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Iraq is a Southwest Asian country. It is bathed by the
Persian Gulf in the southeast, and borders Kuwait in the
southeast, Saudi Arabia in the south, Jordan in the
west, Syria in the northwest, Turkey in the north, and
Iran in the east. It has a surface of 437 072 km2 ,
excluding the Neutral Zone which has been administered
jointly with Saudi Arabia, since 1922. The most
important cities are Baghdad, the capital, 6 677 000
inhabitants (2004) in the metropolitan area, Mosul (1
846 500 inhab.), Basra (1 477 200 inhab.), Irbil (1 349
200 inhab.) And Kirkuk ( 784 100 inhab.). The country
has only one outlet to the Persian Gulf. It is crossed
by two important rivers, the Tigris and the
Euphrates. In the north, the mountains of Kurdistan
extend to Turkey and Iran. In the western part of the
country, there is the Syrian desert, which is inhabited
only by nomadic herders.
Climate
The climate is arid or semi-arid. In summer,
temperatures are extremely high, except in the northern
highlands.
Economy
Iraq has an economy that depends heavily on revenues
from oil and natural gas extraction. About 1/8 of the
soil is fertile, thanks to the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers. The most cultivated agricultural products are
wheat, dates, tomatoes, grapes, barley, cucumbers,
oranges, rice, corn and tobacco. The extractive industry
includes, in addition to oil and natural gas, sulfur,
mineral phosphate and plaster stone. The main industrial
products are petroleum products, food products,
textiles, paper, beverages, footwear and tobacco. The
United Nations embargo has severely affected Iraq's
foreign trade. Iraq's main trading partners are Jordan,
Turkey, Hungary and Switzerland.
Environmental indicator: no data (1999).
Population
With an estimated population of 26,783,383 inhabitants
(2006), Iraq has a population density of approximately
59.66 inhabitants / km2. The birth and death
rates are, respectively, 31.98% and 5.37%. Average life
expectancy is 69.01 years. The value of the Human
Development Index (HDI) was not assigned and the value
of the Gender-adjusted Development Index (IDG) was not
assigned (2001). It is estimated that, in 2025, the
population will be 40 418 000 inhabitants. The largest
ethnic groups are Arab, with 77%, and Kurdish, with
19%. Shiite Muslims make up 63% of the population and
Sunni Muslims make up 35%. The official language is
Arabic, although in the Kurdish autonomous region it is
Kurdish.
History
Great Britain occupied Iraq during the First World
War. Under his protection, a monarchy was established in
the country in 1921; a Constitution was signed in
1925; and full independence was granted in 1932.
However, the pro-German Iraqi attitude, during the
Second World War, led Britain to occupy the territory
again between 1941 and 1945. In 1958, the revolution
brought down the monarchy. A series of military coups
followed until, in 1968, the leader of the Socialist
Party, Saddam Hussein, seized power.
Between 1980 and 1990, the country was involved in a
war with Iran that resulted from political and
territorial disputes. The Iran-Iraq War came after Iraqi
military forces invaded Iran and claimed the oil-rich
Khuzestan province. In this conflict, Iraq had the
financial support of Saudi Arabia, the USA and the
Soviet Union. But in the mid-1980s, the country saw its
international reputation undermined, after being accused
of using chemical weapons against Iranian troops. The
international community, outraged, sent warships to the
Persian Gulf. In 1988, and after ten years of intense
struggles, Iran accepted that the United Nations (UN)
mediate the ceasefire between the two countries. In 1990
they reestablished diplomatic relations.
In August of that same year, Iraq invaded Kuwait and,
in January 1991, the Gulf War took place. Western allied
forces, led by the United States and supported by the UN
and NATO, formed a coalition with the aim of getting
Iraqi troops out of Kuwait. The operation was known as
"Desert Storm" and lasted only a month. In February,
Saddam Hussein was defeated.
With the imposition of the economic embargo by the
United Nations Security Council, the nation of Saddam
Hussein experienced a deep internal crisis, namely
economic, but even so Saddam's regime remained
unshakable. However, in the wake of the September 11,
2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, the Iraqi
regime was considered hostile to the United States and
its allies, becoming the target of UN inspections to
find weapons of mass destruction in the country. Despite
the inconclusive results of the inspections - and the
absence of an express mandate for the use of force by
the United Nations Security Council - in March 2003, a
coalition of American and British forces attacked Iraq
and overthrew the regime chaired by Saddam Hussein,
followed by a period of great instability.
On January 30, 2005, for the first time after the
overthrow of the regime, free elections were held in the
country. Despite the attacks recorded that day, more
than 50% of the population participated in this
political event, mainly the Shiite and Kurdish
population. The rupture between Shiites and Sunnis was
felt in the occurrence at the polls, since the adhesion
was much lower or zero in the regions of Sunni
population. The Shiites won an absolute majority.
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