Iraq

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جمهورية العراق Jumhūriyat Al-ʿIrāq Template:Ar icon كۆماری عێراق Komara Iraqê[1] Template:Ku icon Republic of Iraq
File:Coat of arms of Iraq.svg
Motto: الله أكبر   (Arabic) "Allahu Akbar"  (transliteration) "God is [the] Greatest"
Anthem: Mawtini  (new) Ardh Alforatain  (previous)1
File:LocationIraq.svg
Capital (and largest city)		Baghdad2 33°20′N, 44°26′E
Official languages		Arabic, Kurdish3
Demonym		Iraqi
Government		Developing parliamentary republic
-	President	Jalal Talabani
-	Prime Minister	Nouri al-Maliki
Independence
-	from the Ottoman Empire	October 1, 1919
-	from the United Kingdom	October 3, 1932
Area
-	Total	438,317 km² (58th) 169,234 sq mi
-	Water (%)	1.1
Population
-	2007 estimate	29,267,0004 (39th)
-	Density	66/km² (125th) 171/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2008 estimate
-	Total	$113.9 billion [2] (61st)
-	Per capita	$4000[2] (62)
Currency		Iraqi dinar (IQD)
Time zone		GMT+3 (UTC+3)
-	Summer (DST)	not observed (UTC+3)
Internet TLD		.iq
Calling code		+964
1	The Kurds use Ey Reqîb as the anthem.
2	The capital of Iraqi Kurdistan is Arbil.
3	Arabic and Kurdish are the official languages of the Iraqi government. According to Article 4, Section 4 of the Iraqi Constitution, Assyrian (Syriac) (a dialect of Aramaic) and Iraqi Turkmen (a dialect of Turkish) languages are official in areas where the respective populations they constitute density of population.
4	CIA World Factbook

Iraq (pronounced /ɪˈræk/ or /iˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق Al-ʾIrāq), officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūrīyat Al-ʾIrāq, Template:Lang-ku-2, Komara Iraqê^[1]), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.^[3] It shares borders with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the west, Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, and Iran to the east. It has a very narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (35 miles) between Umm Qasr and Al Faw on the Persian Gulf. There are two major flowing rivers: the Tigris and the Euphrates. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.

The capital city, Baghdad (Arabic: بغداد‎ Baġdād), is in the center-east. Iraq's rich history dates back to ancient Mesopotamia. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is identified as the cradle of civilization and a birthplace of writing. Throughout its long history, Iraq has been the center of the Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires, and part of the Achaemenid, Macedonian, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Ottoman and British empires.^[4][5]

Beginning with the invasion in 2003, a multinational coalition of forces, mainly American and British, occupied Iraq. Under the Laws of War and UNSCR 1483, the occupying Coalition Provisional Authority completed the transfer of sovereignty on June 28, 2004 to the Iraqi Interim Government in accordance with UNSCR 1546, formally ending the "occupation." Elections on January 30, 2005 created the Iraqi Transitional Government, which drafted the Constitution of Iraq, approved by referendum on October 25, 2005. Under this new Constitution, elections chose a new Iraqi National Assembly to form the Government of Iraq. Some dispute whether Iraq is de facto sovereign (see Iraqi sovereignty, United States-Iraq relations).

The invasion has had wide-reaching consequences: increased civil violence, establishment of a parliamentary democracy, the removal and execution of former authoritarian President Saddam Hussein, official recognition and widespread political participation of Iraq's Kurdish minority and Shi'ite Arab majority, persecution of Christian and Mandaean minorities, significant economic growth, destruction of existing infrastructure, and use of the country's huge reserves of oil. In 2008 the Failed States Index, produced by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace, Iraq was the world's fifth most unstable country,^[6] after Sudan,^[7] and the United States in 2007 referred to it in court proceedings as "an active theater of combat."^[8] Iraq is developing a parliamentary democracy composed of 18 governorates (known as muhafadhat).

