Introduction to

Iraq is a Middle Eastern country in southwestern Asia encompassing most of as well as the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert. It shares borders with Kuwait and to the south, to the west, to the northwest, to the north, and Iran to the east. It has a very narrow section of coastline at Umm Qasr on the Persian Gulf.

Iraq is twice the size of Idaho. The country has arid desert land west of the , a broad central valley between the Euphrates and the , and the mountains in the northeast.

The total land area for the country is 437,370 sq km (168,869 sq miles), with a coastline of 36 miles (58 km).

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Climate

In general, the climate of Iraq is much like the climate of Texas: hot and dry in the summers, while cooler and a bit rainier in the winters. In most parts of the country temperatures average in the 80’s during the summer (although they can soar well into the 100’s) and in the 40’s and 50’s during the winter. In the mountains the temperatures are correspondingly cooler.

Iraq has two seasons: a long, hot, and dry summer, lasting from May to or through October; and a relatively short, cool, and occasionally cold winter, lasting from December through March. Rain is sparse in almost all of Iraq. In the northeastern highlands rainfall is significant from October to May, ranging from 305 to 559 mm (12 to 22 in); but farther south, on the central alluvial plain and near the Persian Gulf, precipitation is slight, averaging 150 mm (6 in) annually. The Desert gets little or no precipitation.

Average summer temperatures in Iraq reach 32° to 35°C (90° to 95°F). Summer daytime high temperatures may reach 40°C (110°F) or even 50°C (120°F). Summer nights are more comfortable, as temperatures normally drop by 14 to 19 degrees C (25 to 35 degrees F). Except near rivers, marshes, and coasts, humidity is low. The summers are essentially rainless, with no rainfall in four of the summer months and less than 13 mm (.5 in) of rain in the others. Skies are clear, and both sunlight and heat are intense during the day. In the south the summers tend to be a little hotter, a little longer, and usually somewhat more

2 humid. The mountains in the northeast are cooler and are high enough to receive occasional summer showers.

Typical winter temperatures range from 4°C (40°F) in the north to 10° to 13°C (50°F to 55°F) in the south, but winter nights are often quite cold. Mosul, in the north, has recorded temperatures of -11°C (12°F), and Al Başrah, in the south, has had temperatures of -4°C (24°F). Winter days, except during occasional cold spells, are mild. Most precipitation occurs during winter in the form of rain. The first rainfall usually occurs in November, but most of the rain comes in late January or early February. Heavy snow does fall in the mountains during winter.

Terrain

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 northern portion of the country is largely mountainous, with the highest point being a 3,611 m (11,847 ft) point, unnamed, but known locally as Cheekah Dar (black tent). Iraq has a small coastline on the Persian Gulf. Close to the coast and among Iranians) there used to be اروﻧﺪرود :along the Shatt al-Arab (known as arvandrūd marshlands, but many of these were drained in the 1990s.

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Population

As of July 2005 the population of Iraq was estimated at 26,074,906. Approximately 40 percent of this population can read and write. Broken down by gender, 55 percent of the men and 24 percent of the women are literate.

Government

The current leaders of Iraq were elected in December 2005, pending the formation of a new government.

The Prime Minister of Iraq is Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who holds most of the executive authority and appoints the cabinet. The current President of Iraq is Jalal Talabani, who serves in a figurehead capacity, with few powers. The Vice-Presidents are Sheikh Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, (president under the Iraqi Interim Government) and Adel Abdul Mehdi, deputy leader of SCIRI, the largest party in the Iraqi National Assembly.

History

The Republic of Iraq sits on land that is historically known as Mesopotamia, which means 'land between the rivers' in Greek. This land was home to some of the world's first civilizations, including the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian cultures, whose influence extended into neighboring regions as early as 5000 BC. These civilizations produced some of the first writing, science, mathematics, law and philosophy in the world, making this region the center of what is commonly called the "Cradle of Civilization”. Ancient Mesopotamian civilization dominated other

4 civilizations of its time. Beginning in the seventh century AD, Islam spread to what is now Iraq. , the capital of the Abbasi Caliphate, was the leading city of the Arab and Muslim world for five centuries. In 1258, Baghdad was devastated by the Mongols and was later occupied by the Ottoman Turks. After World War I, the Turks were driven from the area by the United Kingdom.

