DOCSLIB.ORG

Assessing Living Conditions in Iraq's Anbar Province in 2009

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Assessing Living Conditions in Iraq's Anbar Province in 2009 THE ARTS This PDF document was made available from www.rand.org as a public CHILD POLICY service of the RAND Corporation. CIVIL JUSTICE EDUCATION ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT Jump down to document6 HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS NATIONAL SECURITY The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that POPULATION AND AGING helps improve policy and decisionmaking through PUBLIC SAFETY research and analysis. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SUBSTANCE ABUSE TERRORISM AND HOMELAND SECURITY TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE WORKFORCE AND WORKPLACE Support RAND Purchase this document Browse Books & Publications Make a charitable contribution For More Information Visit RAND at www.rand.org Explore the RAND National Defense Research Institute View document details Limited Electronic Distribution Rights This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law as indicated in a notice appearing later in this work. This electronic representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for non-commercial use only. Unauthorized posting of RAND PDFs to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND PDFs are protected under copyright law. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of our research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please see RAND Permissions. This product is part of the RAND Corporation technical report series. Reports may include research findings on a specific topic that is limited in scope; present discus- sions of the methodology employed in research; provide literature reviews, survey instruments, modeling exercises, guidelines for practitioners and research profes- sionals, and supporting documentation; or deliver preliminary findings. All RAND reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure that they meet high standards for re- search quality and objectivity. Assessing Living Conditions in Iraq’s Anbar Province in 2009 Audra K. Grant, Martin C. Libicki Prepared for the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity Approved for public release; distribution unlimited NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH INSTITUTE The research described in this report was prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). The research was conducted in the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by OSD, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Department of the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense Intelligence Community under Contract W74V8H- 06-C-0002. Library of Congress Control Number: 2010930400 ISBN: 978-0-8330-4975-9 The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. R® is a registered trademark. © Copyright 2010 RAND Corporation Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes. Unauthorized posting of RAND documents to a non-RAND website is prohibited. RAND documents are protected under copyright law. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND permissions page (http://www.rand.org/publications/ permissions.html). Published 2010 by the RAND Corporation 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138 1200 South Hayes Street, Arlington, VA 22202-5050 4570 Fifth Avenue, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2665 RAND URL: http://www.rand.org To order RAND documents or to obtain additional information, contact Distribution Services: Telephone: (310) 451-7002; Fax: (310) 451-6915; Email: [email protected] Preface The local population is the center of gravity in counterinsurgency, and the first step toward winning over the population is to understand it. To this end, the RAND Corporation, in spring 2008 and spring 2009, conducted a survey of Iraq’s Anbar Province by putting a detailed set of questions to 1,200 randomly selected households. The survey was designed to collect a wide variety of data—ranging from demographics and housing to employment and living standards—about Anbari households and the province’s citizens. This report summarizes the key results of the 2009 survey and includes comparisons, as appropriate, to the 2008 phase of the project.1 Al-Anbar has been surveyed before, notably in 2004, when the Iraqi government, with cooperation from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Fafo-AIS, car- ried out a countrywide survey, reporting results in 2005 on a province-by-province basis. RAND’s survey project built on this previous effort and, although this report focuses on more- current conditions, it does offer comparisons to the situation described in 2004. This research was sponsored by the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity and conducted within the Intelligence Policy Center of the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense Intelligence Community. For more information on RAND’s Intelligence Policy Center, contact the Director, John Parachini. He can be reached by email at [email protected]; by phone at 703-413-1100, extension 5579; or by mail at the RAND Corporation, 1200 South Hayes Street, Arlington, Virginia 22202-5050. More information about RAND is available at www.rand.org. 1 The 2008 results can be found in Keith Crane, Martin C. Libicki, Audra K. Grant, James B. Bruce, Omar Al-Shahery, Alireza Nader, and Suzanne Perry, Living Conditions in Anbar Province in June 2008, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corpo- ration, TR-715-MCIA, 2009. iii Contents Preface ........................................................................................................... iii Figures ...........................................................................................................vii Tables ............................................................................................................ ix Summary ........................................................................................................ xi Acknowledgments .............................................................................................xv Abbreviations ................................................................................................. xvii CHAPTER ONE Introduction and Methodology .............................................................................. 