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Home , Babylon, Iraq

The Babylonian of -Nammu

IRAQ: From to Limestone griffin from northern The peoples who once inhabited , the fertile plains between the and Rivers, have made great Mesopotamia contributions to Western knowledge and . But , has become outcast among many Western nations. Its people live under the dictatorship of President and are smarting under imposed by the following the Persian . Iraq faces a possible U.S. military attack unless Saddam reveals and destroys his alleged nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and components. A Mosaic of Peoples M •Ancient times: People settled along E the Tigris and Euphrates as early as S •The : from the , writing on 7000 B.C., and some historians O [ Baghdad who had become followers of , brought a soft place the in that region. P T by the , stormed into The Sumerians, who lived in the marshy O igris Mesopotamia and defeated the in 637. south, developed a thriving civilization Babylon T At the time, the majority of people living in beginning about 3500 B.C. They used pottery A Mesopotamia were Zoroastrians and . to make clay utensils, devised one of M I Islam established itself, aided by conversions the first lunar calendars and developed Eup A hra and the influx of more people from the Arabian advanced mathematical concepts. They tes Ur Peninsula. constructed systems, enabling an agricultural society to thrive. Their cuneiform system •Schism of Islam: A fight over the succession of writing recorded commerce as well as epic . to Muhammad as the political ruler caused the It is in this region that urban centers first developed, schism of Islam in 661 into Shiite and Sunni including Ur, the that Abraham left to find , branches, a division that still deeply affects Iraq. according to . The Amorite king •Baghdad is born: In 762, Baghdad became the new and Early unified the city states and established the first known code of developed into one of the most important in the civilized Mesopotamian law. The as well as other invaders blended their . For centuries, Baghdad was the center of learning, sailboat cultures with that of the Sumerians, and Mesopotamia flourished , philosophy and poetry. This golden age of Islam, in until the 500s B.C., with Babylon as its capital. which Arab rule extended as far as Spain, revived learning An Akkadian •Babylon destroyed and rebuilt: After Babylon was destroyed by the in Europe and helped spark the Renaissance. ruler, 2250 B.C. Assyrians in 669 B.C., the city was reconstructed. Under King •The Mongols: Baghdad fell to attacking Mongols in 1258. Nebuchadnezzar II, Babylon was considered the world’s most The city was destroyed, citizens massacred and the beautiful, most advanced city. Nebuchadnezzar is said to have caliph executed. The economy of Mesopotamia built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the . did not recover for centuries. •The Greeks: In 331 B.C., the Great conquered the region, •The : The Ottomans conquered beginning an infusion of Hellenistic culture. Mesopotamia in 1533 and ruled until 1918. •The Persians: In 64 A.D., the Persians took over, and Mesopo- During that time, the region was just a tamia became one of the richest in the Persian backwater in the . Empire.

Sumerian/Babylonian rule Assyrian Greek Mongol Ottoman

4000 3000 2000 100 191 Babylon becomes capital of Mesopotamia Babylonian Persian Baghdad becomes capital of Iraq in the 20th Century

