Introducing Iraq
Mesopotamia . . . Babylon . . . Saddam . . .GulfWar. From the beginnings of Western Civilization to the present day, events in Iraq have been at the center of world change. Iraq lies in the middle of the Middle East and is central to this important region in countless ways. The domestication of many plants and animals first began here. The world’s first urban settlements and civilization originated in Iraq. The hanging gardens of Babylon—one of the original “sevenwonders of the world”—added to the fame of this historic center of Arab and Islamic art, architecture, science, and power. Modern Iraq remains an important Arab heartland, but minority groups—especially the Kurds of northern Iraq—are shaping the character of a newmultiethnic federal Iraq.
THE PLACE
Iraq (Arabic for “mud bank” or “cliff”) lies in a region known as the Middle East, because it is east of Europe. The term Middle East is drawn froma European perspective. But it is commonly used around the world to distinguish this region from the Far East, or lands of eastern Asia. Geographically, the region can also be called Southwest Asia.
Iraq lies in a region often called the “Dry World.” This is because a huge area of desert stretches across North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. But neither the Middle East nor Iraq is all dry. Most Iraqis live where there is water. They are clustered in the mountains of the Kurdish northeast, or in the broad Tigris-Euphrates river basin that runs the length of the country from north to south. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers are the country’s lifelines. Their waters begin as snow melt in the high mountains of eastern Turkey. The streams then flow southward for 1,000 miles across semiarid and arid regions of Syria and Iraq, bringingwater and life to areas that would be far less livable without these great rivers. For the last 100 miles, the rivers join together in a flat,marshy wetland called the Shatt al- Arab, which carries the combined river flow into the Persian Gulf. Part of the Shatt al-Arab waterway forms the boundary between Iraq and Iran. Iraq’s only coastline is about 19 miles (30 kilometers) long, situated where the Shatt al-Arab waterway flows into the Persian Gulf.
Most of western Iraq is parched, almost lifeless, desert. This region, part of the Arabian-SyrianDesert, is the country’s most sparsely populated region. Iraq lies in an area of the world where water is often scarce, vegetation scant, and population sparse. Water, good agricultural land, and other essential resources are relatively abundant, however, in the parts of the country where most people live.
Baghdad, Iraq’s capital and largest city, lies near the center of the country. Other large, important cities include Basra in the far south (near Kuwait), and Kirkuk and Mosul in the north. Baghdad is an ethnicallymixed city and has served as the administrative and cultural heart of the region since the time of ancient Babylon (about 1700 B.C.). Basra is a mostly Shia (sect of Islam) Arab city, and lies in one of the two most important oil-producing areas of Iraq. The other big oil-producing region is around Kirkuk, in northeastern Iraq, along the boundary between Arab and Kurdish areas of Iraq.
THE PEOPLE
Iraq is part of the “Arab World,” the huge region that spans much of North Africa and the Middle East in which Arabic is the dominant language. Most people in Iraq are Arabs, though a Turkomen (Turkish) minority and a large Kurdish populationmake up most of the people in northeastern Iraq. Because it has long been a center of regional power and influence, and most of the population is Arab, the country has been politically active in the Arab World since it became an independent state in 1932.
Another name given to the region is the “Islamic World,” because most people here areMuslims (someone who practices the Islamic faith). The founder of the Islamic faith, the prophet Muhammad, was born in nearby Arabia in A.D. 571. In the centuries after Muhammad’s death in 632, Islam spread into portions of Africa, Asia, and Europe by means of Islamic conquest and trade. Islam was the religion of Arab merchants and the military, and these travelers carried it with themwherever they journeyed. Most people in Iraq are Muslim, including most Arabs, Kurds, and Turkomen. About 3 percent of the population is Christian.
Iraq is one of only three countries in theMiddle East where the Shia branch of Islam is the majority faith (the others being Iran and Bahrain). Most Shia Arabs here are concentrated in southern Iraq. Sunni Arabs, mostly in the center of Iraq, make up less than a third of the population. Though there are almost twice as many Shia as there are Sunni Muslims in Iraq, Sunni Muslims have been the leaders of the territory since the beginning of Iraq’s Islamic history in the seventh century. In some countries, the Sunni-Shia distinction is not very noticeable. But in Iraq, a Shia majority has been politically dominated by a Sunni minority for a very long time, and openly persecuted for almost 25 years under the government of Saddam Hussein. In Iraq, the Sunni-Shia divide among the Arab population plays a pivotal role in political and social relations. It has even been a major stumbling block in the search for aworkable federal constitution to govern a new Iraq. Like the Sunni Arabs, the Kurds are mostly SunniMuslim, but they are not natural allies of the Sunni Arabs. In the recent post-Saddam era, Kurdish politicians favor a secular (nonreligious) government and a high degree of Kurdish autonomy (if not independence) within a federal Iraqi state.
The core of Iraq, centered in Baghdad, and the Shia Arabdominated south, are two of Iraq’s major subregions. A third subregion lies in the north—the land of the Kurds. The Kurds make up as much as 20 percent of the country’s population. Iraq’s Kurds occupy an important area of the country, because the huge oil reserves around the city of Kirkuk lie partly in Kurdish territory.