Contents 1 Name 2 Geography 3 Early history 3.1 Ancient Mesopotamia 3.2 Islamic Caliphate 3.3 Mongol conquest 3.4 Ottoman Empire 4 Modern history 4.1 British Mandate of Mesopotamia 4.2 Hashemite monarchy 4.3 Republic of Iraq 4.4 Iraq under Saddam Hussein 4.4.1 Persian Gulf War 4.4.2 Disarmament crisis 4.5 Invasion by American-led coalition forces 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links

Name

The origin of the name Iraq (Arabic: العراق 'al-‘Irāq, Assyrian: ܥܪܐܩ, Kurdish: عێراق, Turkish: Irak) is disputed. There are several suggested origins for the name. One dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk (or Erech), meaning "between the rivers";^[9] another maintains according to Professor Wilhelm Eilers, "The name al-‘Irāq, for all its Arabic appearance, is derived from Middle Persian erāq lowlands".^[10] According to some, the escarpment (i.e. "el-'Iraq") at the south and east of the Jazira Plateau, which forms the northern and western edge of the "el-Iraq arabi" area, is the origin of the name.^[11] In Turkish the word 'Irak' means 'far away'.

Under the Persian Sassanid dynasty, there was a region called "Erak Arabi," referring to the part of the south western region of the Persian Empire that is now part of southern Iraq. The name Al-Iraq was used by the Arabs themselves, from the 6th century, for the land Iraq covers. The term Iraq historically included the plain south of Hamrin Mountains and did not include the Kurdish-inhabited areas which after establishment of the country of Iraq were included as part of the republic.^[12]

The Arabic pronunciation is [ʕiˈrɑːq]. In English, the name is pronounced as either [ɪ.ˈɹɑ(ː)k] (the only pronunciation listed in the Oxford English Dictionary and the first one in Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary) or [ɪ.ˈɹæk] (listed first by MQD), the American Heritage Dictionary, and the Random House Dictionary.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Iraq

Iraq is located at 33°00′N 44°00′E / 33, 44. Spanning 437,072 km² (168,743 sq mi), it is the 58th-largest country in the world. It is comparable in size to the US state of California, and somewhat larger than Paraguay.

Iraq mainly consists of desert, but near the two major rivers (Euphrates and Tigris) are fertile alluvial plains, as the rivers carry about 60 million cubic metres (78 million cu. yd) of silt annually to the delta. The north of the country is mostly composed of mountains; the highest point being at 3,611 metres (11,847 ft) point, unnamed on the map opposite, but known locally as Cheekah Dar (black tent). Iraq has a small coastline measuring 58 km (35 miles) along the Persian Gulf. Close to the coast and along the Shatt al-Arab (known as arvandrūd: اروندرود among Iranians) there used to be marshlands, but many were drained in the 1990s.

The local climate is mostly desert, with mild to cool winters and dry, hot, cloudless summers. The northern mountainous regions (Kurdistan region هه‌رێمی کوردستان) have cold winters with occasional heavy snows, sometimes causing extensive flooding.

Comprising 115 billion barrels (Template:Rnd/c8dec0 m³) of proved oil reserves, Iraq ranks third in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Iran in the amount of Oil reserves;^[13] yet the United States Department of Energy estimates that up to 90% of the country remains unexplored. These regions could yield an additional 100 billion barrels (Template:Rnd/c8dec0 m³). Iraq's oil production costs are among the lowest in the world, but only about 2,000 oil wells have been drilled in Iraq, compared with about 1 million wells in Texas alone.^[14]

Early history

Main article: History of Iraq

Ancient Mesopotamia

Main article: History of Mesopotamia

The region of Iraq was historically known as Mesopotamia (Greek: between the rivers). It was home to the world's first known civilization, the Sumerian culture, followed by the Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian cultures, whose influence extended into neighboring regions as early as 5000 BC. These civilizations produced some of the earliest writing and some of the first sciences, mathematics, laws, literature and philosophies of the world; hence its common epithet, the "Cradle of Civilization".

In the sixth century BC, Cyrus the Great conquered the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and Mesopotamia was subsumed in the Achaemenid Persian Empire for nearly four centuries. Alexander the Great conquered the region again, putting it under Hellenistic Seleucid rule for nearly two centuries. A Central Asian tribe of ancient Iranian peoples known as the Parthians later annexed the region, followed by the Sassanid Persians. The region remained a province of the Persian Empire for nine centuries, until the seventh century AD.