1 Methodology ..................................................................................................... 2 Comparing the 2008 and 2009 Surveys: Learning from Past Experience ................................ 5 Factors Influencing the Environment .......................................................................... 5 CHAPTER TWO The Security Situation and the Effects of War ............................................................ 7 Perceptions of Security .......................................................................................... 7 The Effects of War ..............................................................................................11 Summary ........................................................................................................14 CHAPTER THREE Public Infrastructure .........................................................................................15 Utilities ...........................................................................................................15 Health Services ..................................................................................................17 Summary ........................................................................................................ 23 CHAPTER FOUR Demographics ..................................................................................................25 Family Size .......................................................................................................25 Distribution by Age ............................................................................................ 26 Distribution by Gender ........................................................................................ 27 Extended Families and Households .......................................................................... 28 Children ......................................................................................................... 30 Marriage ......................................................................................................... 30 Summary ........................................................................................................ 36 v vi Assessing Living Conditions in Iraq’s Anbar Province in 2009 CHAPTER FIVE Employment ....................................................................................................37 Summary ........................................................................................................ 46 CHAPTER SIX Income and Standards of Living ............................................................................47 Income ........................................................................................................... 48 Standards of Living .............................................................................................55
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Christian Historical Imagination in Late Antique Iraq
    OXFORD EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES General Editors Gillian Clark Andrew Louth THE OXFORD EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES series includes scholarly volumes on the thought and history of the early Christian centuries. Covering a wide range of Greek, Latin, and Oriental sources, the books are of interest to theologians, ancient historians, and specialists in the classical and Jewish worlds. Titles in the series include: Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and the Transformation of Divine Simplicity Andrew Radde-Gallwitz (2009) The Asceticism of Isaac of Nineveh Patrik Hagman (2010) Palladius of Helenopolis The Origenist Advocate Demetrios S. Katos (2011) Origen and Scripture The Contours of the Exegetical Life Peter Martens (2012) Activity and Participation in Late Antique and Early Christian Thought Torstein Theodor Tollefsen (2012) Irenaeus of Lyons and the Theology of the Holy Spirit Anthony Briggman (2012) Apophasis and Pseudonymity in Dionysius the Areopagite “No Longer I” Charles M. Stang (2012) Memory in Augustine’s Theological Anthropology Paige E. Hochschild (2012) Orosius and the Rhetoric of History Peter Van Nuffelen (2012) Drama of the Divine Economy Creator and Creation in Early Christian Theology and Piety Paul M. Blowers (2012) Embodiment and Virtue in Gregory of Nyssa Hans Boersma (2013) The Chronicle of Seert Christian Historical Imagination in Late Antique Iraq PHILIP WOOD 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries # Philip Wood 2013 The moral rights of the author have been asserted First Edition published in 2013 Impression: 1 All rights reserved.
    [Show full text]
  • Two Queens of ^Baghdad Oi.Uchicago.Edu
    oi.uchicago.edu Two Queens of ^Baghdad oi.uchicago.edu Courtesy of Dr. Erich Schmidt TOMB OF ZUBAIDAH oi.uchicago.edu Two Queens of Baghdad MOTHER AND WIFE OF HARUN AL-RASH I D By NABIA ABBOTT ti Vita 0CCO' cniia latur THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO • ILLINOIS oi.uchicago.edu The University of Chicago Press • Chicago 37 Agent: Cambridge University Press • London Copyright 1946 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. Published 1946. Composed and printed by The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. oi.uchicago.edu Preface HE historical and legendary fame of Harun al- Rashld, the most renowned of the caliphs of Bagh­ dad and hero of many an Arabian Nights' tale, has ren­ dered him for centuries a potent attraction for his­ torians, biographers, and litterateurs. Early Moslem historians recognized a measure of political influence exerted on him by his mother Khaizuran and by his wife Zubaidah. His more recent biographers have tended either to exaggerate or to underestimate the role of these royal women, and all have treated them more or less summarily. It seemed, therefore, desirable to break fresh ground in an effort to uncover all the pertinent his­ torical materials on the two queens themselves, in order the better to understand and estimate the nature and the extent of their influence on Harun and on several others of the early cAbbasid caliphs. As the work progressed, first Khaizuran and then Zubaidah emerged from the privacy of the royal harem to the center of the stage of early cAbbasid history.