Iraq has a population estimated at approximately 27 million, or about one-tenth that of the United States. Because of its major oil reserves and large areas of irrigated farmland, Iraq has more abundant natural resources than many of its neighbors. Descended from the early Mesopotamian states and empires that emerged in the basin of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Iraq also has a rich history.
ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF TERRITORY
Since the times of earliest human history, the abundance of resources in the core of Iraq has made the area an attractive place for settlement. The region has been home to some of the world’s greatest civilizations. For example, the ancient civilizations of Sumer, Assyria, and Babylon developed in Mesopotamia—the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in present-day Iraq. Over the past 2,500 years, the area has been contested and occupied by Persians (Iran), Greeks, Arabs, and Turks.
For most of its history, Iraq remained a powerful core territorywithin these larger empires. In fact, it was not recognized by its present name or current borders until the early twentieth century, when the British briefly took control of the area. The British, who inherited this territory fromtheOttoman Turks— the defeated allies of Germany inWorldWar I—saw the potential value of Iraq’s oil resources.When they drew territorial (political) boundaries, they made certain to include the area’s fields of “black gold.”Most of the oil fields are concentrated in the far south, where Shia Arabs are the majority population, and in the far north, where the Kurdish population lives. The Sunni Arabs in betweenwere politically joined to the Kurds and Shia Arabs. They occupied the gap between the oil fields, and also the famous and important city of Baghdad that lay in the center of the new country. Iraqi kings and presidents, who have ruled Iraq since the British departed in 1932, inherited these borders. The most famous of these recent rulers—the dictator Saddam Hussein—was removed frompower during a British- and U.S.- led invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. Saddam Hussein was a central figure in Iraq’s conflicts with its neighboring countries.
CONFLICTS WITH NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES
Before 1923, the Iraq we recognize today had no neighboring countries. It was part of much larger empires that at various times were controlled by Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Arabs, and Turks. The Mesopotamian core was usually at or near the center of each empire; conflicts with neighbors occurred far away at the edge of these expansive empires. Iraq is now bordered by six neighboring countries and has experienced disagreements with most of them. Two of these disagreements led to war, and one of these wars led eventually to the overthrowof Saddam Hussein. Saddam was president of Iraq from 1979 to 2003, during which time he was a frequent menace to his neighbors.
To the west, the country adjoins Jordan and Syria. Jordan maintains good relations with Iraq, and most Iraqis today look favorably upon Jordanians (and vice versa). When Iraq’s only seaport near Basra was closed during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, Jordan allowed Iraq to ship its oil through the country, so the Iraqi economy would not be crippled. Jordan again provided Iraq with an outlet to the sea through the port of Aqaba during the 1991GulfWar. Relations between Jordan and Iraq have sometimes been strained, but not to the extent that they have been with most of Iraq’s other neighbors.
In the mid-twentieth century, Syria and Iraq were political allies. But when Saddam Hussein rose to power in 1979, that relationship degraded into one of fierce competition, and not only in the political arena. The Euphrates River passes through Syria before it enters Iraq. After the Syrians built a dam on the river in the early 1970s, they began impounding and using water (particularly for irrigation) that previously flowed into Iraq.Water is always a potential source of heated conflict in this arid zone.
Turkey lies to the north and both the Tigris and Euphrates originate in the country’s snowy eastern mountains. Today, the Turks are in the midst of an ambitious program to build 22 dams on the upper Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This has degraded relations between Turkey and Iraq.
To the east of Iraq lies Iran, a country that SaddamHussein invaded in 1980. This led to a devastating, decade-long war during the 1980s. This conflict followed a long period of dispute between Iran and Iraq over control of the Shatt al-Arab waterway. Iran and Iraq also disagreed over rights to oil production and refining in the region, and the location of the international boundary that divides the area’s mostly Arab population.
At the head of the Persian Gulf lies Kuwait, a country invaded by Iraq’s army in 1990. Several major oil fields are found in the Shatt al-Arab between the city of Basra and Kuwait. One, the Rumailah oil field, extends frombeneath Iraqi soil into Kuwait. In 1990, Iraq claimed that Kuwait was drilling oil from this field by using slanted wells under Iraqi territory. Iraq also claimed that the boundary between the two countries was never agreed upon. The Shatt al-Arab waterway was still choked with the wreckage of the recent Iran-IraqWar. Annexation of Kuwait would also give Iraq a new outlet to the Persian Gulf. The desire for more land, more oil, and more seacoast persuaded Iraq to invade and occupy its southern neighbor. Kuwait was liberated by a U.S.–led international force in 1991, but the instigator of the invasion—Saddam Hussein— remained in power and relations with Kuwait remained very poor.With a new political administration now taking shape in Iraq, diplomatic relations with Kuwait have improved, though Iraqi-Kuwaiti relations remain strained.
