| The Republic of Iraq is a Middle Eastern country in southwestern Asia encompassing the
ancient region of Mesopotamia. It shares borders with Kuwait and Saudi-Arabia to the south, Jordan to the west, Syria to the north-west, Turkey to the north, and Iran to the east. Its current
leadership was installed on June 28, 2004,
following a March 2003 invasion led by British and American forces which drove Saddam Hussein and the Ba'ath Party from power.
History
Main article: History of Iraq
Modern Iraq became a British mandate soon after the end of World War I,
and became independent in 1932. A coup in 1979 brought Saddam Hussein to power. The Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988) ended in stalemate; Iraq's invasion of
Kuwait in 1991 resulted in the Gulf War and economic
sanctions. The 2003 invasion of Iraq removed Saddam
Hussein's Government from power; the current post-invasion situation remains volatile. On January 30, 2005, Iraq held its first free elections in over 50
years.
Politics
Main article: Politics of Iraq
From 1979 to 2003, Iraq was under Ba'ath Party rule, under the leadership of President Saddam Hussein. The unicameral Iraqi parliament, the National Assembly
or Majlis al-Watani, had 250 seats and its members were elected for 4-year terms. Like in presidential elections, no
non-Ba'ath candidates were allowed to run.
In November 2003 the US-managed Coalition Provisional Authority announced
plans to turn over sovereignty to an Iraqi Interim
Government by mid-2004. The actual transfer of sovereignty occurred on June 28, 2004. The interim president is Sheikh Ghazi
Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, and the interim prime minister Iyad Allawi.
On January 30, 2005 the Iraqi people
held an election which will have, once vote counting is finished, elected a 275-member Transitional National Assembly. The
Assembly will:
- Serve as Iraq's national legislature. Name a Presidency Council, consisting of a President and two Vice Presidents. (By
unanimous agreement, the Presidency Council will appoint a Prime Minister and, on his recommendation, cabinet ministers.)
- Draft Iraq's new constitution, which will be presented to the Iraqi people for their approval in a national referendum in
October 2005. Under the new constitution, Iraq will elect a permanent government in December 2005.
Under the Iraqi transitional constitution, signed March
2004, the country's executive branch is now led by a three-person presidential council. The
election system for the council effectively ensures that all three of Iraq's major ethnic groups are represented. The
constitution also includes basic freedoms like freedom of
religion, speech, and assembly, and in many ways has been hailed as more liberal than the U.S. constitution. Controversially, however, it states
that all laws that were in effect on the transfer date cannot be repealed. Furthermore, since the coalition forces are currently
an official occupying power under the United Nations, coalition troops
can remain in control of the country indefinitely despite the transfer of sovereignty. Since Iraqi forces are currently
considered ill-equipped to police and secure the country, it is expected that coalition troops will remain in the country for
many years to come. However, these rules will be set aside once the Transitional National Assembly is seated.
Governorates
Main article: Governorates of Iraq
Iraq is divided into 18 governorates or provinces (Arabic: muhafazat, singular - muhafazah, Kurdish:
پاریزگه Pārizgah). Particularly in Iraqi government documents the term
governorate is preferred:
The constitutionally-recognized Kurdistan
Autonomous Region includes parts of a number of northern provinces, and is largely self-governing in internal affairs.
Geography
Main article: Geography of Iraq
Large parts of Iraq consist of desert, but the area between the two major rivers
Euphrates and Tigris is fertile, with
the rivers carrying about 60 million cubic meters of silt annually to the delta. The north of the country is largely mountainous,
with the highest point being Haji
Ibrahim at 3,600 m. Iraq has a small coastline with the Persian Gulf.
Close to the coast and along the Shatt al-Arab there used to be
marshlands, but many of these were drained in the 1990s.
The local climate is mostly a desert clime with mild to cool winters and dry, hot,
cloudless summers. The northern mountainous regions experience cold winters with occasional heavy snows, sometimes causing
extensive flooding. The capital Baghdad is situated in the centre of the country, on
the banks of the Tigris. Other major cities include Basra in the south and Mosul in the north. Iraq is considered to be one of the fifteen lands that comprise the so-called
"Cradle of Humanity".
Economy
Main article: Economy of Iraq
Iraq's economy is dominated by the oil sector, which has traditionally provided about 95%
of foreign exchange earnings. In the 1980s financial problems caused by massive
expenditures in the eight-year war with Iran and damage to oil export facilities by Iran led the government to implement austerity measures, borrow heavily,
and later reschedule foreign debt payments; Iraq suffered economic losses from the war of at least US$100 billion. After hostilities ended in 1988, oil exports
gradually increased with the construction of new pipelines and restoration of damaged facilities. A combination of low oil
prices, onerous repayment of the war debts (at around US$3 billion a year) and the costs of reconstruction resulted in a serious financial crisis which
was the main short term motivation for the invasion of Kuwait.