    [Show full text]
  • The Intentional Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Iraq As a Violation Of
    The Intentional Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Iraq as a Violation of Human Rights Submission for the United Nations Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights About us RASHID International e.V. is a worldwide network of archaeologists, cultural heritage experts and professionals dedicated to safeguarding and promoting the cultural heritage of Iraq. We are committed to de eloping the histor! and archaeology of ancient "esopotamian cultures, for we belie e that knowledge of the past is ke! to understanding the present and to building a prosperous future. "uch of Iraq#s heritage is in danger of being lost fore er. "ilitant groups are ra$ing mosques and churches, smashing artifacts, bulldozing archaeological sites and illegall! trafficking antiquities at a rate rarel! seen in histor!. Iraqi cultural heritage is suffering grie ous and in man! cases irre ersible harm. To pre ent this from happening, we collect and share information, research and expert knowledge, work to raise public awareness and both de elop and execute strategies to protect heritage sites and other cultural propert! through international cooperation, advocac! and technical assistance. R&SHID International e.). Postfach ++, Institute for &ncient Near -astern &rcheology Ludwig-Maximilians/Uni ersit! of "unich 0eschwister-Scholl/*lat$ + (/,1234 "unich 0erman! https566www.rashid-international.org [email protected] Copyright This document is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution .! International license. 8ou are free to copy and redistribute the material in an! medium or format, remix, transform, and build upon the material for an! purpose, e en commerciall!. R&SHI( International e.). cannot re oke these freedoms as long as !ou follow the license terms.
    [Show full text]
  • U N ITED STATES COMMISSIONO N in T E R N ATIONAL RELI Ious
    I U S C R F Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom May 2010 (Covering April 1, 2009 – March 31, 2010) Commissioners Leonard A. Leo Chair (July 2009 – June 2010) Felice D. Gaer Chair (July 2008 – June 2009) Michael Cromartie Dr. Elizabeth H. Prodromou Vice Chairs (July 2008 – June 2010) Dr. Don Argue Imam Talal Y. Eid Felice D. Gaer Dr. Richard D. Land Nina Shea Ambassador Jackie Wolcott Executive Director Professional Staff Tom Carter, Director of Communications Walter G. DeSocio, General Counsel David Dettoni, Director of Operations and Outreach Judith E. Golub, Director of Government Relations Carmelita Hines, Director of Administration Knox Thames, Director of Policy and Research Dwight Bashir, Deputy Director for Policy and Research Elizabeth K. Cassidy, Deputy Director for Policy and Research Catherine Cosman, Senior Policy Analyst Deborah DuCre, Receptionist Scott Flipse, Senior Policy Analyst Yuna Jacobson, Associate Director for Government Relations Tiffany Lynch, Policy Analyst Jacqueline A. Mitchell, Executive Assistant Muthulakshmi Anu Narasimhan, Communications Specialist Stephen R. Snow, Senior Policy Analyst Front Cover: URUMQI, China, July 7, 2009 – A Uighur Muslim woman stands courageously before Chinese riot police sent to quell demonstrations by thousands of Uighurs calling for the government to respect their human rights. The Uighurs are a minority Muslim group in the autonomous Xinjiang Uighur region. Chinese government efforts to put down the ethnic and religious protest resulted in more than 150 dead and hundreds of arrests. (Photo by Guang Niu/Getty Images) Back Cover: JUBA, Southern Sudan, April 10, 2010 – School children participate in a prayer service on the eve of Sudan’s first national elections in more than two decades.