To the south lies Saudi Arabia, which (like Jordan) assisted Iraq with the shipment of its oil supplies in the 1980s, but broke from Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Saudi Arabia felt directly threatened by that invasion, and the Saudis played a key role in the international effort that removed Iraqi forces fromKuwait in 1991. They also played an important role in Gulf War II (2003) that removed Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.
PRESENT AND FUTURE OF IRAQ
Iraq is a country in transition, and its future is uncertain. On the positive side, the dictator Saddam Hussein and his Baathist (political party) governmentwere removed frompower during the U.S.–led invasion during Gulf War II. However, disagreements between Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, and Kurds were held in check by Saddam’s tightfisted control. On the negative side, they are now free to bicker amongst one another. In the new Iraq, these groups are challenged by the task of trying to find new ways of cooperation and living peaceably together. Iraq has long been an economic and political powerhouse in the Middle East. By the 1970s, the country had one of the best road networks, best health-care systems, and best publicschool and university systems in the Middle East. It was a rapidly modernizing and industrializing country, well funded by a growing oil industry, and protected by one of the world’s largest military forces. Unfortunately for ordinary Iraqis, their political leadership squandered that wealth and power on themselves. Saddam Hussein, his family, and his closest supporters siphoned off much of the country’s wealth. They enjoyed some of the world’s most lavish lifestyles and felt the need to pay for an army that protected themselves and constantly threatened their neighbors.
Much of Iraq’s potential was wasted on the earlier conflict with Iran. Its infrastructure (for example, bridges, roads, power supplies, schools) and economy were further damaged during the first Gulf War (1991) and shattered during the second Gulf War (2003). Iraq is blessed with water, good land for farming, and large oil reserves. Without the glaring mismanagement, corruption, and inefficiency of the Saddam Hussein government, Iraq would have been one of the region’s best economic success stories. Instead, its botched leadership made it one of the world’s saddest tragedies. The country suffered enormously from the problems brought about by three wars in three decades. Saddam Hussein also failed to comply fully with agreements he made to end the invasion of his country during the first Gulf War. This brought about a decade of economic sanctions that plunged the country into further poverty and despair. Desperately needed relief has been coming in from many countries since the U.S.–led invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
In many ways, Iraq’s slate has been wiped clean. Sanctions have ended, and many countries have poured billions of dollars into the country. Electrical energy is being redeveloped and the oil industry is being expanded to generate more money for the country. Schools have been resupplied and universities have new technologies for teaching and research that had been denied themduring more than a decade of sanctions. Most of the country received Internet service for the first time in 2004 and the public now has access to theWorldWideWeb (though relatively few people outside of universities or the government have computers). Political and religious persecution and torture are no longer used to maintain law and order. A free press and free civil society is slowly evolving.
Yet there ismore trouble ahead for Iraq. The speed of political change, and the violent nature of that change, has created a power vacuum and instability that did not exist before. Though Iraq frequently invaded its neighbors, or made them feel threatened, its neighbors are not threatening Iraq.However, the lack of internal security remains a real threat. In 2006, a civil insurgency continued to fight those trying to develop and restore order to the country. Some of these insurgents are religious extremists opposed to non-Muslim (U.S. and British) invasion and influence in the country. Some insurgents are Sunni Arabs who are angry at their loss of power and angry at the United States for upstaging them. Political disagreements between Sunni and Shia Arabs over the rules of government, and Kurdish demands for greater independence from Arab control, all confound a delicate balance of power in the new Iraq. These internal conflicts cloud the positive accomplishments on other fronts.
About the Contributors
DALE LIGHTFOOT is professor and head of the Department of Geography at Oklahoma State University. Dr. Lightfoot is a specialist on the Middle East and has taught geography at the university level for nearly two decades. He has traveled through every country in the Middle East, including research trips in Morocco, Jordan, Syria, and Yemen. During 2004–2005, Lightfoot traveled around much of Iraq. He worked closely with Iraqi university professors and government ministries through programs to rebuild Iraqi higher education.
Series editor CHARLES F. GRITZNER is distinguished professor of geography at South Dakota State University in Brookings. He is now in his fifth decade of college teaching, research, and writing. In addition to teaching, he enjoys writing, working with teachers, and sharing his love of geography with readers. As the series editor for Chelsea House’s MODERN WORLD CULTURES and MODERNWORLD NATIONS series, he has a wonderful opportunity to combine each of these hobbies. Gritzner has served as both president and executive director of the National Council for Geographic Education and has received the Council’s highest honor, the George J. Miller Award for Distinguished Service to Geographic Education.
Iraq
Dale Lightfoot
Oklahoma State University
Series Editor
Charles F. Gritzner
South Dakota State University
Frontispiece: Flag of Iraq
Cover: Sunni Muslims help themselves to candy outside Um al-Qura Mosque
in Baghdad, Iraq, during the holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
Iraq
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Library of CongressCataloging-in-Publication Data
Lightfoot, Dale.
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p. cm.— (Modern world nations)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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1. Iraq—Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series.
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956.7—dc22 2006012725
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