholars in Baghd?d and erected a pyramid from their skulls. He destroyed the elaborate irrigation system that the Abbasids had established. Iraq became a neglected frontier area ruled from the Mongol capital of Tabr?z in Persia. In 1335 the last great Mongol ruler of this region died, and anarchy prevailed. The Turkic conqueror Tamerlane sacked Baghd?d in 1401, again massacring many of its inhabitants. He, too, built a pyramid of skulls. Tamerlane's invasion and conquest marked the end of Baghd?d's greatness.

Ottoman Turkish and Iranian rulers vied for supremacy in Iraq until the Ottoman Empire finally secured control in the 17th century. The region was brought under Persian control in 1508. The Ottoman Turks conquered much of it in 1534. The Persians recaptured Baghd?d and large parts of Iraq in 1623, holding them until 1638, when Iraq was again brought under Ottoman rule. For almost three centuries thereafter Iraq was part of the Ottoman Empire.

C Ottoman Supremacy

The history of modern Iraq begins with the last phase of Ottoman rule, during the 19th century. Until the 1830s Ottoman rule in Iraq was tenuous, and real power shifted between powerful tribal chieftains and local Mamluk rulers. Many of the nomadic Arab tribes were never fully brought under Ottoman control. Local Kurdish dynasties held sway over the mountainous north. In the second half of the 18th century the Mamluks established effective control over the territory from Al Ba?rah to north of Baghd?d. The Mamluks imposed central authority and introduced a functioning government. In 1831 the province of Iraq, then subdivided into the three vilayets, or administrative districts, of Mosul, Baghd?d, and Al Ba?rah, came under direct Ottoman administration. From 1831 to 1869 a series of governors came and went in rapid succession.

From 1869 to 1872 Midhat Pasha, one of the Ottoman Empire's ablest and most scrupulous officials, at long last imposed effective central control throughout the region. He modernized Baghd?d, in everything from transportation to sanitation to education, and he imposed his rule on the tribal countryside. The Arabs began to experience the burdens of the new and more efficient methods of Ottoman administration, particularly with regard to tax collection. Local resentment of the centralized authority of the empire developed, giving rise to a strong spirit of Arab nationalism.

In the latter part of the 19th century Britain and Germany became rivals in the commercial development of the Mesopotamia area. The British first became interested in Iraq as a direct overland route to India. In 1861 they established a steamship company for the navigation of the Tigris to the port of Al Ba?rah. Meanwhile, Germany was planning the construction of a railroad in the Middle East—to run “from Berlin to Baghd?d”—and, overcoming British opposition, obtained a concession from the Ottoman government to build a railroad from Baghd?d to the Persian Gulf. Despite this defeat, the British government managed to consolidate its position in the Persian Gulf area by concluding treaties of protection with local Arab chieftains. British financiers were also successful in obtaining a concession in 1901 to exploit the oil fields of Iran. In 1909 the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company) was formed to develop this new industry.

In November 1914, after the Ottoman Empire entered World War I (1914-1918) as an ally of Germany and Austria-Hungary, a British army division landed at Al F?w, near Iraq's southern tip, and quickly occupied Al Ba?rah. The main reason for the landing was Britain's need to defend the Anglo-Persian Oil Company's oil fields and refineries nearby in Iran. The British army gradually pushed northward against heavy Ottoman opposition, entering Baghd?d in March 1917. The British and the Ottoman Turks signed an armistice agreement in October 1918, but the British army continued to move north until it captured Mosul in early November. With the capture of Mosul, Britain exerted its control over nearly all of Iraq.

D British Mandate

Early in the war, in order to ensure the interest of the Arabs in a military uprising against the Ottoman Turks, the British government promised a group of Arab leaders that their people would receive independence if a revolt proved successful. In June 1916 an uprising occurred in Al ?ij?z (the Hejaz), led by Faisal al-Husein, later Faisal I, first king of Iraq. Under the leadership of British general Edmund Allenby and the tactical direction of British colonel T. E. Lawrence (known as Lawrence of Arabia), the Arab and British forces achieved dramatic successes against the Ottoman army and succeeded in liberating much Arabian territory. After signing the armistice with the Ottoman government in 1918, the British and French governments issued a joint declaration stating their intention to assist in establishing independent Arab nations in the Arab areas formerly controlled by the Ottoman Empire.

