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Iraq Project

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Iraq
Monica Brown
History
January 23, 2012
Mr. Fitzsimmons

Fact sheet
National name: Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah
Current government officials
Languages: Arabic (official), Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Assyrian, Armenian
Ethnicity/race: Arab 75%–80%, Kurdish 15%–20%, Turkoman, Assyrian, or other 5%
Religions: Islam 97% (Shiite 60%–65%, Sunni 32%–37%), Christian or other 3%
National Holiday: Revolution Day, July 17
Literacy rate: 74% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2009 est.): $112 billion; per capita $3,600. Real growth rate: 4.3%. Inflation: 6.8%. Unemployment: 15.2%. Arable land: 13%. Agriculture: wheat, barley, rice, vegetables, dates, cotton; cattle, sheep, poultry. Labor force: 7.4 million; agriculture n.a., industry n.a., services n.a. Industries: petroleum, chemicals, textiles, leather, construction materials, food processing, fertilizer, metal fabrication/processing. Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, phosphates, sulfur. Exports: $38 billion (2009): crude oil (83.9%), crude materials excluding fuels (8.0%), food and live animals (5.0%). Imports: $55.4 billion (2009): food, medicine, manufactures. Major trading partners: U.S., Spain, Italy, Canada, Syria, Turkey, Jordan (2006).
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 1.547 million (2005); mobile cellular: 10.9 million (2007). Radio broadcast stations: after 17 months of unregulated media growth, there are approximately 80 radio stations on the air inside Iraq (2004). Television broadcast stations: 21 (2004). Internet hosts: 3 Internet users: 36,000 (2007).
Transportation: Railways: total: 2,272 km (2006). Highways: total: 45,550 km; paved: 38,399 km; unpaved: 7,151 km (1999). Waterways: 5,279 km (not all navigable); note: Euphrates River (2,815 km), Tigris River (1,895 km), and Third River (565 km) are principal waterways (2006). Ports and harbors: Al Basrah, Khawr az Zubayr, Umm Qasr. Airports: 110 (2007).
International disputes: coalition forces assist Iraqis in monitoring boundary security; Iraq's lack of a maritime boundary with Iran prompts jurisdiction disputes beyond the mouth of the Shatt al Arab in the Persian Gulf; Turkey has expressed concern over the status of Kurds in Iraq.

Iraq
Iraq has been known to be one of the most hostile countries in the world. The oil that powers many of the machines we use today we get from Iraq. The oil industry brings in over 95% of Iraq’s income.
In this paper, I will discuss the history of Iraq as well as other important facts about this country that has been known as a “Terrorist Country”. Many people have lost their lives in this country that was originally a Holy Land. Wars, terrorist attacks, bombings and other senseless killings have taken the lives of many innocent people.

Ancient Iraq Once known as Mesopotamia, Iraq was the site of ancient civilizations, including the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Parthians. Muslims conquered Iraq in the seventh century A.D. In the eighth century, the Abassid caliphate established its capital at Baghdad, which became a frontier outpost on the Ottoman Empire.

At the end of World War I, Iraq became a British-mandated territory. When it was declared independent in 1932, the Hashemite family, who also ruled Jordan, ruled as a constitutional monarchy. In 1945, Iraq joined the United Nations and became a founding member of the Arab League. In 1956, the Baghdad Pact allied Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom, and established its headquarters in Baghdad. ,
General Abdul Karim Qasim took over power in July 1958.During this take over King Faysal II and Prime Minister Nuri as-Said were killed. Qasim ended Iraq's membership in the Baghdad Pact in 1959. Qasim was assassinated in February 1963, when the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party or (Ba'ath Party) took power under the leadership of General Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr as prime minister and Col. Abdul Salam Arif as president. Nine months later, Arif led a coup ousting the Ba'ath government. In April 1966, Arif was killed in a plane crash and was succeeded by his brother, Gen. Abdul Rahman Mohammad Arif. On July 17, 1968, members of the Baath Party and military overthrew the Arif regime. In July 1979, Bakr resigned, and he chose Saddam Hussein to become President.