    [Show full text]
  • Iraq: Politics and Governance
    Iraq: Politics and Governance Kenneth Katzman Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs Carla E. Humud Analyst in Middle Eastern and African Affairs March 9, 2016 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov RS21968 Iraq: Politics and Governance Summary Iraq’s sectarian and ethnic divisions—muted toward the end of the 2003-2011 U.S. military intervention in Iraq—are fueling a major challenge to Iraq’s stability and to U.S. policy in Iraq and the broader Middle East region. The resentment of Iraq’s Sunni Arabs toward the Shiite- dominated central government facilitated the capture in 2014 of nearly one-third of Iraqi territory by the Sunni Islamist extremist group called the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL, ISIS, or the Arabic acronym Da'esh). Iraq’s Kurds are separately embroiled in political, territorial, and economic disputes with Baghdad, but those differences have been at least temporarily subordinated to the common struggle against the Islamic State. U.S. officials assert that the Iraqi government must work to gain the loyalty of more of Iraq’s Sunnis—and to resolve differences with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)—if an eventual defeat of the Islamic State is to result in long-term stability. Prospects for greater inter- communal unity appeared to increase in 2014 with the replacement of former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki with the current Prime Minister, Haydar al-Abbadi. Although both men are from the Shiite Islamist Da’wa Party, Abbadi has taken some steps to try to compromise with Sunnis and with the KRG. However, a significant point of contention with the KRG remains the KRG’s marketing of crude oil exports separately from Baghdad.
    [Show full text]
  • COI QUERY Disclaimer
    COI QUERY Country of Origin/Topic Iraq Question(s) What is the security context and treatment of Christians in Iraq? 1. Background 1.1. Post-ISIL security context of Christian community - Targeted destruction of infrastructure and habitat - Targeting of Christians by armed actors 1.2. Ninewa governorate and ability to secure law and order - Governance, education and practice of Christianity in Iraq 1.3. Missing, IDPs and returnees Date of completion 22 October 2020 Query Code Q 21 Contributing EU+ COI This query response was sent to the EASO COI Specialists Network units (if applicable) on Iraq1 for contributions on the security context and treatment of Yazidis. No information was contributed by EU+ countries, but feedback was received from the Norwegian Country of Origin Information Centre (Landinfo). Disclaimer This response to a COI query has been elaborated according to the Common EU Guidelines for Processing COI and EASO COI Report Methodology. The information provided in this response has been researched, evaluated and processed with utmost care within a limited time frame. All sources used are referenced. A quality review has been performed in line with the above mentioned methodology. This document does not claim to be exhaustive neither conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to international protection. If a certain event, person or organisation is not mentioned in the report, this does not mean that the event has not taken place or that the person or organisation does not exist. Terminology used should not be regarded as indicative of a particular legal position. The information in the response does not necessarily reflect the opinion of EASO and makes no political statement whatsoever.
    [Show full text]
  • Iraq Tribal Study – Al-Anbar Governorate: the Albu Fahd Tribe
    Iraq Tribal Study AL-ANBAR GOVERNORATE ALBU FAHD TRIBE ALBU MAHAL TRIBE ALBU ISSA TRIBE GLOBAL GLOBAL RESOURCES RISK GROUP This Page Intentionally Left Blank Iraq Tribal Study Iraq Tribal Study – Al-Anbar Governorate: The Albu Fahd Tribe, The Albu Mahal Tribe and the Albu Issa Tribe Study Director and Primary Researcher: Lin Todd Contributing Researchers: W. Patrick Lang, Jr., Colonel, US Army (Retired) R. Alan King Andrea V. Jackson Montgomery McFate, PhD Ahmed S. Hashim, PhD Jeremy S. Harrington Research and Writing Completed: June 18, 2006 Study Conducted Under Contract with the Department of Defense. i Iraq Tribal Study This Page Intentionally Left Blank ii Iraq Tribal Study Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CHAPTER ONE. Introduction 1-1 CHAPTER TWO. Common Historical Characteristics and Aspects of the Tribes of Iraq and al-Anbar Governorate 2-1 • Key Characteristics of Sunni Arab Identity 2-3 • Arab Ethnicity 2-3 – The Impact of the Arabic Language 2-4 – Arabism 2-5 – Authority in Contemporary Iraq 2-8 • Islam 2-9 – Islam and the State 2-9 – Role of Islam in Politics 2-10 – Islam and Legitimacy 2-11 – Sunni Islam 2-12 – Sunni Islam Madhabs (Schools of Law) 2-13 – Hanafi School 2-13 – Maliki School 2-14 – Shafii School 2-15 – Hanbali School 2-15 – Sunni Islam in Iraq 2-16 – Extremist Forms of Sunni Islam 2-17 – Wahhabism 2-17 – Salafism 2-19 – Takfirism 2-22 – Sunni and Shia Differences 2-23 – Islam and Arabism 2-24 – Role of Islam in Government and Politics in Iraq 2-25 – Women in Islam 2-26 – Piety 2-29 – Fatalism 2-31 – Social Justice 2-31 – Quranic Treatment of Warfare vs.