At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the Allies (the coalition of the victorious nations in World War I, including Britain and France) made Iraq (the territory encompassing the three former Ottoman vilayets of Mosul, Baghd?d, and Al Ba?rah) a Class A mandate entrusted to Britain. Under the mandate system, a territory that had formerly been held by Germany or the Ottoman Empire was placed nominally under the supervision of the League of Nations, and the administration of the mandate was delegated to one of the victorious nations until the territory could govern itself. Class A mandates were expected to achieve independence in a few years. In April 1920 the Allied governments confirmed the creation of the British mandate in Iraq at a conference in San Remo, Italy.

In July 1920, when the Iraqi Arabs learned of the decision, they began an armed uprising against the British, then still occupying Iraq. The British were forced to spend huge amounts of money to quell the revolt, and the government of Britain concluded that it would be expedient to terminate its mandate in Mesopotamia. The British civil commissioner, their top administrator in Iraq, thereupon drew up a plan for a provisional government of the new state of Iraq: It was to be a kingdom, with a government directed by a council of Arab ministers under the supervision of a British high commissioner. Faisal was invited to become the ruler of the new state. In August 1921 a plebiscite elected Faisal king of Iraq; he won 96 percent of the votes cast in the election.

The new king had to build a local power base in Iraq. He accomplished this task primarily by winning the support of Iraqi-born military officers who had served in the Ottoman army and of Sunni Arab business and religious leaders in Baghd?d, Al Ba?rah, and Mosul. To win support in the Shia south, in the center north among the Sunni Arab tribes, and among the Kurds, the king with British support gave tribal chieftains wide powers over their tribes, including judicial powers and responsibility for tax collection in their tribal domains.

The Sunni Arab urban leaders and some Kurdish chieftains came to dominate the government and the army, while the Shia Arab chieftains and, to a lesser extent, the Sunni Arab chieftains came to dominate the parliament, enacting laws that benefited themselves. The lower classes had no say in the affairs of the state. They included poor peasants and, in the towns, a growing layer of Western-educated young men who were economically vulnerable and depended on the government for jobs. This latter group, known as the efendiyya, grew more and more restive. Both the ruling elite and the efendiyya embraced the ideas of the pan-Arab movement, which sought to join all the Arab lands into one powerful state. Pan-Arabism was seen as a way of uniting most of the diverse Iraqi population through a common Arab identity. The elite advocated achieving pan-Arabism through diplomacy with British consent, while the efendiyya developed a revolutionary and radically anti-British ideology.

E Independent Kingdom of Iraq

The integrity of the newly established state was challenged by various groups with separatist aspirations, such as the Shias of the Euphrates River area and the Kurdish tribes of the north. These groups acted in conjunction with Turkish armed forces endeavoring to reclaim the lands in the Mosul area for Turkey. The British were thus forced to maintain an army in Iraq, and agitation against the British mandate continued. King Faisal I formally requested that the mandate under which Iraq was held be transformed into a treaty of alliance between the two nations. Although Britain did not end the mandate, in June 1922 a 20-year treaty of alliance and protection between Britain and Iraq was signed. The treaty required that the king heed British advice on all matters affecting British interests and that British officials serve in specific Iraqi government posts. In return, Britain provided military assistance and other aid to Iraq. The British also created an Iraqi national army, which became an indispensable tool of domestic control in the hands of the ruling elite.

In the spring of 1924 a constituent assembly was convened. It passed an organic law establishing the permanent form of the government of Iraq. The king was given great, but not absolute, power. He could dismiss parliament, call for new elections, and appoint the prime minister. Elections for the first Iraqi parliament were held in March 1925. In the same year a concession was granted to an internationally owned oil company to develop the oil reserves of the Baghd?d and Mosul regions.