The Reign of Saddam
Saddam Hussein was the dictator of Iraq from 1979 until 2003, when his regime was overthrown by a United States-led invasion. Saddam Hussein had joined the revolutionary Baath party while he was a university student. He launched his political career in 1958 by assassinating a supporter of Iraqi ruler Abdul-Karim Qassim.. He led Iraq through a decade-long war with Iran, and in August of 1990 he invaded the country of Kuwait. The U.S.-led alliance ran Saddam out of Kuwait in the Gulf War, which ended in February of 1991 with Saddam Hussein still in power. Hussein came under renewed pressure in 2002 from George Bush, the son of the first President Bush. Saddam Hussein's regime was overthrown by an invasion of U.S. and British forces in March of 2003. Hussein disappeared, but U.S. forces captured him on December 13, 2003 after finding him hiding in a small underground pit on a farm near the town of Tikrit. In 2005 he went on trial in Iraq for the 1982 deaths of over 140 men in the town of Dujail. On November 5, 2006 he was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. The sentence was upheld after an appeal and Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging in Baghdad on the morning of December 30, 2006.

Geography of Iraq
Iraq is a triangle of mountains, desert, and fertile river valley, is bounded on the east by Iran, on the north by Turkey, on the west by Syria and Jordan, and on the south by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. It is twice the size of Idaho. The country has desert land west of the Euphrates, a broad central valley between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers and mountains in the northeast.
It is one of the easternmost countries in the Arab world, and is almost at the same latitude as the United States. Iraq has only 12 miles of coastline extending along the Persian Gulf and can be divided into four major regions: the Tigris-Euphrates alluvial plains in central and southeastern Iraq; Al-Jazïrah, an upland region in the north between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; deserts in the west and south, covering about two-fifths of the country; and highlands in the northeast. The Tigris-Euphrates river system drains into Iraq, fed by melting winter snow in Turkey, and gives Iraq rich soil, making agriculture a major part of the economy.

The Climate in Iraq
Iraq has two climatic provinces: the hot, arid lowlands, including the alluvial plains and the deserts; and the damper northeast, where the higher elevation produces cooler temperatures. The lowlands are covered by heavy alluvial soils with a high proportion of clay, suitable for cultivation and use as a building material. There are two seasons, summer and winter, with only short temperature change between them. Summer lasts from May to October has cloudless skies, hot temperatures, low humidity, and no rain from June through September. Temperatures in Baghdad average 95 °F but have been recorded up to 123 °F. During the winter, which lasts from December to February, temperatures are mild with both hot and cold weather, but the average temperatures are 35 to 60 °F. Rain of about 4 to 7 inches falls between November and April.
In the northeast, summer is shorter while the winter lasts longer. Temperatures are about 5-10 degrees cooler .The rainfall is also greater.

Plant and Animal Life
Due to the drought and Iraq’s terrain, the most common form of wildlife is birds and small animals like badgers, otters, and muskrats. Marcia’s gazelle exists in certain remote deserts. Common too much of the Middle East, the desert locust also lives in Iraq. Few forests exist, aside from a few oak forests in Kurdistan. The most common plants are alpine species in the mountains and shrubs and herbs in the more arid regions, while more types of grasses and plants grow along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Two of these are licorice and the date palm.

Culture in Iraq
The culture of Iraq is diverse. About 75% of the Iraqi people are Arab.15% of the Iraqis are Kurds. 3% are Persians. 2% of them are Turkomans and the other 5% are either Chaldeans, Jezira Bedouin.The Bedouin people mostly live in the mountains of the north, Assyrians, and Yezidis.
Most of Iraq's people live in cities. Only about 26% of the population lives out in the country. 97% of the Iraqi people are Muslims. The other 3% are either Christian, Sabaean, or Yezedi. 60% of the population of Iraq is Shiite. 35% is Sunni. The Sunni and Shiite people hate each other and are constantly fighting and killing each other. Hatred and killing between these two groups is a natural part of the culture of Iraq, going back centuries.
There are some rules to abide by if you get to actually meet some Iraqis. First, if you are giving Iraqis food or handing anything at all to them, use your right hand only. The reason is because Iraqis use their left hand to clean their privates in the bathroom. To them, the left hand is dirty, reserved only for this purpose. In turn, if an Iraqi gives you food, receive it only with your right hand. Do not use your left hand to eat in front of them because they think it is disgusting. No hugging, kissing or holding hands in public. This is offensive to Iraqis, unless two non-homosexual men are holding hands, which they do a lot.
If you are sitting and someone comes into the room, get up. Do not remain seated until you have been greeted. When you are shaking hands, after each handshake, use your palm to touch your heart.
Do not show the bottoms of your feet to anyone. Keep your feet flat on the ground when you sit. The bottoms of the feet are seen as unclean and are a big insult to the Iraqis. If you enter an Iraqi home, take your shoes off at the door.
A man should never go up to a woman or even look at her until he has been introduced to her by someone else. The culture of Iraq demands no low-cut clothing. Cover the shoulders, cleavage, and legs at all times, unless at the pool or the beach. No shorts or t-shirts unless you are swimming. Wear shorts and t-shirts instead of a bathing suit to swim in.

