More languages
More actions
| Republic of Iraq جمهورية العراق کۆماری عێراق | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |
 | |
| Capital and largest city | Baghdad |
| Official languages | Arabic Kurdish |
| Recognized regional languages | Aramaic Armenian Turkish |
| Area | |
• Total | 438,317 km² |
| Population | |
• 2020 estimate | 40,222,503 |
Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in Western Asia. Since 1991, it has suffered two invasions from the United States.
History[edit | edit source]
Ottoman Empire[edit | edit source]
In 1514, Iraq was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. After the First World War, the Ottoman Empire was split up and Iraq was administered by the British Empire.[1]
British mandate[edit | edit source]
It took four years for the British to colonize Iraq. After a nationalist revolt in 1920, the British installed Faisal as King of Iraq instead of directly ruling from London.[1] In 1925, the British dropped poison gas from planes to combat a revolt in the northern Kurdish region of Iraq.[2] In 1932, Britain under a Labour government gave independence to Iraq and Nuri al-Sa'id became prime minister.[1] After independence, Iraq continued to be occupied by British military bases. Between 1935 and 1954, Iraq was put under martial law 11 times.[2]
Monarchy[edit | edit source]
Faisal died of a heart attack in 1933 and his son, Ghazi, took the throne. A military coup occurred in Iraq in 1936. In 1941, after pro-British politicians were removed from power, the UK invaded and occupied Iraq. Five political parties were founded in 1945, including the pan-Arab Istiqlal (Independence) Party. Iraq supported Palestine in the First Arab–Israeli War in 1948.[1]
Republic[edit | edit source]
In 1953, the United States took control of Iraq and established the Baghdad Pact with Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Iraq, and the UK. On 14 July 1958, Brigadier Abd al-Karim Qasim led a military rebellion that overthrew the last king of Iraq.[2] Qasim then became the first president of Iraq and tried to stay neutral in the Cold War.[3] After the revolution, the Iraqi Communist Party formed an alliance with the national bourgeoisie.[2]
Soon after the revolution, the U.S. and Turkey planned an invasion of Iraq.[3] U.S. President Eisenhower cancelled the invasion because of the presence of the United Arab Republic and the movement of Soviet troops into southern republics near Iraq.[2] In 1960, the USA began funding Kurdish guerrillas and the CIA tried to kill Qasim. In 1962, Qasim helped create OPEC and nationalized the oil industry.[3]
In 1963, a US and UK-backed military group overthrew and murdered Qasim. Even though Qasim had not supported the Communist Party, the coup also killed thousands of communists.[3] In 1972, Iraq signed a defense treaty with the Soviet Union.[2] Saddam Hussein arrested the leadership of the pro-Ba'ath faction of the ICP in 1978.[4] After Saddam became president in 1979, the United States armed Iraq for its war against Iran.[2]
First US invasion[edit | edit source]
The United States encouraged Iraq to invade Kuwait in 1990. In 1991, Statesian ruler George Bush invaded Iraq and bombed it for 40 days without stopping and then sanctioned it.[5] The invasion killed 200,000 people.[6] The USA and UK continued to bomb Iraq for several years, including more than 1,000 times in 1999.[5] Western sanctions killed 500,000 children within four years.[7]
Second US invasion[edit | edit source]
See main article: Iraq War
War crimes[edit | edit source]
In 2007, US mercenaries working for Blackwater killed 17 civilians in the Nisour Square massacre.[8]
In 2010, documents leaked by Chelsea Manning showed that the majority of Iraqis killed by US forces were civilians.[9]
In 2016, Barack Obama dropped a total of 12,095 bombs on Iraq.[10]
In March 2017, a US air strike killed 112 civilians in Mosul.[11]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Phebe Marr (2012). The Modern History of Iraq (pp. 6–72). Westview Press. ISBN 9780813345215
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Richard Becker (2011-07-14). "Our view on modern Iraq" Liberation School. Archived from the original on 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2022-06-24.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 William Blum (2002). Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower: 'A Concise History of United States Global Interventions, 1945 to the Present' (pp. 114–115). [PDF] Zed Books Ltd. ISBN 9781842772201 [LG]
- ↑ Vijay Prashad (2008). The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World: 'Bali' (pp. 158–160). [PDF] The New Press. ISBN 9781595583420 [LG]
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 William Blum (2002). Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower: 'A Concise History of United States Global Interventions, 1945 to the Present' (pp. 134–135). [PDF] Zed Books Ltd. ISBN 9781842772201 [LG]
- ↑ Sameena Rahman (2021-10-19). "Colin Powell (1937-2021): U.S. imperialism’s top salesman for slaughter" Liberation News. Archived from the original on 2022-12-06.
- ↑ Sara Flounders (2023-04-12). "Ramsey Clark, human rights fighter – 1927-2021" Workers World. Archived from the original on 2023-01-31. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
- ↑ Sabrina Tavernise (2007-09-18). "U.S. Contractor Banned by Iraq Over Shootings" The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2020-10-18. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ↑ "Baghdad War Diary" (2010-10-22). Wikileaks. Archived from the original on 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ↑ Ghast Lee (2017-01-23). "Shocking Map Shows Where Barack Obama Dropped His 26,000 Bombs" Sick Chirpse. Archived from the original on 2017-07-15.
- ↑ Ghazi Balkiz, et al. (2017-03-28). "Mosul: 112 civilian bodies pulled from site of coalition airstrike" CNN. Archived from the original on 2021-10-13. Retrieved 2022-02-02.