Middle East

Iraq

The Republic of Iraq ( Arabic: Kurdish: Eraq) is a Middle Eastern country in southwestern Asia at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and also including southern Kurdistan. 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 (Persia) to the east. Iraq has a very narrow section of coastline at Umm Qasr on the Persian Gulf...General Introduction of Iraq .

Full country name: Republic of Iraq
National name: Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah
Area: 168,753 sq mi (437,072 sq km)
Population: 26,074,906 (growth rate: 2.7%); birth rate: 32.5/1000; infant mortality rate: 50.2/1000; life expectancy: 68.7; density per sq mi: 155
Capital City: Baghdad, 6,777,300 (metro. area), 5,772,000 (city proper)
Language: Arabic (official), Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Assyrian, Armenian
Ethnicity/race: Current: Arab 75%–80%, Kurdish 15%–20%, Turkoman, Assyrian, or other 5%
Religion: Islam 97% (Shiite 60%–65%, Sunni 32%–37%), Christian or other 3%
Government:T he dictatorship of Saddam Hussein collapsed on April 9, 2003, after U.S. and British forces invaded the country. Sovereignty was returned to Iraq on June 28, 2004.
President: Jalal Talabani (2005)
Prime Minister: Ibrahim al-Jaafari (2005)

History of Iraq

Modern Iraq became a British mandate (the British League of Nations Trust Territory of Iraq) at the end of World War I and was granted independence from British control in 1932. It was formed out of three former Ottoman Willayats (regions): Mosul, Baghdad and Basra. The British-installed Hashemite monarchy lasted until 1958, when it was overthrown through a coup d'etat by the Iraqi army, known as the 14 July Revolution. It brought Brigadier General Abdul Karim Qassim's leftist government to power (which withdrew from the Baghdad Pact and established friendly relations with the Soviet Union), from 1958 till 1963, when he was overthrown by Colonel Abdul Salam Arif. Salam Arif died in 1966 and his brother, Abdul Rahman Arif, assumed the presidency. In 1968, Rahman Arif was overthrown by the right wing Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The Ba'ath's key figure became Saddam Hussein who acceded to the presidency and control of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), Iraq's supreme executive decision making body, in July 1979, killing off many of his opponents in the process. Saddam's absolute and particularly bloody rule lasted throughout the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), which ended in stalemate; the al-Anfal campaign of the late 1980s, which led to the alleged gassing of thousands of Kurds in northern Iraq; Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 resulting in the Gulf War; and the United Nations-imposed economic sanctions and no-fly zones which followed....History of Iraq .

Overview of Iraq's Economy

GDP: $89.8 billion
GDP per capita: $3,500
Annual Growth: 52.3%.
Inflation: 25.4%
Major Industries: petroleum, chemicals, textiles, construction materials, food processing, fertilizer, metal fabrication/processing.
Major Trading Partners: U.S., Canada, Italy, Taiwan, Jordan, Turkey, Vietnam, Germany, UK (2003).
Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, phosphates, sulfur.

Also Read: An insight into the Economy of Iraq

Political System of Iraq

- Politics of Iraq
- Government of Iraq

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... more

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