Education in Iraq
Iraq was once seen as a model of education in the Arab world. The country was proud to have some of the region’s highest literacy rates. Today, up to one-quarter of Iraq's adults are illiterate. Years of war have left their mark. Instead dealing with education, many Iraqis are trying to survive. A decline in the skills of the country’s teachers has taken its toll on those students who do want to learn. Many of the Universities have been closed and the students who were to become the next doctors and scientist were killed in the recent years of war. Iraq’s education is suffering.

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The U.S. Launches War in Iraq
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, President Bush began calling for a “regime change” in Iraq, describing the nation as part of an “axis of evil.” The alleged existence of weapons of mass destruction, the frustrations of UN weapons inspectors, Iraq's alleged links to terrorism, and Saddam Hussein's despotism and human rights abuses were the major reasons cited for needing a defensive strike against the country. The Arab world and much of Europe condemned the aggressive and unilateral U.S. stance. The UK, however, declared its intention to support the U.S. in military action. On Sept. 12, 2002, Bush addressed the UN, challenging the organization to swiftly enforce its own resolutions against Iraq, or else the U.S. would act on its own. On Nov. 8, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution imposing tough new arms inspections on Iraq. On Nov. 26, new inspections of Iraq's military holdings began
On March 20, the war against Iraq began at 5:30 A.M. Baghdad time (9:30 P.M. EST , March 19) with the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom. By April 9, U.S. forces had taken control of the capital, signaling the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime. Although the war had been officially declared over on May 1, 2003, Iraq remained enveloped in violence and chaos. Iraqis began protesting almost immediately against the delay in self-rule and the absence of a timetable to end the U.S. occupation. In July, the U.S. administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, appointed an Iraqi governing council. With No Evidence of Weapons in Iraq, Bush Calls Iraq the Focal Point of War on Terror.
Cost of War Graph