Islamic Caliphate

Main articles: Caliphate and Islamic Golden Age

Beginning in the seventh century, Islam spread to what is now Iraq during the Islamic conquest of Persia, led by the Muslim Arab commander Khalid ibn al-Walid. Under the Rashidun Caliphate, the prophet Mohammed's cousin and son-in-law Ali moved his capital to Kufa "fi al-Iraq" when he became the fourth caliph. The Umayyad Caliphate ruled the province of Iraq from Damascus in the 7th century. (However, eventually there was a separate, independent Caliphate of Cordoba.)

The Abbasid Caliphate built the city of Baghdad in the 8th century as their capital, and it became the leading metropolis of the Arab and Muslim world for five centuries. Baghdad was the largest multicultural city of the Middle Ages, peaking at a population of more than a million,^[15] and was the centre of learning during the Islamic Golden Age. The Mongols destroyed the city during the sack of Baghdad in the 13th century.

Mongol conquest

Main articles: Battle of Baghdad (1258) and Timeline of Mongol conquests

In 1257, Hulagu Khan amassed an unusually large army, a significant portion of the Mongol Empire's forces, for the purpose of conquering Baghdad. When they arrived at the Islamic capital, Hulagu demanded surrender but the caliph refused. This angered Hulagu, and, consistent with Mongol strategy of discouraging resistance, Baghdad was decimated. Estimates of the number of dead range from 200,000 to a million.

The Mongols destroyed the Abbasid Caliphate and The Grand Library of Baghdad (Arabic بيت الحكمة Bayt al-Hikma, lit., House of Wisdom), which contained countless, precious, historical documents. The city would never regain its status as major center of culture and influence.

The mid-14th-century Black Death ravaged much of the Islamic world.^[16] The best estimate for Middle East — Iraq, Iran, Syria, etc. — is a death rate of a third.^[17]

In 1401, warlord of Turco-Mongol descent Tamerlane (Timur Lenk) invaded Iraq. After the capture of Bagdad, 20,000 of its citizens were massacred. Timur ordered that every soldier should return with at least two severed human heads to show him (many warriors were so scared they killed prisoners captured earlier in the campaign just to ensure they had heads to present to Timur).^[18]

Ottoman Empire

Main articles: Ottoman Empire, Mamluk rule in Iraq, Mesopotamian campaign, and Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire

Later, the Ottoman Turks took Baghdad from the Persians in 1535. The Ottomans lost Baghdad to the Iranian Safavids in 1609, and took it back in 1632. From 1747 to 1831, Iraq was ruled, with short intermissions, by the Mamluk officers of Georgian origin who enjoyed local autonomy from the Sublime Porte.^[19] In 1831, the direct Ottoman rule was imposed and lasted until World War I, during which the Ottomans sided with Germany and the Central Powers.

During World War I the Ottomans were driven from much of the area by the United Kingdom during the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The British lost 92,000 soldiers in the Mesopotamian campaign. Ottoman losses are unknown but the British captured a total of 45,000 prisoners of war. By the end of 1918 the British had deployed 410,000 men in the area, though only 112,000 were combat troops.

During World War I the British and French divided Western Asia in the Sykes-Picot Agreement. The Treaty of Sèvres, which was ratified in the Treaty of Lausanne, led to the advent of modern Western Asia and Republic of Turkey. The League of Nations granted France mandates over Syria and Lebanon and granted the United Kingdom mandates over Iraq and Palestine (which then consisted of two autonomous regions: Palestine and Transjordan). Parts of the Ottoman Empire on the Arabian Peninsula became parts of what are today Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Modern history

British Mandate of Mesopotamia

Main article: British Mandate of Mesopotamia

At the end of World War I, the League of Nations granted the area to the United Kingdom as a mandate. It initially formed two former Ottoman vilayets (regions): Baghdad and Basra into a single country in August 1921. Five years later, in 1926, the northern vilayet of Mosul was added, forming the territorial boundaries of the modern Iraqi state.

