Iraq A timely country study. Certain materials are included under the fair use exemption of the U.S....

Iraq

A timely country study

Certain materials are included under the fair use exemption of the U.S. Copyright Law and have been prepared according to the multimedia fair use guidelines and are restricted from further

use.

Flags obtained from:http://www.cia.gov/cia/publicatio

ns/factbook/© 2010-Jon Benignus

20th Century Iraq• Conquered by the U.K. from the

Ottoman Empire

• Given independence in 1932–British established a monarchy

• Ba’ath party took over in 1963

Saddam Hussein• Leader in Iraq

since 1968• President since

1979• Killed ½

million Iraqishttp://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38160000/jpg/_38160566_saddam_hussein_ap300.jpg

Genocide• 300,000 Kurds

–Chemical Ali

• 150,000 Shias and Marsh Arabs

• 50,000 Police State

http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/4637/terr35a.html

Wars• Iran/Iraq War

– 1980 – 1988– 450,000 Iraqis dead

• 1st Persian Gulf War - 1991– Invades Kuwait– U.S. liberates

Kuwait– 90,000 Iraqis dead

http://i-cias.com/e.o/iranirqw04.htm

Sanctions• Prevent Trade

with Iraq

• Myth – Hit Saddam in pocketbook

• Reality –Children starve

http://www.megastories.com/iraq/images/apriltrip/measles.jpg

Iraqi Death Toll

0100,000200,000300,000400,000500,000600,000700,000800,000900,000

1,000,000

Genocide War Sanctions

Iraqi Deaths

Iraqi Freedom

• 2003– War is

over in a few weeks

• Saddam’s army evaporates

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Iraq-War-Map.png

Iraqi Insurgents• Terrorists from

Saddam’s followers

• Also Al-Qaeda

• Many people taught to hate the United States

• Use IEDs– Improvised Explosive

Devices

• Or car bombs http://truthout.org/imgs.art_01/3.irq.celb.burn.tnkr.jpg

Three Factions• Kurds in the north

– 20%• Sunnis in the

middle – 20%• Shia in the south –

60%• Oil in Kurdish and

Shia areas• Sunnis used to be

in controlhttp://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5669856

Ayatollah Sistani

• Most respected Ayatollah in Iraq

• Not happy with U.S. occupation

• Knows that Shi’ites will win from Democracy

http://www.alsiraat.com/shasiat/images/ola-sistani1.jpg

Sectarian Violence• Sectarian

mean religious

• Sunnis bomb Shia shrines and mosques

• Shia bomb Sunni mosques

http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5572723

Moqtada al-Sadr • Father was well

respected Ayatollah• Moqtada is young

and ambitious• Has used violence to

get U.S. to leave Iraq• Using violence

against Sunnishttp://www.msnbc.com/news/1895362.jpg

Militias & Troop Surge • U.S. sent extra troops to Iraq in 2007 –

2008– Reduced violence in Iraq

• Want to train Iraqi police in proper police methods

• All U.S. troops have left the cities

• All U.S. troops out by end of 2011

Elections - 2010 • Parliamentary Elections

held

• Nouri al-Maliki won– Prime Minister– Shia Muslim– Is starting to behave just like

a dictator– Arrested his Sunni vice-

president right after U.S. troops left

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_parliamentary_election,_2010

Elections - 2010 • Shia

– Maliki89 seats

– Sadr70 seats

• Sunni– Allawi

91 seats

• Kurds49 seats

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_parliamentary_election,_2010