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A Short History of Iraq This page intentionally left blank This page intentionally left blank A Short History of Iraq SECOND EDITION Thabit A.J. Abdullah First published by Pearson Education Limited First FEJUJPOpublished 20 Second edition published 2011 Published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © Taylor & Francis. The right of Thabit A.J. Abdullah to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notices Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary. Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein. *4#/ QCL British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Abdullah, Thabit. A short history of Iraq/Thabit Abdullah. – 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4058-5937-0 1. Iraq–History. 2. Iraq–Politics and government. I. Title. DS70.9.A23 2010 956.7–dc22 2010017110 Set by 35 in 9/13.5pt Stone Serif To my father, Dr Abdul-Jabbar Abdullah, a scientist, poet and Iraqi patriot. And to the woman who made him what he was, my mother, Kismet al-Fayadh. Contents Acknowledgements viii Publisher’s acknowledgements ix Chronology of main events x Introduction xvi Maps xviii 1 From the Arab conquest to the fall of Baghdad, 636–1258 1 2 Iraq under Mongol and Turkoman rule, 1258–1534 30 3 The first three centuries of Ottoman rule, 1534–1831 50 4 The Tanzimat and Young Turk period, 1831–1918 74 5 Mandate and monarchy, 1918–1958 93 6 The struggle for the republic, 1958–1979 118 7 The dictatorship of Saddam Husayn, 1979–2003 136 8 Iraq under American hegemony, 2003–2009 159 Conclusion 177 Select bibliography 180 Index 185 Acknowledgements In the first edition of this book published in 2003, I wrote the following: As these lines are being written, American and British troops seem on the verge of completing their conquest of Iraq. This event will certainly prove to be a major turning point in the country’s history requiring an additional chapter to the present work in the future. The present second edition fulfills this requirement by adding a chapter on Iraq after the American invasion. Once again, as I write the final lines of this edition, I cannot help but feel that the book is still incomplete as the country remains stuck in a struggle to define its new shape. In March, 2010, after I had already submitted the new draft, the country held its third national election. The fact that another election was held under conditions of terrible social and economic strife, is testimony to the resilience of the Iraqi people and the fact that they have not completely succumbed to the forces threatening to tear them apart. The elections also produced some surprising results. While many of the old sectarian-based alliances still appear, the two main challengers, (AyyadaAllawi and Nouri al-Maliki), have had to significantly broaden their coalitions. This was particularly true of aAllawi’s Iraqi National Movement which came in first with nearly a quarter of all the votes cast. Voters tended to punish such strongly sectarian groups as the Shiai Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) which came in a distant third. Even the normally solid Kurdish alliance appeared to crack with new groups like Goran challenging the once unassailable dominance of the Kurdish Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. This, of course, does not mean that Iraq has successfully overcome the treat of sectarianism and fragmentation but there are positive signs that the political debate is shifting towards a focus on national rather than sectarian issues. The strong showing by aAllawi’s list, however, also points to the resurgence of the Baathists. Sunni and ShiaiBaathists who had felt disenfranchised and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix isolated formed a major part of his coalition. There is little doubt that this group, thought to have been marginal and unpopular, will play a greater role in shaping the nature of the country. I would like to thank the many people and institutes who have assisted me in the writing and publication of this work. Dina Khoury, a friend and one of the best historians of Iraq, initially recommended me to the editor. Gordon Martel, who asked me to write this work, made several helpful suggestions to the first edition, as did Haitham Abdullah who also did an excellent job editing a major part of the text. Alex Whyte edited the final draft of the first edition. Heather McCallum, Bree Ellis and Melanie Carter of Pearson Education ran the complicated administrative and editorial work smoothly and efficiently. In Damascus, the Institut Francais d’Etudes Arabes de Damas provided me with first rate research facilities. Edouard Metenier, who made suggestions to the third and fourth chapters, and Vanessa van Renterghem, who made suggestions to parts of chapter one, are both destined to become excellent historians of Iraq. I wish to also thank Christina Wipf Perry, Jessica Harrison and Natasha Whelan of Pearson Education for pub- lishing the present second edition. They have had to endure my numerous delays and I am grateful for their patience. Most importantly, my heartfelt thanks to my wife Samera for her support, and our two children Yasmine and Rami who will one day grow up to be proud of their Iraqi heritage. Publisher’s Acknowledgements We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material: Tables Tables 5.1, 5.2 from The Old Social Classes and Revolutionary Movements of Iraq: A Study of Iraq’s Old Candid and Commercial Classes and of its Communists, Ba”thists and Free Officers, Princeton University Press (Batatu, Hanna 1978) p.106, (c) 1978 Princeton University Press. Reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press. Text Poetry on page 112 from Modern Arabic Poetry: An Anthology, Columbia University Press (ed. Jayyusi, S. K. 1987) p.80, Copyright (c) 1987 Columbia University Press. Reprinted with permission of the publisher; Poetry on page 115 from Placing the Poet: Badr Shakir al-Sayyab and Postcolonial Iraq, State University New York Press (Deyoung, T. 1998) p.15 Internal photos Figures 1.1, 3.1, 4.1 and 5.1 GNU Free Documentation license; Figure 1.2 Getty Images/Science and Society Picture Library; Figure 2.1 TopFoto/Roger Viollet; Figure 6.1 Thabit A.J. Abdullah; Figure 6.2 Topham Picturepoint; Figure 7.1 TopFoto/Topham/AP; Figure 7.2 Corbis/Peter Turnley; Figure 8.1 Corbis/epa Colour plates Plate 1 Thabit A.J. Abdullah; Plate 2 akg-images Ltd: Gerard DeGeorge; Plate 5 GNU Free Documentation license; Plate 6 T SGT John L Houghton Jr, USAF; Plate 7 Corbis: Ben Curtis/Reuters; Plate 8 Reuters: Thaier Al-Sudani In some instances we have been unable to trace the owners of copyright material, and we would appreciate any information that would enable us to do so. Chronology of main events 224 Sasanid Persians occupy the land of Iraq. Ctesiphon, 35 kilometres south of modern Baghdad, becomes the capital of the new empire. 580 King Nuaman III of the Lakhmid Arabs converts to Nestorian Christianity. 602–628 Byzantine–Sasanid wars. 628 Byzantine Emperor Heraclius sacks Sasanid royal palaces near Ctesiphon. 636 The Arab Muslims destroy the main Sasanid army at the Battle of Qadisiyya, paving the way for the conquest of Iraq. 656 Battle of the Camel, the first major inter-Muslim battle near Basra. 661 The assassination of aAli ibn Abi Talib in Kufa and the proclamation of Muaawiya ibn Abi Sufyan as caliph in Damascus. The early development of Shiaism in opposition to Umayyad rule. 680 Rebellion and death of Husayn ibn aAli at Karbala. 694–714 Iraq governed by al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi. 750 The Abbasid Revolution destroys the Umayyad caliphate and brings the centre of Muslim rule to Iraq. 762 Baghdad, the new Abbasid capital, founded by the Caliph Abu Jaafar al-Mansur. 786–809 Reign of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, the Golden Age of Abbasid rule. 836–892 Capital temporarily moved north from Baghdad to Samarra. 868–883 Rebellion of the Zanj slaves. xii A SHORT HISTORY OF IRAQ 900 Population of Baghdad reaches around 1.5 million. 935 Hamdanid Arabs seize Mosul and establish an autonomous dynasty. The establishment of the new post of Amir al-bUmara, signalling the decline of the caliph’s powers.