For three out of four centuries of Ottoman rule, Baghdad was the seat of administration for the vilayets of Baghdad, Mosul, and Basra. During the mandate, British colonial administrators ruled the country, and through the use of British armed forces, suppressed Arab and Kurdish rebellions against the occupation. They established the Hashemite king, Faisal, who had been forced out of Syria by the French, as their client ruler. Likewise, British authorities selected Sunni Arab elites from the region for appointments to government and ministry offices.^[20]

Hashemite monarchy

Main article: Hashemite

Britain granted independence to Iraq in 1932, on the urging of King Faisal, though the British retained military bases and transit rights for their forces. King Ghazi of Iraq ruled as a figurehead after King Faisal's death in 1933, while undermined by attempted military coups, until his death in 1939. The United Kingdom invaded Iraq in 1941 (see Anglo-Iraqi War), for fear that the government of Rashid Ali al-Gaylani might cut oil supplies to Western nations, and because of his links to the Axis powers. A military occupation followed the restoration of the Hashemite monarchy, and the occupation ended on October 26, 1947. The rulers during the occupation and the remainder of the Hashemite monarchy were Nuri al-Said, the autocratic prime minister, who also ruled from 1930–1932, and 'Abd al-Ilah, an advisor to the king Faisal II.

Republic of Iraq

The reinstated Hashemite monarchy lasted until 1958, when it was overthrown by a coup d'etat of the Iraqi Army, known as the 14 July Revolution. The coup brought Brigadier General Abdul Karim Qassim to power. He withdrew from the Baghdad Pact and established friendly relations with the Soviet Union, but his government lasted only until 1963, when it was overthrown by Colonel Abdul Salam Arif. Salam Arif died in 1966 and his brother, Abdul Rahman Arif, assumed the presidency. In 1968, Rahman Arif was overthrown by the Arab Socialist Baath Party. Ahmed Hasan Al-Bakir became the first Baath President of Iraq but then the movement gradually came under the control of Saddam Hussein al Tikriti, who acceded to the presidency and control of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), then Iraq's supreme executive body, in July 1979, while killing many of his opponents.

Iraq under Saddam Hussein

Main article: Saddam Hussein

In 1979, Saddam Hussein took power as Iraqi President after knocking down his close friend and the leader of his party (Ahmed Hasan Al-Bakr) and killing and arresting his leadership rivals. Shortly after taking power, the political situation in Iraq's neighbor Iran changed drastically after the success of the Islamic Revolution of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which resulted in a Shi'ite Muslim theocratic state being established. This was seen as a dangerous change in the eyes of the Iraqi government, as Iraq too had a Shi'ite majority and was ruled by Hussein's government which, apart from having numerous Sunnis occupying leading positions, had a pan-Arab but non-religious ideology. This left the country's Shiite population split between the members and supporters of the Ba'ath Party, and those who sympathized with the Iranian position. In 1980, Hussein claimed that Iranian forces were trying to topple his government and declared war on Iran. Saddam Hussein supported the Iranian Islamic socialist organization called the People's Mujahedin of Iran which opposed the Iranian government. During the Iran–Iraq War Iraqi forces attacked Iranian soldiers and civilians with chemical weapons. Hussein's regime was notorious for its human rights abuses; a well-known example is the Al-Anfal campaign^[21][22][23] as well as attacks on Kurd civilians inside Iraq, such as the Halabja massacre, as punishment for elements of Kurdish support of Iran. The war ended in stalemate in 1988, largely due to American and Western support for Iraq. This was part of the US policy of "dual containment" of Iraq and Iran.

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

Persian Gulf War

Main article: Gulf War

In 1990, faced with economic disaster following the end of the Iran–Iraq War, Saddam Hussein looked to the oil-rich neighbour of Kuwait as a target to invade to use its resources and money to rebuild Iraq's economy. The Iraqi government claimed that Kuwait was illegally slant drilling its oil pipelines into Iraqi territory, a practice which it demanded be stopped; Kuwait rejected the notion that it was slant drilling, and Iraq followed this in August 1990 with the invasion of Kuwait. Upon successfully occupying Kuwait, Hussein declared that Kuwait had ceased to exist and it was to be part of Iraq, against heavy objections from many countries and the United Nations.

The UN agreed to pass economic sanctions against Iraq and demanded its immediate withdrawal from Kuwait (see United Nations sanctions against Iraq). Iraq refused and the UN Security Council in 1991 unanimously voted for military action against Iraq. The United Nations Security Council, under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, adopted Resolution 678, authorizing U.N. member states to use "all necessary means" to "restore international peace and security in the area." The United States, which had enormous vested interests in the oil supplies of the Persian Gulf region, led an international coalition into Kuwait and Iraq.

