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Iraq: Post-Saddam Governance and Security

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Iraq: Post-Saddam Governance and Security Order Code RL31339 Iraq: Post-Saddam Governance and Security Updated February 21, 2008 Kenneth Katzman Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division Iraq: Post-Saddam Governance and Security Summary Operation Iraqi Freedom overthrew Saddam Hussein’s regime, but during 2004-2007 much of Iraq was highly violent because of Sunni Arab resentment and a related insurgency, resulting Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence, competition among Shiite groups, and the failure of Iraq’s government to equitably administer justice or deliver services. U.S. casualties and financial costs — without clear movement toward national political reconciliation among Iraq’s major communities — stimulated debate within the United States over whether the initial goals of the intervention - a stable, democratic Iraq that is a partner in the global war on terrorism – could be achieved, and at what cost. The Administration is now claiming success in reversing the deterioration in security that became acute by the end of 2006, attributing the gains to a “troop surge” strategy announced by President Bush on January 10, 2007 (“New Way Forward”). The centerpiece of the strategy was the deployment of an additional 28,500 U.S. forces to help stabilize Baghdad and to take advantage of growing tribal support for U.S. policy in Anbar Province. Some commanders say that violence has been reduced to levels not seen since 2004. Critics say that the strategy has not, to date, accomplished its primary intent – to promote Iraqi government action on a series of key reconciliation initiatives that are viewed as “benchmarks” of political progress – and that any security gains are therefore tenuous. The Administration argues that legislative action in Iraq since the beginning of 2008 represents a substantial measure of the progress that was envisioned by the surge strategy. The Administration believes that the current U.S. strategy, if continued with only modest reduction in U.S. forces and continued building of Iraq’s security forces – is likely to produce sustainable stability — a central government able to defend itself with progressively reduced U.S. help. However, some in Congress believe that any progress is likely to unravel without unsustainably high levels of U.S. forces, and that the United States should begin winding down U.S. combat involvement in Iraq, whether or not a unified central government is fully stabilized. Partly because there is a perception that the troop surge is succeeding, there has not been the needed level of support in Congress to mandate a troop withdrawal, a timetable for withdrawal, or a significant change in U.S. strategy. Some see the September 2007 passage of a Senate amendment to the FY2008 defense authorization act (P.L. 110- 181) supporting a more decentralized, “federal” Iraq as a product of efforts to build a bipartisan consensus for an alternative Iraq strategy. This report is updated regularly. See also CRS Report RS21968, Iraq: Government Formation and Benchmarks, by Kenneth Katzman; CRS Report RL31833, Iraq: Reconstruction Assistance, by Curt Tarnoff; CRS Report RL31701, Iraq: U.S. Military Operations, by Steve Bowman; and CRS Report RL33793, Iraq: Regional Perspectives and U.S. Policy, coordinated by Christopher Blanchard. Contents Policy in the 1990s Emphasized Containment ...........................2 The Clinton Administration and Major Anti-Saddam Factions...........3 Post-September 11, 2001: Regime Change and War ......................6 Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) ...................................8 Post-Saddam Transition and Governance ..............................10 Early Transition Process .......................................10 Occupation Period/Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) ........10 Transitional Administrative Law (TAL).......................11 Sovereignty Handover/Interim (Allawi) Government ............11 U.N. Involvement/Coalition Military Mandate/Status of U.S. Forces/Permanent Basing..............................12 U.N. Involvement in Governance Issues .......................14 Elections in 2005 .............................................15 Maliki Government, Political Reconciliation, and “Benchmarks” .......16 Iraqi Pledges and Status of Accomplishment ...................18 Regional and International Diplomatic Efforts to Promote Iraq Stability ............................................21 Human Rights and Rule of Law..............................22 Economic Reconstruction and U.S. Assistance......................23 Additional Funding Beyond the IRRF .........................24 Oil Revenues ............................................24 Lifting U.S. Sanctions .....................................26 Debt Relief/WTO Membership/IMF..........................27 Security Challenges and Responses ...................................27 Sunni Arab-Led Insurgency .....................................28 Sunni “Awakening” in 2007 ................................28 “Concerned Local Citizen” (CLC) Fighters .....................29 Sectarian Violence and Shiite Militias/Civil War? ...................32 Shiite-on-Shiite Violence ...................................33 Iranian Support ...........................................35 Iraq’s Northern Border.........................................36 U.S. Stabilization Strategy and “Troop Surge” ......................36 “Clear, Hold, and Build” Strategy/Provincial Reconstruction Teams . 