BRITAIN’S ROLE SADDAM HUSSEIN’S RULE THE GULF WAR AND ITS AFTERMATH •: Britain invaded Mesopotamia in 1914 and •The Baathists: When the Baath Party—a secular, •-: Fears that the 1979 revolution in • Invasion of : On Aug. 2, 1990, Iraq invaded battled the Ottomans for four years. Britain’s main nationalist party that espoused socialism and Shiite Iran could challenge secular Baathist rule, Kuwait and annexed it. The United Nations called for goal was safeguarding the land route to its Indian pan-Arabism—took power in 1968, Saddam and a border dispute over the Shatt al Arab, immediate withdrawal and imposed economic empire and its oil interests in Iran. secured the No. 2 spot behind Gen. Ahmed sparked war in 1980. In the eight years of fighting, sanctions. But Saddam did not pull out. •British mandate: Britain received a Hassan Bakr, a cousin. The government 500,000 to 1 million and Iranians died. After • Operation Storm: On Jan. 17, 1991, the United mandate to administer Mesopotamia in 1920. British immediately clamped down on internal dissent, first selling weapons to Iran, the States and allied nations launched a six-week bombing officials drew the borders of Iraq with little regard to but stabilized the . openly supported Iraq. campaign against Iraqi military and civilian targets, ethnic or religious divisions. The mandate included •Saddam’s move: Saddam succeeded his ailing •Weapons of mass destruction: suspected followed by a 100-hour ground attack that drove Iraqi areas populated by , who have fought for self- patron, Bakr, and declared himself president that Hussein was developing nuclear weapons, forces out of Kuwait. Most of Iraq’s military equipment rule ever since. Under British rule, the Sunni minority in 1979. Saddam aimed to make Iraq the and bombed Iraq’s nuclear plant near Baghdad was destroyed, and tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers held most top administrative and military jobs, as they dominant Arab power, and immediately had in 1981. Later, U.N. inspectors discovered that were killed. But a defiant Saddam remained in office. did under the Ottomans. Most Iraqis, however, did not his opponents, including hundreds of party Iraq had come close to developing nuclear Cease-fire: Iraq accepted cease-fire terms on March fully accept British rule. members, executed. This way of controlling bombs. Hussein also developed chemical and 3, including an end to all programs to build weapons of mass destruction (to be verified by U.N. inspectors) •The monarchy: After an uprising in 1920, which British the opposition has continued. biological weapons, and first used chemical and an end to support of international . troops quelled forcefully, Britain handed rule to King agents against Iran and during attacks Rebellion: In mid-March, Shiites in the south and Kurds Faisal I, a Hashemite from the Arabian Peninsula. But on dozens of Kurdish villages, killing in the north rebelled. U.S. officials hoped the revolts London kept a strong presence, even after Iraq gained at least 20,000 people. would trigger the ouster of Saddam. But his Republican formal independence in 1932. Iraq’s constitutional Guard crushed the insurrections. Millions of Kurds monarchy lasted more than 35 years under three fled to and Iran. U.S., British and French troops kings. During that time, the nation elected a parliament, President Bush has set up a haven for the Kurds, and the United States improved education and created a national army. called Saddam and its allies imposed two “no-fly” zones. In the south, Many older Iraqis remember the monarchy fondly. Hussein, 65, “a the government began to drain the marshes that Shiite Tensions rose with the long-established Jewish TURKEY homicidal dictator dissidents had used as shelter. community after the 1948 Arab-Jewish war and the addicted to weapons formation of Israel. By 1951, most had left for of mass destruction.” • Sanctions eased: Sanctions impoverished many Iraqis, Israel. and reports grew of child malnutrition and deaths. In 1996, under an accord with the United Nations, Iraq •The : Resentment against British imperialism— Amadiyah began to export oil in exchange for imports of food enhanced by the of ’s king—led to and , again under U.N. supervision. several coup attempts. In 1958, King Faisal II was • U.N. inspectors: From the start, Iraq hindered U.N. assassinated in a coup that brought Gen. Abdul Dihok inspectors, and although U.N. teams destroyed some Kareem Qasim to power. A year later, Saddam Hussein, chemical, biological and nuclear-related weapons then 22, participated in the attempted components, they concluded in 1998 that Iraq had of Qasim. Dozens of the Tall Afar failed to reveal its entire secret weapons program. plotters were tried, but Hussein Irbil “NO-FLY” ZONE NORTH OF 36° The inspectors left, and the United States and its escaped and spent several years allies launched Operation Desert Fox, bombing in Egypt. For , suspected weapons sites and anti-aircraft Iraq saw a succession installations. Iraq refused to readmit the inspectors. of military rulers. • Terror attacks: After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States, President Bush labeled Iraq a member of the “,” and he called for a Bayji Tozkhurmato “regime change” in Iraq. Months of U.N. wrangling and U.S. threats followed, and finally in December, Saddam let the inspectors return to check for illegal arms programs. While the inspectors visited the sites Qaim of their choice, they reported in February that Baghdad continued to hide arms materials. Tharthar Samarra airfield Lake • Military buildup: As the United States continued to assemble military forces to oust Saddam, Secretary IRAQMandali of State Colin L. Powell gave the United Nations Taji photos and telephone intercepts that he Muhammadiyat said pointed to Baghdad’s efforts at concealment. Baghdad Tuwaitha Rutbah Al Rafah Mahmudiyah “NO-FLY” ZONE SOUTH OF 33° Tirbil Razzaza T ig IRAN Lake ri KEY Babylon s Hilla Oil fields Archaeological sites Hayy Diwaniyah Kurdish THE LAND THE PEOPLE T Marshes in 1977 •168,750 square ig r i •23.3 million, with the south miles; somewhat larger s Eup Ash Shatrah Marshes in 2000 hr being the most densely populated. than . ates Some of the hundreds of sites •Almost half of the population is under age 15. •Iraq was part of the ancient Qurnah U.N. inspectors have checked for but today is dominated Ur possible illegal arms programs. Ethnic makeup* Religious makeup* by the industry. It sits on the Chemical and bioweapon Turkoma world’s second-largest proven oil n and reserves. Missile Kurds other Sh 5% att 15% Shiite Sunni al A Nuclear r Muslim Muslim a b 60% 37% Faw Arabs SAUDI 80% ARABIA KUWAIT Christian Persian and other 3% 0 200 Gulf * Data estimated since no census is available. MILES

Source: “A ” by Charles Tripp;“The Reckoning” by Sandra Mackay; “From Sumer to Saddam,” by Geoff Simons; www.mideastweb.org; Dita Smith, Patterson Clark, Richard Furno and Laura Stanton; Research by Robert E. Thomason/The Pos t www.metmuseum.org; CIA; United Nations; Geographic Illustrated Cultural Atlas of the Ancient World