    [Show full text]
  • MANAGING RETURN in ANBAR: COMMUNITY RESPONSES to the RETURN of Idps with PERCEIVED AFFILIATION
    IOM IRAQ MANAGING RETURN IN ANBAR Community Responses to the Return of IDPs with Perceived Affiliation ABOUT IOM The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. As an intergovernmental organization, IOM acts with its partners in the international community to: assist in meeting the operational challenges of migration; advance understanding of migration issues; encourage social and economic development through migration; and uphold the human dignity and well-being of migrants. The opinions expressed in the report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The information contained in this report is for general information purposes only. Names and boundaries do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). IOM Iraq endeavours to keep this information as accurate as possible but makes no claim – expressed or implied – on the completeness, accuracy and suitability of the information provided through this report. ABOUT RWG The Returns Working Group (RWG) is an operational and multi- stakeholder platform on returns, which was established in line with Strategic Objective 3 of the 2016 Iraq Humanitarian Response Plan "to support voluntary, safe and dignified return" of IDPs, to monitor and report on conditions in return areas, and determine to what extent durable solutions have been achieved- or progress made- for returnees. The key objective of the group is to establish coherence of information, data and analysis, strengthen coordination and advocacy, give guidance on activities related to the key areas, and enhance complementary action among its partners with the overall goal of supporting and reinforcing the national response to Iraq’s coming reintegration challenge.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-01408-4 - The New Muslims of Post-Conquest Iran: Tradition, Memory, and Conversion Sarah Bowen Savant Excerpt More information Introduction Worries were at my stopping place, so I turned my sturdy she-camel toward the White Palace of al-Mada¯ʾin. Consoling myself with good fortune, and sorrowing at the traces of the camp of the clan of Sas¯ an.¯ Successive afflictions reminded me of them; incidents make one remember, make one forget. 1 al-Buh. turı¯ (d. 284/897) Amid the alluvial flatlands east of the Tigris River in Iraq stands a great hulk of a ruin known as the Arch of Khusraw, or to Iranians today as the Taq-i¯ Kisra.¯ When Robert Mignan, in the service of the East India Com- pany, came upon the “Tauk Kesra” in 1827, he described “a magnificent monument of antiquity, surprising the spectator with the perfect state of its preservation, after having braved the warring elements for so many ages; without an emblem to throw any light upon its history; without proof, or character to be traced on any brick or wall.” Mignan noted that “the natives of this country assert” that “the ruins are of the age of Nimrod,” a conclusion that he seems to have found credible.2 In the 1 This qas.ıda¯ is widely repeated in Arabic sources. The lines featured here follow the recen- sion provided by A. J. Arberry in his Arabic Poetry: A Primer for Students (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965), 72–81 (no. 11); they are translated by Richard A.