37 “Troop Surge”/Baghdad Security Plan/“Fardh Qanoon” ...........38 Surge Assessments........................................39 Building Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) ..............................41 ISF Weaponry ...........................................43 Coalition-Building and Maintenance .............................47 Iraq Study Group Report, Legislative Proposals, and Other Options .........49 Iraq Study Group Report .......................................49 Further Options: Altering Troop Levels or Mission ..................50 Further Troop Increase .....................................50 Immediate and Complete Withdrawal.........................51 Withdrawal Timetable.....................................51 Troop Mission Change .....................................52 Planning for Withdrawal...................................53 Requiring More Time Between Deployments...................53 Stepped Up International and Regional Diplomacy...................53 Political Reconciliation, Reorganization, and “Federalism” ............54 Reorganize the Existing Power Structure ......................54 Support the Dominant Factions ..............................54 “Federalism”/Decentralization/Break-Up Options ...............55 “Coup” or “Strongman” Option ..............................57 Economic Measures...........................................57 List of Figures Figure 1. Map of Iraq..............................................65 List of Tables Table 1. Iraq Basic Facts ............................................2 Table 2. Selected Key Indicators.....................................26 Table 3. Key Security/Violence Indicators .............................31 Table 4. ISF Funding .............................................44 Table 5. Ministry of Defense Forces ..................................45 Table 6. Ministry of Interior Forces...................................46 Table 7. Major Factions in Iraq......................................58 Table 8. Iraq’s Government ........................................62 Table 9. U.S. Aid (ESF) to Iraq’s Saddam-Era Opposition .................64 Iraq: Post-Saddam Governance and Security Iraq has not previously had experience with a democratic form of government, although parliamentary elections were held during the period of British rule under a League of Nations mandate (from 1920 until Iraq’s independence in 1932), and the monarchy of the Sunni Muslim Hashemite dynasty (1921-1958). The territory that is now Iraq was formed from three provinces of the Ottoman empire after British forces defeated the Ottomans in World War I and took control of the territory in 1918. Britain had tried to take Iraq from the Ottomans earlier in World War I but were defeated at Al Kut in 1916. Britain’s presence in Iraq, which relied on Sunni Muslim Iraqis (as did the Ottoman administration), ran into repeated resistance, facing a major Shiite-led revolt in 1920 and a major anti-British uprising in 1941, during World War II. Iraq’s first Hashemite king was Faysal bin Hussein, son of Sharif Hussein of Mecca who, advised by British officer T.E Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”), led the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Faysal ruled Iraq as King Faysal I and was succeeded by his son, Ghazi, who was killed in a car accident in 1939. Ghazi was succeeded by his young son, Faysal II. A major figure under the British mandate and the monarchy was Nuri As-Said, a pro-British, pro-Hashemite Sunni Muslim who served as prime minister 14 times during 1930-1958. Faysal II, with the help of his pro-British Prime Minister Nuri al- Sa’id who had also served under his predecessors, ruled until the military coup of Abd al-Karim al-Qasim on July 14, 1958. Qasim was ousted in February 1963 by a Baath Party-military alliance. Since that same year, the Baath Party has ruled in Syria, although there was rivalry between the Syrian and Iraqi Baath regimes during Saddam’s rule. The Baath Party was founded in the 1940s by Lebanese Christian philosopher Michel Aflaq as a socialist, pan-Arab movement, the aim of which was to reduce religious and
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