In 1927 Faisal I requested that the British support Iraq's application for admission to the League of Nations. The British refused to take such action at that time, but in June 1930 a new treaty of alliance between Britain and Iraq included a recommendation by Britain that Iraq be admitted to the League of Nations as a free and independent state in 1932. The recommendation was made that year, and the British mandate was formally terminated. In October 1932 Iraq joined the League of Nations as an independent sovereign state. Faisal I died in 1933 and was succeeded by his son, Ghazi, a radical pan-Arab and anti-British figure.

E1 Foreign Agreements

In 1931 the exploitation of the oil reserves in Iraq was further advanced by an agreement signed by the Iraqi government and the Iraq Petroleum Company, an internationally owned organization composed of Royal Dutch/Shell, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, French oil companies, and the Standard Oil companies of New York and New Jersey. The agreement granted the Iraq Petroleum Company the sole right to develop the oil fields of the Mosul region, in return for which the company guaranteed to pay the Iraqi government annual royalties. In 1934 the company opened an oil pipeline from Mosul to Tripoli, Lebanon, and a second one to Haifa, in what is now Israel, was completed in 1936.

In 1936 Iraq, under King Ghazi, moved toward a pan-Arab alliance with the other nations of the Arab world. A treaty of nonaggression, reaffirming a fundamental Arab kinship, was signed with the king of Saudi Arabia in the same year.

E2 Military Coup

Iraq experienced its first military coup d'état in 1936, when the army overthrew the pan-Arab Sunni government. The coup opened the door to future military involvement in Iraqi politics. Its leaders included a Kurdish general and a Shia politician. The moderate coalition government they put in power was accepted by the king and remained in office until 1939. In April 1939 King Ghazi was killed in an automobile accident, leaving his three-year-old son, Faisal II, the titular king under a regency.

E3 World War II

In accordance with its treaty of alliance with Britain, Iraq broke off diplomatic relations with Germany early in September 1939, at the start of World War II (1939-1945). During the first few months of the war Iraq had a pro-British government under General Nuri as-Said as prime minister. In March 1940, however, Said was replaced by Rashid Ali al-Gailani, a radical nationalist, who embarked at once on a policy of noncooperation with the British. The British pressured the Iraqis to cooperate with them. This pressure precipitated a military revolt on April 30, 1941, and a new pro-German government headed by Gailani was formed.

Alarmed at this development, the British landed troops at Al Ba?rah. Declaring this action a violation of the treaty between Britain and Iraq, Gailani mobilized the Iraqi army, and war between the two countries began in May. Later that month the government of Iraq conceded defeat. The armistice terms provided for the reestablishment of British control over Iraq's transport, a provision of the 1930 treaty of alliance. Shortly afterward, a pro-British government headed by Said was formed.

In 1942 Iraq became an important supply center for British and United States forces operating in the Middle East and for the transshipment of arms to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). On January 17, 1943, Iraq declared war on Germany, the first independent Islamic state to do so. Meanwhile, Iraq's continuing assistance to the Allied war effort made possible a stronger stand by Arab leaders on behalf of a federation of Arab states. After the war ended, Iraq joined with other Arab states in forming the Arab League, a regional association of sovereign states.

E4 War with Israel

Throughout 1945 and 1946 the Kurdish tribes of northeastern Iraq were in a state of unrest—supported, it was believed, by the USSR. The British, fearing Soviet encroachment on the Iraqi oil fields, moved troops into Iraq. In 1947 Said began to advocate a new proposal for a federated Arab state. This time he suggested that Transjordan (present-day Jordan) and Iraq be united, and he began negotiations with the king of Transjordan regarding this proposal. In April 1947 a treaty of kinship and alliance was signed by the two kingdoms, providing for mutual military and diplomatic aid.

Immediately following the declaration of independence by Israel in May 1948, the armies of Iraq and Transjordan invaded the new state. Throughout the rest of the year Iraqi armed forces continued to fight the Israelis, and the nation continued to work politically with the kingdom of Transjordan. In September Iraq joined Abdullah ibn Hussein, king of Transjordan, in denouncing the establishment of an Arab government in Palestine as being “tantamount to recognizing the partition of Palestine” into Jewish and Arab states, which Iraq had consistently opposed. With the general defeat of the Arab forces attacking Israel, however, the government of Iraq prepared to negotiate an armistice, represented by Transjordan. On May 11, 1949, a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Transjordan was signed, but Iraqi units continued to fight Israelis in an Arab-occupied area in north central Palestine. Transjordanian troops replaced the Iraqi units in this area under the terms of the armistice agreement, signed on April 3, 1949.