Iraq's seizure of Kuwait in August 1990,
subsequent international economic sanctions, and damage from military action by an international coalition beginning in January 1991 drastically reduced economic activity. Although government policies supporting large military and internal
security forces and allocating resources to key supporters of the Ba`ath Party government have hurt the economy, implementation
of the United Nations' oil-for-food programme in December 1996 was to have improved conditions for the average Iraqi citizen. For the first six, six-month
phases of the programme, Iraq was allowed to export limited amounts of oil in exchange for food, medicine, and some
infrastructure spare parts. Subsequent investigation of the programme has revealed significant corruption, with highly-placed
U.N. officials being bribed, Ba'ath Party officials receiving lucrative kickbacks, and much of the aid money from oil sales being
redirected into weapons research and acquisition by the Iraqi military.
In December 1999 the UN Security Council authorised Iraq to export under the program as much oil as required to meet humanitarian
needs. Iraq changed its oil reserve currency from US dollar to euro in 2000. Oil exports were more than three-quarters of the pre-war level. However, 28% of Iraq's export
revenues under the programme are deducted to meet UN Compensation Fund and UN administrative expenses. The drop in GDP in 2001 was largely
the result of the global economic slowdown and lower oil prices. Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq the economy has to a great extent shut down and attempts are underway to revive
it from the damages of the war and rampant crime.
During his year as the supreme authority in Iraq, Ambassador Paul Bremer
issued a series of orders designed to restructure Iraq's broadly socialist economy in line with neo-liberal thinking. Order 39 laid out the framework for the privatisation of everything in Iraq aside
from the oil reserves themselves, and permitted 100% foreign ownership of Iraqi assets. Other orders established a flat tax of
15% and permitted foreign corporation to repatriate 100% of profits earned in Iraq. Opposition from senior Iraqi officials
together with the poor security situation meant that Bremer's privatisation plan was not implemented during his reign, though his
Orders remain in place.
The second attempt to liberalise Iraq's economy is linked to the Iran-Iraq war debt. The creditors who financed the Iran-Iraq
war had presented post-Saddam Iraq with a bill of nearly US$130 billion of debt and past-due-interest, which had not been
serviced during the 13 years of sanctions. The Jubilee Iraq campaign argued that these debts were odious (or illegitimate) given
that they came from loans to a dictator fighting a war which caused the Iraqi people a great deal of harm, and should therefore
be written off unconditionally. The creditors however only offered a partial reduction and rescheduling of their claims in return
for an Iraqi commitment to implement an International Monetary Fund economic program. This deal, with the Paris Club cartel of creditors including the US and Britain, was signed on 20 November 2004. The following
day the interim Iraqi National Assembly issued a strongly worded resolution rejecting the Paris Club's terms and declaring that
the debt was odious.
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Iraq
Almost 72% of Iraq's population consists of Arabic speakers (mainly Iraqi but some
Hejazi); the other major ethnic group are the Kurds (25%), who live in the north and
north-east of the country. The Kurds differ from Arabs in many ways including culture, history, clothing, and language. Other
distinct groups are Assyrians, Turkomans, Iranians, Lurs, Armenians (3%) and Yezidis (possible descendants of the ancient Sumerian culture, part of the
Kurdish population). About 2,500 Jews and 20,000 - 50,000 Marsh Arabs live in Iraq.
Arabic is the official language, although Kurdish has an official status in the North and English is the most commonly spoken Western language. East Aramaic is also
used by the country's Assyrian population.
There are more Arab Iraqi Muslims members of the Shiite sect than there are Arab Iraqi Muslims of the Sunni sect, but there
is a large Sunni population as well, made up of mostly Arabs, Kurds, and Turkomans,
(Shiite 60% of total population). Small communities of Christians, Baha'is, Mandaeans, Shabaks, and Yezidis also exist. Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims.
Demographic information from the 2004 edition of CIA's The World
Factbook:
- Ethnic groups: Arab 75%-80%, Kurdish 15%-20%, Turkoman, Assyrian or other 5%
- Religions: Muslim 97% (Shi'ite 60%-65%, Sunni 32%-37%), Christian or other 3%
The percentage above for Sunni's includes most Kurds. Most media sources estimate Sunni Arabs are about 20% of total
population. That would put Sunni Kurds at 12%-17% of total population.
Culture
Main article: Culture of Iraq
Miscellaneous topics
- Events: 2005 in Iraq,2004 in Iraq, 2003 Invasion of Iraq,
Post-invasion Iraq, 2003-2005
- Geography: List of places in Iraq, Communications of Iraq, Transportation in Iraq, Arab
Tribes in Iraq
- Politics: Military of Iraq, Foreign
relations of Iraq, Human rights
violations in Iraq, Iraqi insurgency
- History: List of Kings of Iraq, List of Presidents of Iraq, List of Prime Ministers of Iraq
- Others: Postage
stamps and postal history of Iraq
External links
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