The coalition forces entered the war with more advanced weaponry than that of Iraq, though Iraq's army was one of the largest armed forces in Western Asia at the time. Despite being a large military force, the Iraqi army was no match for the advanced weaponry of the coalition forces and the air superiority that the U.S. Air Force provided. Iraq responded to the invasion by launching SCUD missile attacks against Israel and Saudi Arabia. Hussein hoped that by attacking Israel, the Israeli military would be drawn into the war, which he believed would rally anti-Israeli sentiment in neighboring Arab countries and cause those countries to support Iraq. However, Hussein's gamble failed, as Israel reluctantly accepted a U.S. demand to remain out of the conflict to avoid inflaming tensions. The Iraqi armed forces were quickly destroyed, and Hussein eventually accepted the inevitable and ordered a withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Before the forces were withdrawn, however, Hussein ordered them to sabotage Kuwait's oil wells, which resulted in hundreds of wells being set ablaze, causing an economic and ecological disaster in Kuwait.

After the decisive military defeat, the agreement to a ceasefire on February 28, and political maneuvering, the UN Security Council continued to press its demands that Hussein accept previous UN Security Council Resolutions, as stated in UNSCR 686. By April, UNSCR 687 recognized Kuwait's sovereignty had been reinstated, and established the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM). Two days later, UNSCR 688 added that Iraq must cease violent repression of ethnic and religious minorities.

The aftermath of the war saw the Iraqi military, especially its air force, destroyed. In return for peace, Iraq was forced to dismantle all chemical and biological weapons it possessed, and end any attempt to create or purchase nuclear weapons, to be assured by the allowing UN weapons inspectors to evaluate the dismantlement of such weapons. Finally, Iraq would face sanctions if it disobeyed any of the demands.

Shortly after the war ended in 1991, Shia Muslim and Kurdish Iraqis engaged in protests against Hussein's regime, resulting in an intifada. Hussein responded with violent repression against Shia Muslims, and the protests came to an end.^[24] The US, UK and France, claiming authority under UNSCR 688, established the Iraqi no-fly zones to protect Kurdish and Shiite populations from attacks by the Hussein regime's aircraft.

Disarmament crisis

Main article: Iraq disarmament crisis timeline 1990–1996

While Iraq had agreed to UNSCR 687, the Iraqi government sometimes worked with inspectors, but ultimately failed to comply with disarmament terms, and as a result, economic sanctions against Iraq continued. After the war, Iraq was accused of breaking its obligations throughout the 1990s, including the discovery in 1993 of a plan to assassinate former President George H. W. Bush, and the withdrawal of Richard Butler's UNSCOM weapon inspectors in 1998 after the Iraqi government claimed some inspectors were spies for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.^[25] On multiple occasions throughout the disarmament crisis, the UN passed further resolutions (see United Nations Resolutions concerning Iraq) compelling Iraq to comply with the terms of the ceasefire resolutions.

It is estimated more than 500,000 Iraqi children died as a result of the sanctions.^[26][27] Critics, particularly neoconservatives in the United States after 1998, claimed that containment of Iraq through sanctions without weapons inspectors in the area was sufficient to prevent Iraq from rebuilding its weapons of mass destruction and demanded a hardline approach to Iraq, demanding compliance with inspections on penalty of war. With humanitarian and economic concerns in mind, UNSCR 706 and UNSCR 712 allowed Iraq to sell oil in exchange for humanitarian aid. This was later turned into the Oil-for-Food Programme by UNSCR 986. Over the years, U.S. land forces were deployed to the Iraq border, and U.S. bombings were carried out to try to pressure Hussein to comply with UN resolutions.

Main article: Iraq disarmament crisis timeline 1997-2000

As a result of these repeated violations, US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, US Secretary of Defense William Cohen, and US National Security Advisor Sandy Berger held an international town hall meeting to discus possible war with Iraq, which seemed to have little public support. In October 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act, calling for "regime change" in Iraq, and initiated Operation Desert Fox. Following Operation Desert Fox, and end to partial cooperation from Iraq prompted UNSCR 1284, disbanding UNSCOM and replacing it with United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).

Main article: Iraq disarmament crisis

Template:Further information

The Bush administration made a number of allegations against Iraq, including that Iraq was acquiring uranium from Niger and that Iraq had secret weapons laboratories in trailers and isolated facilities throughout Iraq; none of these allegations have proven true. Saddam Hussein, under pressure from the U.S. and the U.N., finally agreed to allow weapons inspectors to return to Iraq in 2002, but by that time the Bush administration had already begun pushing for war.