E5 Oil Accords and Elections

Royalties paid to the government of Iraq by the Iraq Petroleum Company increased substantially under accords reached in 1950 and 1951. By the terms of an even more advantageous arrangement, concluded in February 1952, Iraq obtained 50 percent of the profits. In 1953 the 911-km (566-mi) Kirk?k-B?niy?s (Syria) pipeline of the Iraq Petroleum Company was formally opened.

The first parliamentary elections based on direct suffrage took place on January 17, 1953. A pro-Western, pan-Arab government was formed. King Faisal II formally assumed the throne on May 2, 1953, his 18th birthday.

E6 Pro-Western Pacts

In February 1955 Iraq concluded the Baghd?d Pact, a mutual-security treaty with Turkey. Advancing plans to transform the alliance into a Middle Eastern defense system, the two countries urged the other Arab states, the United States, Britain, and Pakistan to adhere to the pact. Britain joined the alliance in April; Pakistan became a signatory in September and Iran in November. That month the five nations established the Middle East Treaty Organization (METO).

E7 Suez Crisis

In July 1956 Jordan (as Transjordan had been renamed) accused Israel of deploying an invasion army near Jerusalem, whereupon Iraq moved forces to the Jordanian border. That same month, in response to Egypt's nationalization of the Suez Canal, which Britain and France had controlled, the Iraqi government expressed unequivocal support of Egypt. In the ensuing Suez Crisis, Egypt was invaded by Israel, Britain, and France in October 1956. Within a week, however, the United Nations, at the urging of both the USSR and the United States, demanded a cease-fire, forcing Britain, France, and Israel to withdraw from the lands they had captured. In early November, Iraqi and Syrian troops occupied positions in Jordan in accordance with terms of a mutual-defense agreement.

In January 1957 Iraq endorsed the recently promulgated Eisenhower Doctrine. This doctrine stated that the United States would supply military assistance to any Middle Eastern government whose stability was threatened by communist aggression.

E8 Arab Union

In February 1958, following a conference between Faisal II and Hussein I, king of Jordan, Iraq and Jordan were federated. The new union, later named the Arab Union of Jordan and Iraq, was established as a countermeasure to the United Arab Republic (UAR), a federation of Egypt and Syria formed in February of that year. The constitution of the newly formed federation was proclaimed simultaneously in Baghd?d and Amman on March 19, and the document was ratified by the Iraqi parliament on May 12. Later that month Nuri as-Said, former prime minister of Iraq, was named premier of the Arab Union.

F Republic of Iraq

The UAR, bitterly antagonistic to the pro-Western Arab Union, issued repeated radio calls urging the people, police, and army of Iraq to overthrow their government. On July 14, 1958, in a sudden coup d'état led by the Iraqi general Abdul Karim Kassem, the country was proclaimed a republic. King Faisal II, the crown prince, and Said were among those killed in the uprising. On July 15 the new government announced the establishment of close relations with the UAR and the dissolution of the Arab Union. However, Kassem made attempts to gain the confidence of the West by maintaining the flow of oil.

In March 1959 Iraq withdrew from the Baghd?d Pact, which was then renamed the Central Treaty Organization. In June 1959 Iraq also withdrew from the sterling bloc (a group of countries whose currencies are tied to the British pound sterling).

Following the termination of the British protectorate over the emirate of Kuwait in June 1960, Iraq claimed the area, asserting that Kuwait had been part of the Iraqi state at the time of its formation. British forces entered Kuwait in July at the invitation of the Kuwaiti ruler, and the UN Security Council declined an Iraqi request to order their withdrawal.

Meanwhile, on the domestic front, the Iraqi government claimed in 1961 and 1962 that it had suppressed Kurdish revolts in northern Iraq. The Kurdish unrest persisted, however. The long conflict was temporarily settled in early 1970, when the government agreed to form a Kurdish autonomous region, and Kurdish ministers were added to the cabinet.