At the end of World War I, the League of Nations granted the area to the United Kingdom as a mandate. It was formed out of three former Ottoman vilayets (regions): Mosul, Baghdad and Basra. The British gave the mandate the name Al-Iraq, a name that was previously applied only to the southern region of the Basra vilayet. Some say that the name came from a word meaning an area near a river, others that it means "the origin."

Iraq was granted independence in 1932. The British-installed Hashemite monarchy lasted until 1958, when it was overthrown in a coup d'etat by the Iraqi army, known as the 14 July Revolution. The coup brought Brigadier General Abdul Karim Qassim's government to power (which withdrew from the Baghdad Pact and established friendly relations with the Soviet Union) from 1958 until 1963, when he was overthrown by Colonel Abdul Salam Arif with American support. Salam Arif died in 1966 and his brother, Abdul Rahman Arif, assumed the presidency. In 1968, Rahman Arif was overthrown by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, with the alleged backing of the U.S. The Ba'ath's key figure became who became president and took 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), in which the United States, Soviet Union, and France backed Saddam after 1982, a war that 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 economic sanctions imposed at the urging of the U.S. The U.S. and the U.K. declared no-fly zones over Kurdish northern and Shiite southern Iraq to protect the Kurds and southern Shiites.

After the , Iraq was ruled by the U.S.-led coalition authority and later by the Iraqi government that the U.S.-led coalition installed, and is now independent from the United States of America. With ceremony to a minimum, on Monday, June 28, 2004, self-rule was officially restored by the United States to Iraqis two days ahead of schedule. Formal sovereignty was handed over to Prime Minister Allawi who was chosen

5 by the occupation authority. Free elections were held in 2005, but over 140,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq.

Relationship with other countries

With the fall of Saddam Hussein and the Ba'ath regime, Iraq has taken steps toward re- engagement on the international stage. Iraq has established diplomatic relations with over 60 countries and organizations; most notably the United Nations (UN), the Arab league (AL) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

On June 22, 2005, more than 80 countries and organizations gathered in Brussels in a renewed international partnership with Iraq, to support Iraq’s political transition process, to encourage its economic recovery, and to help establish the rule of law and public order.

Economy

Iraq's economy is dominated by the oil sector, which has traditionally provided about 95% of foreign exchange earnings. In the 1980’s financial problems caused by massive expenditures in the eight-year war with Iran, along with damage to oil export facilities by Iran, led the government to implement austerity measures, borrow heavily, and later reschedule foreign debt payments. Iraq suffered economic losses from the war of at least $100 billion (US). After hostilities ended in 1988, oil exports gradually increased with the construction of new pipelines and restoration of damaged facilities. A combination of low oil prices, repayment of war debts (estimated at around $3 billion (US) a year) and the costs of reconstruction resulted in a serious financial crisis which was the main short term motivation for the invasion of Kuwait.

Iraq's seizure of Kuwait in August 1990, subsequent international economic sanctions, and damage from the ensuing Gulf War of 1991 drastically reduced economic activity. Although government policies supporting large military and internal security forces and allocating resources to key supporters of the Ba'ath Party government hurt the economy, implementation of the United Nations' corruption-plagued oil-for-food program in December 1996 was supposed to improve conditions for the average Iraqi citizen.

In December 1999, the UN Security Council authorized Iraq to export, under the program, as much oil as required to meet humanitarian needs. Iraq changed its oil reserve

6 currency from the US dollar to the euro in 2000. Oil exports were more than three- quarters of the pre-war level. However, 28% of Iraq's export revenues under the program were deducted to meet UN Compensation Fund and UN administrative expenses. Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the economy to a great extent shut down. Attempts are now underway to revive it from the damages of war and rampant crime.

One of the key economic challenges was Iraq's immense foreign debt, estimated at $125 billion. Although some of this debt was derived from normal export contracts that Iraq had failed to pay for, some was a result of military and financial support during Iraq's war with Iran. The Jubilee Iraq campaign argued that much of these debts were odious (illegitimate or not legally enforceable). However, as the concept of odious debt is not accepted, trying to deal with the debt on those terms would have embroiled Iraq in legal disputes for years. Iraq decided to deal with its debt more practically and approached the Paris Club of official creditors.

On 20 November 2005, the Paris Club agreed to write off 80% (up to $100 billion) of Iraq's external debt. This will be implemented over three years in line with Iraq’s schedule for economic reform. $75 billion of Iraq’s debt was to be cancelled by then end of 2005.