In June 2002, Operation Southern Watch transitioned to Operation Southern Focus, bombing sites around Iraq. The first CIA team entered Iraq on July 10, 2002. This team was composed of elite CIA Special Activities Division and the U.S. Military's elite Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) operators. Together, they prepared the battle space of the entire country for conventional U.S. Military forces. Their efforts also organized the Kurdish Peshmerga to become the northern front of the invasion and eventually defeat Ansar Al-Islam in Northern Iraq before the invasion and Saddam's forces in the north. The battle led to the killing of a substantial number of terrorists and the uncovering of a chemical weapons facility at Sargat.^[28][29] In October 2002, the U.S. Congress passed the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, and in November the UN Security Council passes UNSCR 1441.

Invasion by American-led coalition forces

Main article: 2003 invasion of Iraq

Further information: Iraq War

On March 20, 2003, a United States-organized coalition invaded Iraq, with the stated reason that Iraq had failed to abandon its nuclear and chemical weapons development program in violation of U.N. Resolution 687. The United States asserted that because Iraq was in material breach of Resolution 687, the armed forces authorization of Resolution 678 was revived. The United States further justified the invasion by claiming that Iraq had or was developing weapons of mass destruction and stating a desire to remove an oppressive dictator from power and bring democracy to Iraq. In his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002, President George W. Bush declared that Iraq was a member of the "Axis of Evil", and that, like North Korea and Iran, Iraq's attempt to acquire weapons of mass destruction posed a serious threat to U.S. national security. Bush added,

Iraq continues to flaunt its hostilities toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade... This is a regime that agreed to international inspections — then kicked out inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world... By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes [Iran, Iraq and North Korea] pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred.^[30]

However, according to a comprehensive U.S. government report, no weapons of mass destruction have been found since the invasion.^[31] There are accounts of Polish troops obtaining antiquated warheads, dating from the 1980s, two of which contained trace amounts of the nerve gas cyclosarin, but U.S. military tests found that the rounds were so deteriorated that they would "have limited to no impact if used by insurgents against coalition forces." ^[32]

Continued at Iraq, part 2

See also

• List of basic geography topics
• List of international rankings
• List of Iraq-related articles (alphabetical index)
• List of Iraq-related topics (topical index}
• Outline of Iraq (topical outline)

References

Further reading

• Interview with Refugees International's Sean Garcia on the plight of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees [1]
• Shadid, Anthony 2005. Night Draws Near. Henry Holt and Co., NY, U.S. ISBN 0-8050-7602-6
• Hanna Batatu, "The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq", Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978
• A Dweller in Mesopotamia, being the adventures of an official artist in the garden of Eden, by Donald Maxwell, 1921. (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & layered PDF format)
• By Desert Ways to Baghdad, by Louisa Jebb (Mrs. Roland Wilkins) With illustrations and a map, 1908 (1909 ed). (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & layered PDF format)

External links

The original Wikipedia article, when imported, had a notice which suggested removal of some external links. Wikinfo's policy, Wikinfo:External links, is much more liberal than Wikipedia's.

Government

• Iraqi Presidency Website http://www.iraqipresidency.net
• Iraqi Government Website http://www.cabinet.iq
• Iraqi Parliament Website http://www.parliament.iq
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs http://www.mofa.gov.iq
• Ministry of Defense http://www.iraqmod.org
• Ministry of Oil http://www.oil.gov.iq
• Ministry of Trade http://www.mot.gov.iq
• Ministry of Industry http://www.industry.gov.iq
• Ministry of Higher Education http://www.mohesr.gov.iq
• Ministry of health http://www.moh.gov.iq
• Chief of State and Cabinet Members
• Kurdistan Regional Government
• New Iraqi government structure (PDF) (As of July 17, 2006)

General information

• Iraq entry at The World Factbook
• Iraq at UCB Libraries GovPubs
• Iraq at the Open Directory Project
• Iraq from al-Bab
• Country Profile from BBC News
• Iraq from Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Iraq from Encarta Encyclopedia
• Iraq Country Profile from Reuters AlertNet
• US State Department - Iraq includes Background Notes, Country Study and major reports
• Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Iraq
• Country Briefing: Iraq from The Economist
• Energy Information Administration - Energy Profile of Iraq

News media

• Focus on Iraq Daily News on Iraq
• Iraq News and Iraqi views from Electronic Iraq
• News in Depth from the Financial Times
• Diplomacy Monitor-Iraq
• IPS Inter Press Service Independent news about Iraq
• Iraqis react with joy, anger to Hussein death sentence CNN story on Hussein's death sentence
• Hometown Baghdad Documentary series shot by an all-Iraqi crew. Tells the stories of three young people trying to survive in Baghdad.