F1 Rise of the Baath Party

On February 8, 1963, Kassem was overthrown by a group of officers, most of them members of the Baath Party. Kassem was assassinated the following day. Abdul Salam Arif became president, and relations with the Western world improved. In April 1966 Arif was killed in a helicopter crash and was succeeded by his brother, General Abdul Rahman Arif.

During the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War (1967), Iraqi troops and planes were sent to the Jordanian-Israeli border. Iraq subsequently declared war on Israel and closed its oil pipeline supplying the Western nations, which it accused of siding with Israel. At the same time diplomatic relations with the United States were severed. In July 1968 Baath Party officers overthrew General Arif's government. Major General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, a former prime minister, was appointed head of the newly established Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), the country's supreme executive, legislative, and judicial body.

In the following years Iraq maintained general hostility toward the West and friendship with the USSR. The positions of individual Arab countries with regard to Israel caused some friction between Iraq and its neighbors. In 1971 Iraq closed its border with Jordan and called for its expulsion from the Arab League because of Jordan's efforts to crush the Palestinian guerrilla movement operating inside its borders.

From 1972 to 1975 Iraq fully nationalized the foreign oil companies operating in Iraq. The country enjoyed a massive increase in oil revenues starting in late 1973 when international petroleum prices began a steep rise. The discovery of major oil deposits in the vicinity of Baghd?d was announced publicly in 1975.

Iraq aided Syria with troops and matériel during the Arab-Israeli War of 1973. Calling for continued military action against Israel, Iraq denounced the cease-fire that ended the 1973 conflict and opposed the interim agreements negotiated by Egypt and Syria with Israel in 1974 and 1975.

F2 Kurdish Revolt

In early 1974 heavy fighting erupted in northern Iraq between government forces and Kurdish nationalists, who rejected as inadequate a new Kurdish autonomy law based on the 1970 agreement. The Kurds, led by Mustafa al-Barzani, received arms and other supplies from Iran. After Iraq agreed in early 1975 to make major concessions to Iran in settling their border disputes, Iran halted aid to the Kurds, and the revolt was dealt a severe blow.

G Saddam Hussein's Rule

In July 1979 President al-Bakr retired and was succeeded by General Saddam Hussein, believed to have been the true holder of power in Iraq for years. Hussein purged the Baath Party of al-Bakr loyalists, executing 55 senior party activists and army officers for treason. The reason for the purge was either opposition to Hussein's replacing al-Bakr or a dispute over the way in which Hussein would be elected. A series of executions for disloyalty from 1982 to 1986 sent a clear message that no one could question the new president's decisions and survive.

G1 Iran-Iraq War

In 1979 Islamic revolutionaries in Iran succeeded in overthrowing the country's secular government and established an Islamic republic there. Tension between the Iraqi government and Iran's new Islamic regime increased during that year, when unrest among Iranian Kurds spilled over into Iraq. Sunni-Shia religious animosities exacerbated the conflict. In September 1980 Iraq declared its 1975 agreement with Iran, which drew the border between the countries down the middle of the Shatt al Arab, null and void and claimed authority over the entire river.

The quarrel flared into a full-scale war (see Iran-Iraq War). Iraq quickly overran a large part of the Arab-populated province of Kh?zest?n (Khuzistan) in Iran and destroyed the ?b?d?n refinery. In June 1981 Iraq sustained a humiliating blow, but not from Iran. A surprise air attack by Israel destroyed a nuclear reactor near Baghd?d. The Israelis charged that the reactor was intended to develop nuclear weapons for use against them. In early 1982 Iran launched a counteroffensive, and by May it had reclaimed much of the territory conquered by Iraq in 1980. In the ensuing stalemate, each side inflicted heavy damage on the other and on Persian Gulf shipping. Iraq and Iran signed a cease fire, ending the war.

As Hussein negotiated the cease fire with Iran, the Iraqi government again moved to suppress the Kurdish insurgency. In 1988 the Iraqi military used a variety of chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians in the Iraqi town of ?alabjah, killing approximately 5,000 people. During the late 1980s Iraq rebuilt its military machine, in part through bank credits and technology obtained from Western Europe and the United States.