    [Show full text]
  • Evaluate the Optimal Future Demand of Water Consumption in Al-Anbar Province in the West of Iraq
    International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning Vol. 16, No. 3, June, 2021, pp. 457-462 Journal homepage: http://iieta.org/journals/ijsdp Evaluate the Optimal Future Demand of Water Consumption in Al-Anbar Province in the West of Iraq Sadeq Oleiwi Sulaiman1, Abu Baker A. Najm1, Ammar Hatem Kamel1, Nadhir Al-Ansari2* 1 Department of Dams and Water Resources, College of Engineering, University of Anbar, Ramadi 31001, Iraq 2 Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Lulea University of Technology, Lulea 97187, Sweden Corresponding Author Email: [email protected] https://doi.org/10.18280/ijsdp.160306 ABSTRACT Received: 5 March 2021 Water is an essential source of sustaining life and used in generating electricity, agriculture, Accepted: 20 May 2021 industry, and the daily domestic uses. This study was prepared to determine the water consumption of Anbar Province in the west of Iraq according to agricultural, industrial, and Keywords: domestic demand. In addition, the study is evaluating the expected future water consumption by demand sites within study area. The results showed the domestic water demand will water consumption, optimal water 3 3 demand, Euphrates River, Al-Anbar increases by 32% from 267.30 million m /year in 2021 to 352.70 million m per year in 2035, province with a deficit of 24.5% in the year 2035. Furthermore, the study had appeared the agricultural demand was 1404.38 million m3 /year according to the limited cultivated area, which equals 42.93% from the total available area of 221,250 hectares. The agricultural demand increases to 2611 million m3 /year when uses all available area, and this cause occurs deficit in water demand reach to 1591 and 1715 million m3 /year in the years 2030 and 2035 respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • J:\Mesopotamia\Abbasid Collpase-7.Wpd
    The Collapse of the World’s Oldest Civilization: The Political Economy of Hydraulic States and the Financial Crisis of the Abbasid Caliphate By Robert C. Allen Global Distinguish Professor of Economic History Faculty of Social Science New York University Abu Dhabi [email protected] Leander Heldring Post-doctoral Fellow Department of Economics Harvard University [email protected] 2016 We thank Mattia Bertazzini for outstanding research assistance and the Research Endowment Fund of New York University Abu Dhabi for financial support. The title of the paper is not too dramatic. Mesopotamia was the birthplace of civilization. Uruk was the world’s first city, and it was founded around 3500 BC. One great civilization followed another for the next four thousand years. Cities depended on a productive agriculture, and agriculture required irrigation. The irrigation system reached its peak under the Persian Sassanian empire, which lasted from 224 AD to 621 AD, when the Persians were defeated by the Arabs. The victorious invaders continued the tax and administration policies of the Sassanians and enjoyed remarkable success for two and a half centuries. Baghdad was founded and became the centre of the Golden Age of Islam in the 8th and 9th centuries. But then something went wrong. By the middle of the 10th century the irrigation system had collapsed and southern Iraq was largely depopulated. It remains like that today (Map 1). What happened? There’s no shortage of explanations, and they can be grouped under the trilogy of geography, culture, and institutions.1 Geography played a central role. Southern Iraq is a desert crossed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
    [Show full text]
  • Islamic State Senior Leadership: Who›S Who Compiled by Charles Lister
    Islamic State Senior Leadership: Who›s Who compiled by Charles Lister ‘Caliph Ibrahim’ – Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Real name: Ibrahim Awwad Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai An Iraqi national from the Al-Bu Badri tribe and an alleged descen- dant of the Prophet Mohammed. Received a PhD in Islamic studies in Baghdad before founding Jamaat Jaish Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jamaa in 2003 to fight US forces. Joined MSM in 2006 and took charge of ISI sharia committees by 2007. Image source: Official IS media content. Deputy, Iraq – Abu Muslim al-Turkmani Real name: Fadl Ahmad Abdullah al-Hiyali A former Lieutenant Colonel in the Iraqi Army and a former officer in the Iraqi Special Forces. From Tel Afar, Ninawa. Image source: Hisham al-Hashimi and Telegraph interactive team, “Revealed: the Islamic State ‘cabinet’, from finance minister to suicide bomb deployer,” The Telegraph, 9 July 2014. Deputy, Syria – Abu Ali al-Anbari Real name: Unknown A former Major General in the Iraqi Military from Anbar. War Minister – Abu Suleiman Real name: Nasser al-Din Allah Abu Suleiman Image source: Hanein jihadist forum, 2 July 2014. Chief of Syria military operations – Umar al-Shishani Real name: Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili An ethnic Chechen Georgian national. Former Sergeant in Georgian military intelligence unit. Led Jaish al-Muhajireen wal Ansar in Syria before joining ISIS. Image source: Official IS media content. Islamic State Senior Leadership: Who›s Who Lister Senior military commander – Abu Wahib Real name: Shaker Wahib al-Fahdawi Arrested in 2006 by US forces and sentenced to death. Escaped prison in Tikrit in September 2012.
    [Show full text]