Other

• Wikimedia Atlas of Iraq
• Operation Iraqi Children
• Iraq Image, a cultural resource on Iraq cities and locations
• Iraqi Truth Project
• Juan Cole, a leading scholar and public intellectual
• The Ground Truth Project -- A series of exclusive interviews and other resources capturing the voices of Iraqis, aid workers, military personnel and others who have spent significant time on-the-ground in Iraq.
• Iraq travel guide
• The World Monuments Fund's Iraq Cultural Heritage Conservation Initiative
• Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC) -- A Washington DC-based nonprofit organization promoting a free and secure Iraq
• Amnesty International Report on Iraq
• Internal Displacement in Iraq - Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
• Coalition Provisional Authority Now-defunct occupation authority; site is archived
• Iraq Law from the University of Pittsburgh’s Jurist project
• 1900–2000 a history of Iraq
• US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq
• Iraqi Familiarization Guide - (546 kilobyte PDF file)
• Short Guide to Iraq (WWII U.S. Military Guide)
• Charity Helping the People of Iraq
• IraqLinks.com - The Iraq Guide

Template:Iraq topics

Geographic locale

v • d • e Countries of Southwest Asia Armenia · Azerbaijan1 · Bahrain · Cyprus · Georgia1 · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Jordan · Kuwait · Lebanon · Oman · Qatar · Saudi Arabia · Syria · Turkey1 · United Arab Emirates · Yemen 1 Has part of its territory in Europe.  v • d • e Countries of Asia Afghanistan · Armenia · Azerbaijan1 · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Burma · Cambodia · People's Republic of China · Republic of China (Taiwan)2 · Cyprus · Egypt3 · Georgia1 · India · Indonesia4 · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Japan · Jordan · Kazakhstan1 · North Korea · South Korea · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Nepal · Oman · Pakistan · Philippines · Qatar · Russia1 · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · Sri Lanka · Syria · Tajikistan · Thailand · East Timor (Timor-Leste)4 · Turkey1 · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · Yemen3 For dependent and other territories, see Dependent territory. 1 Partly or significantly in Europe.  2 The Republic of China (Taiwan) is not officially recognized by the United Nations; see Political status of Taiwan. 3 Partly or significantly in Africa.  4 Partly or wholly reckoned in Oceania. Template:Countries bordering the Persian Gulf v • d • e Countries and territories bordering the Indian Ocean Africa Comoros · Djibouti · Egypt · Eritrea · Kenya · Madagascar · Mauritius · Mayotte · Mozambique · Réunion · Seychelles · Somalia · South Africa · Sudan · Tanzania Asia Bahrain · Bangladesh · Burma · Christmas Island · Cocos (Keeling) Islands · India · Indonesia · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Jordan · Kuwait · Malaysia · Maldives · Oman · Pakistan · Qatar · Saudi Arabia · Sri Lanka · Thailand · United Arab Emirates · Yemen Oceania Australia · Christmas Island · Cocos (Keeling) Islands Islands Bahrain · British Indian Ocean Territory · Christmas Island · Cocos (Keeling) Islands · Comoros · Madagascar · Maldives · Mauritius · Mayotte · Réunion · Seychelles · Sri Lanka

International membership

v • d • e Members of the Arab League Members Algeria · Bahrain · Comoros · Djibouti · Egypt · Iraq · Jordan · Kuwait · Lebanon · Libya · Mauritania · Morocco · Oman · Palestine · Qatar · Saudi Arabia · Somalia · Sudan · Syria · Tunisia · United Arab Emirates · Yemen Observers Brazil · Eritrea · India · Venezuela Diplomacy Arab Peace Initiative Template:Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) v • d • e Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Algeria • Angola • Ecuador • Indonesia • Iran • Iraq • Kuwait • Libya • Nigeria • Qatar • Saudi Arabia • United Arab Emirates • Venezuela Template:Afro-Asiatic-speaking nations

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