G2 Persian Gulf War

In 1990 Hussein revived Iraq's long-standing territorial dispute with Kuwait, its ally during the war with Iran. Iraq claimed that overproduction of petroleum by Kuwait was injuring Iraq's economy by depressing the price of crude oil. Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait on August 2 and rapidly took over the country. The UN Security Council issued a series of resolutions that condemned the occupation, imposed a broad trade embargo on Iraq, and demanded that Iraq withdraw unconditionally by January 15, 1991.

When Iraq failed to comply, a coalition led by the United States began intensive aerial bombardment of military and infrastructural targets in Iraq and Kuwait in January 1991. The ensuing Persian Gulf War proved disastrous for Iraq, which was forced out of Kuwait in about six weeks. Coalition forces invaded southern Iraq, and tens of thousands of Iraqis were killed. Many of the country's armored vehicles and artillery pieces were destroyed, and its nuclear and chemical weapons facilities were severely damaged.

In April, Iraq agreed to UN terms for a permanent cease-fire; coalition troops withdrew from southern Iraq as a UN peacekeeping force moved in to police the Iraq-Kuwait border. Meanwhile, Hussein used his remaining military forces to suppress rebellions by Shias in the south and Kurds in the north. Hundreds of thousands of Kurdish refugees fled to Turkey and Iran, and U.S., British, and French troops landed inside Iraq's northern border to establish a Kurdish enclave with refugee camps to protect another 600,000 Kurds from Iraqi government reprisals. In addition, international forces set up no-fly zones in both northern and southern Iraq to ensure the safety of the Kurdish and Shia populations.

In November 1994 Hussein signed a decree formally accepting Kuwait's sovereignty, political independence, and territorial integrity. The decree effectively ended Iraq's claim to Kuwait as a province of Iraq.

G3 Kurdish Strife

In 1994 Iraq continued its efforts to crush internal resistance with an economic embargo of the Kurdish-populated north and a military campaign against Shia rebels in the southern marshlands. The Shias were quickly subdued, but the crisis in the Kurdish region, which had long suffered from internal rivalries, was prolonged. Kurds had often disputed over land rights, and as their economic and political security deteriorated in the early 1990s, the conflicts became more extreme. In the mid-1990s clashes between the Patriotic Union of Kurdist?n (PUK) and the Kurdist?n Democratic Party (KDP) led to a state of civil war.

In August 1996 leaders of the KDP asked Hussein to intervene in the war. He sent at least 30,000 troops into the Kurdish enclave protected by international forces, capturing the PUK stronghold of Irb?l. The international forces decided to leave the enclave rather than intervene in the dispute between rival Kurdish factions. The KDP was quickly installed in power. The United States responded to Hussein's incursion with two missile strikes against southern Iraq, but the following month Iraq again helped KDP fighters, this time taking the PUK stronghold of As Sulaym?n?yah. By 1997 the KDP ruled most of northern Iraq.

In September 1998 the PUK and KDP signed an agreement calling for the establishment of a joint regional government. Although implementation of the agreement proceeded more slowly than planned, it resulted in an end to the fighting between the two groups.

G4 Sanctions

A UN trade embargo remained in place after the Persian Gulf War. The Security Council laid out strict demands on Iraq for lifting the sanctions, including destruction of its chemical and biological weapons, cessation of nuclear weapons programs, and acceptance of international inspections to ensure that these conditions were met. Iraq resisted these demands, claiming that its withdrawal from Kuwait was sufficient compliance. UN weapons inspectors entered Iraq in mid-1991 and began destroying chemical and biological weapons and production facilities in mid-1992.

By the mid-1990s Iraq was suffering an economic crisis. Prices were high, food and medicine shortages were rampant, and the free-market (unofficial) exchange rate for the dinar was in severe decline. Although the sanctions continued, in April 1995 the UN Security Council voted unanimously to allow Iraq to sell limited amounts of oil to meet its urgent humanitarian needs. Iraq initially rejected the plan but then accepted it in 1996; it began to export oil at the end of that year. In 1998 the UN increased the amount of oil Iraq was allowed to sell, but Iraq was unable to take full advantage of this increase because its production capabilities had deteriorated under the sanctions.