Agriculture

Despite its abundant land and water resources, Iraq is a net food importer. Under the UN Oil-For-Food program, Iraq imported large quantities of grains, meat, poultry, and dairy products. Obstacles to agricultural development during the previous regime included labor shortages, inadequate management and maintenance, urban migration, and dislocations resulting from previous land reform and collectivization programs. A Ba'ath regime policy to destroy the "Marsh Arab" culture by draining the southern marshes and introducing irrigated farming to this region destroyed a natural food-producing area, while concentration of salts and minerals in the soil due to the draining left the land unsuitable for agriculture. Efforts have begun to overcome the damage done by the Ba'ath regime in ways that will rehabilitate the agricultural sector and confront environmental degradation.

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Religion

The official religion of Iraq is Islam, which is practiced by about 97% of the population. Shi'ism is practiced by about 60%-65% of the population, while Sunni.Islam by 32%- 37%, and the remaining 3 percent of the population is made up mostly of Christians, Jews and adherents of others faiths.

Islam came to Iraq after the victory of the Muslim armies under Caliph Omar over the Sassanians in A.D. 637 at the battle of Al Qadisiyah.

The fundamental difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslims is an argument about authority, not doctrine. The Shi'as believe that Ali was the legitimate successor to the prophet Muhammad, and the Sunnis believe that the three successors were elected and therefore were legitimate

The everyday behavior of individuals belonging to both sects reflects the five basic teachings of Islam, commonly referred to as the Five Pillars which are: professing the faith; praying five times daily; giving taxes for the upkeep of the poor and religious scholars; fasting during the month of Ramadan; and, if possible, making a hajj (pilgrimage) to the holy city of Mecca once in a lifetime.

8 Muslims worship in mosques, where men congregate particularly on Friday, the Muslim Holy Day. There are also many important Islamic pilgrimage sites in Iraq, especially in the cities of An Najaf, Karbala, Kazimayn and Samarra, which contain tombs of Muslim Imams.

Ethnic Groups.

Seventy-five to eighty percent of Iraq's population is ; the other major ethnic groups are Kurds at 15-20%, Assyrians, Turkomans and others (5%), who mostly live in the north and northeast of the country. The Assyrians, Kurds, and Turkomans differ from Arabs in many ways, including culture, history, clothing, and language. Other distinct groups are Persians and Armenians (possible descendants of the ancient Mesopotamian culture). About 2,500 Jews and 20,000–50,000 Marsh Arabs live in Iraq.

Arabic and Kurdish are official languages and English is the most commonly spoken Western language. The country’s Assyrian population also uses Assyrian.

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General customs

Everyday behavior among Iraqis reflects much of Islamic belief and custom. You will of course find great differences in individual behavior depending on educational background and general sophistication, but some generalizations are valid for most Iraqis, if not for most Arabs. For example, in Islamic society, there is a much greater difference between public and private behavior than in Western societies. It is an invasion of privacy for a man to ask another man how his wife is; one asks instead how his family in general is, or how his children are. Arab men and women do not express affection of any sort in public, including holding hands. Hospitality is a cherished Islamic tradition; Iraqis cook popular dishes for their guests or offer them drinks (usually tea, sometimes Arabic coffee) as an expression of friendship or esteem and it is considered rude to decline them. Arabs always use their right hand for eating, never the left.

10 Family

The traditional household of a typical Iraqi man in his forties consists of himself, his wife, their unmarried sons and daughters, their married sons with their wives and children, the man's mother if she is still alive, and frequently his unmarried sisters if he has any. Very probably, the most powerful force in the household is the man's mother, whose sons revere her, and whose daughters-in-law pretty much have to follow her bidding. Young children are adored and indulged. Older boys are allowed to attend the gatherings of the men, and by listening absorb many of the cultural values and attitudes that will shape their public behavior.

The structure of the Iraqi family is such that financial power is in the hands of the man. This is not to say, however, that his wife is completely without influence. Women have a great deal of power at home and over their children. Women also have families who are very sensitive to their welfare, and their fathers and brothers will interfere if they feel that their daughter or sister is being abused, or if they think she is unhappy.

Foods

Iraqi food is rich and diverse, incorporating spices typical of Arabic cooking, such as saffron and mint. Extra food is usually cooked in case of surprise visitors; while expected guests are treated to many elaborate dishes. Most cooking is done on gas or paraffin-oil stoves, although in the cities some Iraqi’s do use microwave ovens.

