Iraq

Historical Evolution: The Republic of Iraq, aljumhuriyya al-'iraqiyya, is an Arab nation located in southwestern Asia, at the head of the Persian/Arabian Gulf. Iraq is bordered by its Arab neighbors Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria and by non-Arab Turkey and Iran. The capital of Iraq is Baghdad, also its largest city. The land area measures 438,446 kilometers (175,378 square miles). In July 2000 the population was estimated to be more than 22.6 million. About three-fourths of Iraq's people live in the fertile area that stretches from Baghdad, following the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The ancient Greeks named this area Mesopotamia, or "between rivers." For thousands of years, the agriculture of the area has depended on the flow of irrigation from these two sources.

The country is comprised of 18 administrative units, or governorates (muhaafatha, plural muhaafathaat), further divided into districts and subdistricts. Iraq is a nation of varied ethnic groups and cultural heritages; Iraqis of Arab descent comprise 75.8 percent of the population, while Iraq's Kurdish peoples number 15 to 20 percent. Turkomans, Assyrians, and other groups compose the remaining 5 percent of the population. The three governorates of Arbil, Sulaymaniya, and Dohouk form the Kurdish Autonomous Region, an area of limited self-rule by Iraq's Kurdish minority. Kurdish is the official language of the Autonomous Region and is widely used as the language of educational instruction in the area. Nearly 97 percent of Iraq's people are Muslim, along with tiny groups of Christians, Jews, and Yezidis. The Muslim population is split into the Sunni (32 to 37 percent) and the Shi'a sects (60 to 65 percent). Approximately three-quarters of the population speak Arabic as their native language. Arabic is the official language of Iraq, with Kurdish, Assyrian, and Armenian spoken among their respective ethnic groups.

Iraq's natural resources give it the potential to be one of the wealthiest nations in the region and the world. A founding member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Iraq possesses more than 112 billion barrels of oil—the world's second largest proven reserves. Iraq also benefits from its geography, unique in the region; two great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, converge in the heart of the nation, creating a fertile alluvial plain and generous tracts of cultivatable land.

The history of Iraq has been marked by cultural ascendance comparable only to the glory of the ancient Egyptian and Greco-Roman civilizations. Mesopotamia sustained its place as an axis of learning for more than 4,000 years, attracting students, thinkers, and intellectuals from around the world. The world's first civilization developed in the area of Mesopotamia known as Sumer around 3500 B.C.E. Ancient Iraq was also the site of the Assyrian and Babylonian civilizations, extant in the period from 3500 B.C.E. to 53 B.C.E. The Code of Hammurabi, the first codified legal system, and cuneiform, the first system of writing, were both invented in what is now modern Iraq. The Arab conquest of 637 C.E. brought with it Arabic, the language of the Qur'an, and the Islamic faith. Mesopotamia was soon to be the hub of trade and culture in the Muslim world, becoming the seat of the Abbasid dynasty in 750 C.E. Saladin, or Salah Al-Din, a Kurdish warrior from Mesopotamia, defeated the Crusaders in Jerusalem in 1187. In 1258, Arab rule over the area was brought to an end by invading Mongol forces from central Asia. Mesopotamia lost its preeminence through Mongol neglect and fell into a deep decline. The Ottoman Empire's domination of the region began in the early 1500s and continued until Britain seized Mesopotamia from the Ottomans during World War I.

Modern Political Contexts: The League of Nations, the international organization that preceded the United Nations, granted Britain a mandate over the area in 1920; Britain promptly renamed the country Iraq and installed a puppet monarchy. France, Britain, and the United States competed for dominance of the Middle East beginning after World War I, when massive oil reserves were discovered there. In 1945, the U.S. State Department described the petroleum of the region as "one of the greatest material prizes in world history." Though Britain's mandate ended in 1932 making Iraq an independent nation, the British continued to exert influence on Iraqi affairs, including a stake in national oil profits and considerable sway over the monarchy they had installed. The year 1958 saw Iraq's first modern revolution: King Faisal I was overthrown by Iraqi army officers and a republic was declared. In 1963, military officers and members of the socialist, pan-Arab Baath Party (Arabic for "resurrection") assassinated the premier, General Abdelkarim Qassem. A second revolution followed in 1968. In 1973, the Iraqi government fully nationalized the nation's oil industry and huge profits were realized, especially in light of the oil explosion of the 1970s. Saddam Hussein rose to power as president in 1980 after years of behind the scenes influence within the ranks of the Baath. The Baath Party continues to dominate contemporary Iraqi politics and government.

The recent history of Iraq is fraught with almost unabated military conflict, at a great cost to the Iraqi government and people. In 1980, Iraq invaded neighboring Iran, and an eight-year long war caused egregious losses on both sides; a cease-fire was declared in 1988 and no clear winner emerged. Conflicts with its Kurdish minorities in the north and Shi'a groups in the south have lead the Iraqi government to take such steps as: the forced resettlement and dispersal of entire communities of Iraqis; the draining of marshland integral to the way of life of its occupants; and the use of armed forces to curb opposition.

In 1990, Iraq invaded neighboring Kuwait after protracted disputes involving Iraqi debt to the Gulf state, border disputes, and accusations of illegal oil drilling. Allied forces from more than 30 nations ejected the Iraqi military from Kuwait, and Operation Desert Storm came to a halt in February 1991. In response to Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait, the United Nations, led by the United States, effected a complete trade embargo on Iraq that has crippled its economy. This embargo, a form of international sanctions, legally prevents Iraq from exporting oil or importing any products, save for a small amount intended for humanitarian supplies ("Oil for Food") and reparations to Kuwait.

The Impact of Sanctions: The sanctions have become the key factor preventing the Iraqi government from recovering from its costly conflicts, rebuilding its infrastructure, and providing for its population. The sanctions prevent Iraq from selling oil and, thus, sever the most significant part of the Iraqi economy. Since 1991, Iraq's economy has shrunk by two-thirds; inflation reached 135 percent in 1999. More than 150,000 Iraqi people died as a result of the Gulf War; more than 1 million more have perished as a result of the sanctions, which some have described as genocide. The mortality rate for young children has more than doubled since 1989. Iraq's health care, social infrastructure, employment, and its ability to extend educational opportunity to its citizens, a primary goal of the Iraqi government since the late 1960s, have all been paralyzed by the trade embargo. In 1989, Iraq had a nearly 100 percent primary school enrollment rate. Once on the threshold of the first world, Iraq's standard of living has been reduced to less than that of such developing nations as Bangladesh. Any consideration of the future of this nation must take into account the sanctions' devastating effect on the Iraqi people.