G5 Weapons Inspections

Beginning in the late 1990s Iraq increasingly faced the possibility of another military crisis. Iraq's interference with UN weapons inspectors almost led to punitive U.S. air strikes against Iraq in early 1998, a step that was averted by a last-minute compromise brokered by UN secretary general Kofi Annan. In December of that year, in response to reports that Iraq was continuing to block inspections, the United States and Britain launched a four-day series of air strikes on Iraqi military and industrial targets. In response, Iraq declared that it would no longer comply with UN inspection teams. In the following years, British and U.S. planes periodically struck Iraqi missile launch sites and other targets.

Despite interference by Iraqi authorities, UN weapons inspectors succeeded in destroying thousands of chemical weapons, hundreds of missiles, and numerous weapon production facilities before leaving Iraq in late 1998. But inspectors believed that Hussein still possessed many more chemical weapons, and expressed concerns that Iraq had inadequately reported the scale of its biological weapons program and stockpile.

G6 U.S. Invasion

In 2002 U.S. president George W. Bush insisted that Iraq prove that it had disarmed as required under the terms that ended the Persian Gulf War. In November 2002, after months of heightened diplomatic pressure from the UN and military pressure from the United States, Iraq accepted a UN resolution ordering the immediate return of weapons inspectors to Iraq. In early 2003 Hans Blix, who led the UN weapons inspection team, reported that Iraq was not in full compliance with UN Security Council resolutions, but Blix asked for more time to complete his mission. The United States objected to the request for more time, arguing that Hussein had failed to comply fully with UN resolutions since 1991. The Bush administration also argued that Iraq was continuing to hide significant quantities of banned chemical and biological weapons. The United States was unsuccessful, however, in obtaining UN Security Council approval for military measures against Iraq.

The United States, with the support of Britain and several other nations, built up a military force in the Persian Gulf in preparation for a possible war against Iraq. Other countries, including France, Germany, and Russia, opposed military action, arguing that diplomacy and inspections should be given more time to work. After the UN Security Council failed to reach consensus regarding military action against Iraq, U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq in March 2003 with the goals of removing Hussein from power and destroying the country's alleged stockpiles of banned weapons (see U.S.-Iraq War of 2003). By mid-April U.S.-led forces had swept across southern Iraq, and Kurdish forces, with the help of the U.S. military, had captured the major cities of the north. Baghd?d fell to U.S. forces in April. Hussein remained at large, but was no longer in power..

In December U.S. forces captured Hussein at a farm near Tikr?t. Interim Iraqi leaders pledged to try Hussein for crimes against humanity.

H Post-Hussein Iraq

After U.S. president George Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May 1, the United States and its allies then began the process of rebuilding the country. The coalition established the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), headed by U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer III. The CPA, in turn, established a 25-member Iraqi Governing Council, with seats distributed among the country's different religious and ethnic groups as well as existing political organizations. Many council members were exiles who returned to Iraq following the downfall of the Hussein regime. The council was charged with drafting a new constitution that would pave the way for elections and a new Iraqi government. Coalition forces and Iraqis who cooperated with them faced persistent guerrilla resistance in the form of sniper attacks and roadside bombs directed against coalition troops, and also terrorist bombings directed against civilians. One such suicide bomb destroyed the UN's Baghd?d headquarters on August 19, 2003, killing Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN secretary general's special representative in Iraq, and 21 others. In September gunmen assassinated a member of the Iraqi Governing Council in an attack near her Baghd?d home.

A U.S. team known as the Iraq Survey Group, charged with surveying Iraq's weapons stockpiles and programs, released an interim report in October stating that it had failed to find any weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. The team said it had found evidence of illegal activities related to WMD programs but could not find any buildings or other facilities used in an ongoing way to produce weapons of mass destruction. The team's leader, David Kay, resigned from the Survey Group in January 2004, saying U.S. intelligence agencies were probably wrong about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction. However, Kay suggested that in view of the chaos in Hussein's government, the danger existed that if Iraq ever did develop weapons of mass destruction, individual scientists or military officers might furnish such weapons to terrorists.