Timeline

500 BC | Mesopotamia, known as the world's first civilization, developed in South Eastern Iraq | | 539 BC | Mesopotamia was conquered by the Persians | | 332 BC | Alexander the Great conquers the Persians | | 226 AD | The Persian Sassanid dynasty took control of Mesopotamia | | 126 BC | The Greek rule ended when the Parthians established control of Iraq | | 633AD | Arab Muslims conquer the Sassanids and Iraq | | 750 | The Abbasids conquer the Islamic world. Baghdad was founded as the capital | | 1258 | Mesopatamia and its capital Baghdad falls to Mongol invaders led by the grandson of Genghis Khan. The Arab Empire was destroyed | | 1500s | The Ottoman Empire conquers the region | | 1700s | The Ottoman power in Mesopotamia begins to decline | | 1800s | Great Britain becomes involved with Mesapotamia needing to protect their trade routes with India and the East | | 1914 | 1914-1918 World War I | | 1917 | British troops occupy Baghdad | | 1920 | The League of Nations give Great Britain a mandate to rule over Mesopotamia | | 1920 | The San Remo Peace Conference of Allied Powers. Mesopotamia is renamed Iraq | | 1921 | The British set up King Faisal I as the monarch and control the government | | 1925 | The League of Nations sets the border between Turkey and Iraq which places the Mosul region in Iraq rather than Turkey against the wishes of the Kurdish population | | 1932 | Iraq become independent | | 1937 | April 28 - Saddam Hussein was born | | 1939 | 1939-1945 World War 2 breaks out | | 1940 | 1940-1941 The Iraqi government allies with Germany, Italy and Japan seeking to rid Iraq of British power and influence | | 1941 | Great Britain defeat Iraq | | 1945 | End of 1939-1945 World War 2 and Iraq helps to form the Arab League | | 1948 | The Arab League declares war against the newly formed Israel | | 1950 | 1950-1952 Iraq signs agreements with foreign oil companies and receives 50% of the oil profits | | 1953 | Faisal II became king of Iraq | | 1950s | Many Iraqis began to oppose the monarchy. They wanted a say in the government | | 1955 | Iraq signed the Baghdad Pact with Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey | | 1958 | Iraq becomes a republic during a military coup and the monarchy is killed | | 1972 | Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation signed between Iraq and the Soviet Union.
The country nationalises the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) | | 1975 | Iraq and Iran sign a treaty ending border disputes | | 1979 | Saddam Hussein succeeds Al-Bakr as Iraqi President | | 1980 | 4 September: Iraq invades Iran starting the Iran-Iraq war | | 1981 | 7 June: Israel attacks an Iraqi nuclear research centre at Tuwaythah near Baghdad. | | 1988 | 16 March: Chemical attack on Kurds Iraq believed to have used chemical weapons against the Kurdish town of Halabjah | | 1990 | 2 August: Iraq invades Kuwait
United Nations Security Council imposes economic sanctions on Iraq
8 August: Iraq announces the merger of Iraq and Kuwait | | 1991 | 17 January: A coalition of 39 countries begin bombing Iraq starting the Persian Gulf War
The aerial bombing of Iraq is called "Operation Desert Storm" 27 February: The liberation of Kuwait3 March - Iraq accepts the terms of a ceasefire | | 1992 | 26 August: A no-fly zone banning Iraqi planes set up in southern Iraq | | 1993 | 27 June - US launch cruise missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad | | 1994 | 29 May - Saddam Hussein becomes prime minister of Iraq | | 1995 | 14 April - UNSC agree to allow the partial resumption of oil exports to buy food and medicine called the "oil-for-food programme" - implemented December 1996 | | 1995 | 15 October - Referendum allows Saddam Hussein to remain president for another seven years. | | 1996 | 31 August: Iraqi forces launch offensive into northern no-fly zone and capture Irbil.

3 September: US extends northern limit of no-fly zone to latitude to the south of Baghdad. | | 1998 | 31 October - Iraq ends cooperation with UN Special Commission to Oversee the Destruction of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (Unscom).

16-19 December: Operation Desert Fox - US and UK forces launch a bombing campaign, to destroy Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programmes | | 2002 | September: Weapons inspectors return | | 2003 | 17 March Saddam Hussein given 48 hours to leave Iraq or face war 20 March: American missiles hit targets in Baghdad and US and British ground troops enter Iraq9 April 2003: Baghdad and the power of Saddam Hussein crumbles and the US lists 55 most-wanted members of former regime which is issued as packs of cardsJuly: Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay killed in gun battle in Mosul14 December: Saddam Hussein captured in Tikrit. | | 2004 | Fighting continues
US hands sovereignty to interim government headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi Saddam Hussein transferred to Iraqi legal custody | | 2005 | Elections: The Shia United Iraqi Alliance win a majority Parliament appoints the Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as president and Ibrahim Jaafari, a Shia, is named as prime ministerOctober: Saddam Hussein goes on trial | | 2006 | 7 June: The Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is killed | |

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Map of Iraq

Topographical Map

Topographical Map # 2

Extra Credit

National Flag of Iraq

The flag of Iraq consists of the three equal horizontal red, white, and black bands of the Arab Liberation Flag. The flag has been in use since 1963, with several changes to the green symbols in the central white band, the most recent version bearing the Takbir is in green. After the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, there has been debate about the design of the flag.
1921-1959

The first flag of modern Iraq was that of the Kingdom of Iraq, and was adopted in 1921. It was a black-white-green horizontal flag, with a red trapezoid extending from the mast side, inspired by the Flag of the Arab Revolt. Two seven-point white stars on the triangle denoted the two principal peoples of the kingdom: the Arabs, and the Kurds. The design also reflected the newly installed Hashemite Dynasty in Iraq who had played a leading role in the Arab Revolt. This is similar to the flags of Hashemite Jordan, and the short-lived Kingdom of Hejaz. Prior to Iraqi independence in 1932, this flag was also used by the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. Today, it is used by pro-Hashemite monarchists in Iraq. Through the years there has been many different variations of the flag.
1963-1991