The preferred meats in Iraq are lamb, beef, and poultry, since Muslims do not eat pork or pork products. As in other Middle Eastern countries, Iraqi meat dishes often combine vegetables and rice. Iraqi cooking uses two varieties of rice: amber rice in the north, and basmati in the south. Popular main courses include , which are skewered chunks of grilled meat; quzi, a roasted and stuffed lamb with rice nuts and spices, and kubba, which is borghul (crushed wheat) mixed with minced meat and filled with nuts raisins and spices. Masgouf is a special dish made from fish that live in the Tigris River. Another popular dish is tripe, a dish made of cow's stomach; there are a number of tripe restaurants in the cities. Most meals are accompanied by flat rounds of bread (samoons).

For dessert, people enjoy some of Iraq's local fruits, rice pudding, , sesame cookies, or baklava, a pastry made with honey and pistachios layered between filo sheets.

11 The most widely consumed drinks in Iraq are coffee and tea. Arabic coffee is famous for its strong flavor. In Iraq, people brew their coffee thick and bitter, and serve it black. Tea is usually served in small glasses and drunk sweetened, without milk. Fruit juices and soft drinks are also popular. Muslims are officially forbidden to consume alcohol.

Arts

From ancient to contemporary times, Iraq has had a strong artistic tradition. The early stories of Babylon, Assyria and influenced later writings such as the Bible. The beautiful Sumerian epic Gilgamesh is one of the world's oldest and most famous works. When the Arabs conquered the region in the 7th century, they brought their poetic tradition with them. Best known to Westerners are the folk tales of The Thousand and One Nights, collected sometime between 1000 and 1500 AD. Today, Iraq has a lively artistic community. The Babylon Art Festival, held since 1985 in the restored ruins of the ancient city, has attracted international talent, though participation has been hurt by Iraqi's political situation.

Dhu al-Nun (b. 1918) is considered a pioneer of modern Iraqi fiction. His novel Al- Duktur Ibrahim is an Iraqi classic. Other well-known writers are poets Muhammad Mehdi El Jawahiri, Wafaa' Abdul Razak and Lamia Abbas Amara.

Poetry is also the traditional literary medium of the Kurds. Kurdish poetry was passed down orally and can be up to 100 verses long. The 17th century epic Mem u Zin is well known in Iraq, while modern writers include Mawlawi, Piamerd and Goran, who wrote in the Sorani dialect. Many ancient artworks from Iraq are housed in the Iraqi Museum in Baghdad and elsewhere. Since the Koran forbids the use of human figures in decoration, much Iraqi artwork (as elsewhere in Islamic nations) uses geometric or floral designs. Iraqis are also skilled calligraphers. Verses from the Koran, together with colorful tiles, often decorate mosques and public buildings.

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Popular music in Iraq includes folk music such as songs of Bedouin origin; classical Arabic music, Arab-Western fusion and Western pop music. Traditional instruments include the oud, an Arabic lute; the rebaba, a stringed instrument that uses a bow; and the def, a type of tambourine. Classical maqam music is well known internationally. The maqam is a harmonic system like the Western scale; however, instead of notes existing only at half-step intervals, in maqam notes may be at half, whole or quarter intervals. Al Gobanchi and Yousif Omar are well-known maqam players.

13 Language

Arabic (official), Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Assyrian, Armenian

Iraqis speak a dialect of Arabic, a Semitic language (along with Hebrew) that is spoken by about 200 million people in a wide geographical area from Morocco in the west to the Persian (Arabian) Gulf in the east. The Arabic language originated in the Arabian Peninsula (now Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states) and was spread throughout the area as a result of conquests by Islamic armies beginning in the seventh century and ultimately culminating in the formation of the Islamic Empire.

There are more than fifteen dialects of spoken Arabic, defined by geographical areas and rural–urban differences, and they have varying degrees of mutual understanding. Speakers of Arabic can understand people in the neighboring countries, and television has ensured that Egyptian Arabic is pretty well understood by all Arabic speakers. Dialects spoken by those in the far west and the far east of the Arab World, however, are no longer mutually understood.

Written Arabic is quite different from the spoken dialects. The written form is called Classical Arabic, or, for today's literature and press, Modern Standard Arabic. It is the same for all literate Arabs, regardless of how different their spoken forms are.