H1 Interim Constitution

In March 2004 the Iraqi Governing Council approved an interim constitution, or transitional administrative law, for Iraq. The interim constitution included a bill of rights, guaranteeing individual rights of free speech and freedom of religion. It was hailed as one of the most democratic documents in the region. Radical Islamic fundamentalists rejected the constitution, however, because it was drafted under foreign occupation and because it failed to declare that Islamic law is the only source of legislation. More moderate Muslim leaders, such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and other senior Shia clerics, objected to portions of the constitution that allowed a large minority group, such as the Kurds, to have veto power over government decisions and a permanent constitution.

H2 Violent Insurgence

In March 2004 terrorist bombings in Karbal?' and Baghd?d killed more than 100 Iraqis and wounded hundreds more, including Shia Muslims who were commemorating the martyrdrom of Imam Hussein, who died in 680 ad, on the holy day of Ashura. The perpetrators were widely believed to be supporters of al-Qaeda. From April 2003 to March 2004, about 90 percent of the attacks against coalition and Iraqi security forces were carried out in the region north and west of Baghd?d known as the Sunni Arab triangle. Southern Iraq, where mostly Shia Muslims live, was relatively peaceful, and the Kurdish zone in northern Iraq was peaceful. In April 2004 coalition forces became the targets of attack in southern Iraq as well.

April 2004 proved to be a particularly bloody month. On March 27 U.S. forces closed a newspaper aligned with radical Shia Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr for printing news stories that blamed the deadly bombings in Karbal?' and Baghd?d on U.S. forces. The closure sparked protest demonstrations at which U.S. forces said they were fired upon and so returned fire. Following the protest, members of Sadr's private militia began attacking U.S. and coalition forces. Then the CPA issued arrest warrants against Sadr and one of his aides, signed by an Iraqi judge, accusing the two men of the murder of Ayatollah Abd al-Majid Kho'i in April 2003.

At about the same time Sunni Muslim insurgents in the city of Al Fall?jah killed four U.S. civilian contractors, and a jubilant crowd mutilated their bodies. Coalition forces responded by surrounding the city of Al Fall?jah and calling for the arrest of those responsible for the contractors' deaths. A few days later Sadr and his militia took control of the holy Shia towns of An Najaf and Karbal?'. This prompted the coalition forces to lay siege to both towns. By the end of the month, U.S. military commanders estimated that they had killed 1,000 insurgents and lost 131 troops, the highest death toll for any single month in the conflict up to that point. The Associated Press and The Brookings Institution reported that 1,361 Iraqis, including civilians, insurgents, and Iraqi security forces, were killed during the fighting in April, which was concentrated in central and southern Iraq and the area around Al Fall?jah. Estimates of the number of Iraqi civilians killed from March 2003 to early May 2004 ranged from about 2,600 to about 10,000.

H3 Transition to Civilian Rule

On June 1, 2004, the Iraqi Governing Council announced the formation of a new interim government and dissolved itself. This new government was led by a Shia Muslim prime minister named Iyad Allawi and a Sunni Muslim president, Sheik Ghazi al-Yawar. On June 28 Bremer dissolved the Coalition Provisional Authority, formally transferred sovereignty to the new Iraqi government, and left the country. However, coalition military forces remained in place in Iraq. Military commanders said the United States would keep about 135,000 troops in Iraq through the end of 2005.

General elections to select a transitional Iraqi National Assembly were held at the end of January 2005. A Shia coalition backed by cleric al-Sistani won 48 percent of the vote, followed by the Kurdist?n Alliance (a coalition of the Kurdist?n Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdist?n) with 26 percent and interim prime minister Allawi's political group with 14 percent. About 58 percent of registered Iraqi voters participated in the election, which was boycotted by many of the nation's Sunnis. In April the National Assembly selected Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as Iraq's new president, and Talabani named Shia leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari the country's new prime minister.

Contributed By:

Amatzia Baram

Wajeeh Elali

Iraq: Flag and Anthem

Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved./ Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.