This flag was adopted in July 1963, after the signing of the tripartite unity with Egypt, Syria, and consists of red, white and black, green, casual, a symbol of the flags of the leaders of Islam during the Muslim invasions, and the three stars symbolize the union he was going with Egypt and Syria, all of these He had two stars in telling them, and was supposed to add a third star for the Stars and the collapse of the Union after the death of former President Abdul Salam Aref.
1991–2004

On 13 January 1991, the flag was modified by Flag Law No. 6 of 1991, at the request of Saddam Hussein, the Takbir. The words Allahu Akbar, means that "God is Great" in Arabic was added in green between the stars. The form of the Takbir was allegedly in Saddam Hussein's own handwriting. Many believed the addition of the sacred Islamic text as an attempt to get wartime support from previously outlawed religious Iraqi leaders, to stop the disrespect of the Iraqi flag in Kuwait, and to support the Iraqi Government's Islamic credentials in the period right after the Gulf War.

2004 flag proposal and controversy

Proposed flag, 2004 (later abandoned)
Following the invasion and occupation of Iraq by the United States in 2003, the Iraqi Government was overthrown, and the Ba'ath Party was outlawed. Strong rumors followed that the U.S. Government would press for a change in the Iraqi flag to remove its pan-Arab symbolism, and to make a complete break with the period of Ba'athist rule. To a degree, this view was shared by some groups in Iraq. In addition to some anger among Iraqis who had suffered because of Saddam Hussein to keeping national symbols used by his government, there was also strong dislike to the flag from Iraq's Kurdish minority, who resented its suggestion of pan-Arabism. However, Iraqi opponents of changing the flag argued that since the flag had been used since 1963, long before Saddam Hussein's presidency, it was unfair to characterize it as a 'Saddamist' flag.
The proposed flag was white, representing purity, with parallel blue-yellow-blue bands across the bottom quarter or third; the blue bands represented the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, and the yellow represented Iraq's Kurdish minority. The reason for this symbolism was unclear, but the flag of Kurdistan does feature a yellow sun. In the middle of the white area was a large crescent to represent Islam, which was unusually painted in a shade of blue. The shade of blue represented the Iraqi Turkmens.
The design marked a important break with the three flags of modern Iraqi history specifically the Arab Revolt-inspired flag of the Kingdom, the flag that was introduced by Abdul Karim Qassim, and the Arab Liberation inspired flag of 1963.
2004–2008

Due to these different views, and the main disagreement to an abandonment of the current Iraqi flag, a compromise was adopted by the U.S. appointed Iraqi interim administration in 2004. The basic form of the existing flag was retained; however, the Takbir was rendered in traditional stylized Kufic script, as opposed to the alleged handwriting of Saddam Hussein.
Tables
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Extra Credit

Casualty Notes | | Monthly Summaries | References | | US Army Evacuations from Iraq | | Month | US Army Evacuations from Iraq | | | Wounded
In Action
* | Non-Battle
Injury
* | Disease
* | | March 2003 | 930 | 3212 | 5846 | | April 2003 | | | | | May | | | | | June | | | | | July | | | | | August | | | | | September | | | | | October | | | | | November | | | | | December | | | | | January 2004 | | | | | February | | | | | March | 49 | 206 | 367 | | April | 203 | 355 | 262 | | May | 106 | 348 | 146 | | June | 141 | 138 | 389 | | July | 71 | 157 | 337 | | August | 139 | 74 | 379 | | September | 122 | 84 | 391 | | October | 100 | 94 | 457 | | November | 149 | 96 | 323 | | December | 477 | 379 | 1474 | | January 2005 | 85 | 129 | 324 | | February | 77 | 100 | 280 | | March | 74 | 104 | 342 | | April | 90 | 113 | 302 | | May | 85 | 119 | 306 | | June | 110 | 98 | 359 | | July | 73 | 117 | 315 | | August | 81 | 99 | 273 | | September | 122 | 118 | 258 | | October | Not released | | November | | | December | | | January 2006 | | | Subtotal | 2,913 | 5,876 | 11,959 | | TOTAL | 20,748 as of 01 Oct 05 | |

References
Global Security. (2011). Retrieved from http://www,globalsecurity.org
History of Iraq. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.historyofnations.net/asia/irag.html
National Flag of Iraq. (2011). Retrieved from http://worlflags101.com

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