To help you understand the difference between written and spoken Arabic, consider the following: If for some reason the English-speaking world had decided that Middle English—the English spoken in Chaucer's time—would forever constitute the written form of English, we would now speak English as we speak it, but whenever we wrote it we would write in the Middle English of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. There would be great differences in what we say and what we write, but everyone in the entire English- speaking world would be able to understand what we wrote.

Modern Standard Arabic (often abbreviated MSA) is effectively classical Arabic, the language in which the Koran was revealed. The vocabulary of Modern Standard Arabic has been expanded, of course, to include words for modern concepts, but even so, efforts are made to keep the new vocabulary within the "rules" of word formation of classical Arabic.

In general, the dialects of Arabic spoken now are grammatically simpler than MSA, just as modern English is grammatically simpler than Middle English. For example, Arabic dialects have fewer categories of verb types than MSA, and no case endings on words.

14 Pronunciation

The most notable feature of Arabic pronunciation is the presence of some "back" and "heavy" consonants for which there are no equivalents in English. There are not many of these consonants, but they occur frequently. Here are tables of the "back" and "heavy" consonants. If you want to know exactly how they sound, ask an Iraqi to pronounce the letters for you.

"Back" consonants

"Heavy" consonants

The other consonants are close enough to English to be easily recognized. Note, however, that consonants can be doubled (or lengthened), an important feature because it affects meaning.

Iraqi Arabic has fewer vowels than English, but they can be short or long, i.e., held for a longer time. Here is a list (as will be explained below, the Arabic alphabet does not represent the short vowels at all, and has symbols for only the three vowels, [aa], [ii], and [uu], that occur in Modern Standard Arabic):

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Word Structure

Tri-literal Root System

The most interesting and famous aspect of the grammar of Arabic is the three-letter root system, best described using an example. The three letters k-t-b, for example, carry the basic meaning "write." Various combinations of the letters—always, however, in the k-t- b order—with vowels and other consonants produce words that are variants on the basic meaning "write." For example (note that these and the other examples in this section are given in the Iraqi dialect):

Most educated Arabs can readily list many words from one root. If you haven't worn through your Iraqi friend's patience in getting him or her to recite the alphabet, ask for other examples, for example words from d-r-s "study".

16 The Arabic Article

Another aspect of Arabic grammar that is interesting because it shows up in English as [al] (or [il] in some dialects), which is the definite article, the Arabic word for "the." It is prefixed to the following word, and, depending on what consonant that word starts with, the [l] may be dropped and the first consonant doubled. Here are some examples:

Many English words that have been borrowed from Arabic still have the definite article attached—for example, alkali, alcohol, alchemy, algorithm, algebra, and almanac.

Many Arabic masculine names also include the definite article. A common way to name a boy is to call him "servant of" followed by one of the many hundred names for God. The Arabic word for "servant" is ['abd]; ['abd] plus the [al] plus whatever word for God is chosen constitutes the full name. (Our rendition of an Arab name as Abdul or Abdel is actually the word for servant, plus the definite article, but minus the rest of the phrase!) Here are some examples:

17 Nouns and Adjectives

All Arabic nouns (including those which denote inanimate objects) are masculine or feminine, with the feminine nouns usually ending in [-a] -. The plural marker for masculine nouns is the suffix [-iin] - ; the plural for feminine nouns is the suffix [-aat]\£- . There are also many irregular plurals in Arabic, which have to be memorized individually, like the irregular plurals in English ('child–children', 'mouse–mice', etc.)

18 Prepositions and Connecting Words

Verbs

Sentence Structure

Word Order

In the written language, the usual word order is verb-subject-object. The basic word order in the spoken language is subject-verb-object, just as it is in English.

The basic grammar of the spoken language differs considerably from English. Most noticeable are the differences in word order. For example, adjectives come after nouns, instead of before: "the teacher good" instead of "the good teacher."

19 The Arabic Alphabet

The Arabic alphabet is not as difficult as it looks at first. It is not an endless list of characters—just 28, with each letter standing for a single, particular sound. Once you learn these, you can sound out and begin to write words. There are no capital letters, but there is some difference between printing and handwriting, as there is in English. As we mentioned before, short vowels are usually not written (the name Muhammad is spelled,

in Arabic, or m-h-m-d reading from right to left). Otherwise, words are spelled very close to the way they are pronounced.

A final difference between the Arabic alphabet and Roman alphabet is that there is no capital/small letter distinction in Arabic.

Here is a list of all the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet, with their sounds—also called transcriptions—in square brackets, and their Arabic names in italics.

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