The "Sovereign" Iraqi Monarchy and British Colonialism
In 1932, the League of Nations admitted Iraq as a sovereign state fully aware that British influence continued in Iraqi political, economic and military areas through a new 25-year treaty. Britain's aim was for indirect control of Iraq through advisors, military bases and access to Iraq's tax collections. In this way, it avoided the high cost of large troop deployment on foreign soil. Yet, the fiction of indirect control failed to convince Iraqis.
As boundaries became fixed for this new nation, internal power struggles flared up between the different religious factions, pitting one ethnic group against another. Further, the new borders resulted in frequent border disputes with Iraq's mainly new neighbors in addition to widespread ethnic and economic dislocation. While trying to strike a balance between nationalist and British influences, King Faisal's Hashemite monarchy struggled to mold a political community under these overwhelming pressures.
Rebellion among the ethnic groups was a constant problem, particularly from the Kurds and Assyrians. Although previously bestowing favor on one or the other, Britain now employed the brutal force of the Iraqi military to suppress dissent. These actions forebode future patterns for Iraq where dissent provoked heavy handed military repression. Into this arena came General Bakr Sidqi, an ambitious and powerful Kurdish commander, who had not only military but growing political aspirations.
In September 1933, when King Faisal died, Iraq lost the main stabilizing force in Iraqi politics. Despite the challenges to the monarchy's legitimacy, the King alone was able to unite the various political personalities in support of Iraqi nationalism. His 21-year old son, Ghazi, was western educated and knew little of Iraqi tribal society when he became monarch. During his reign, Iraqi politics degenerated into strife between urban elites and tribal sheikhs that further undermined the newly established political institutions and constitution.
General Bakr Sidqi led a coup d'etat in 1936, the first military coup that the modern Arab world was to experience. The British did not intervene as their policy of indirect control was yielding results and the coup threatened only the parliament. However, Sidqi was to last only one year. There was yet a second coup in 1937 by other military officers, called "the Circle of Seven", who managed to rule Iraq with King Ghazi as figurehead until 1941. This group dealt with dissent harshly, imposing martial law, press censorship and establishing a detention camp.
The first is the sectarian conflict. The sectarian conflict was a conflict dealing with the race and religion of the sects. The two sects are Islam and Muslim. The conflict went nowhere because it is self perpetuating. The rate of casualties is too high, making it hard to tell how many people have been killed. This is partly caused by the death of civilians, which is 30% of the casualties. Also, there are people that are being forced to leave from their homes because of their government and just war in their area. The Sunni are dominating the other force, but are also hurting civilians, and the alawite heavy regime are holding up to them, but they are getting hurt
How does one region have a prolonged battle for authority, and conflict with the opposing force for eternity? After the Ottoman Empire sided the Central Powers during World War I, they didn’t foresee that they would lose their empire based off of this decision. European countries that won the war came in and partitioned the Middle Eastern region. Soon after the Sykes-Picot Agreement was established, and the Arabs felt betrayed because they weren't granted their deserved independence. The new borders set caused continuous conflict because of the artificial blending of different ethnic and religious groups.
The entry of the Ottoman Turks had carry the war into the middle east. The British had joined the Arabs and had gathered together to revolt against the Turkish rulers. After this unification between the two, they were able to take over and split the Ottoman area. They at first occupied the southern city of Iraqi named Basara in 1914 and then took over Baghdad in 1917. They then invaded Palestine and Syria in 1918. After The Ottoman Empire had been defeated, the thought of a rise for Arab independence was brought to attention. Though the allies had instead rejected that decision and instead replaced the Ottoman rule with British and French control. This had officially broken up The Ottoman
The course of the Iraq War has been shaped immensely by the geography of the region for nearly 40 years. The movement of Iraq forces throughout the region, for better or worse, has had many effects on the way in which the way has gone. For instance, these forces often threatened certain resources needed by many countries and regions. The result of this was often war or conflict, concluding in a devastating amount of casualties. This also left Iraq with debt as well as very low resources such as food and water. The basis of the whole entire war has been on certain aspects of the geography, which has had a result of creating many small wars throughout this whole ordeal as well as many other consequential occurrences.
At the end of World War I, the British Empire took control of the land, and imposed a monarchy on the region. However, in 1932 the British mandate came to an end, and the Iraqi people came in control of their newly independent country. Led by a series of kings, the country remained sufficiently stable and thrived off of discovered oil in the country. However, due to increased political oppression, a group known as “Free Officers” overthrew the monarchy and instituted a republic government on the land. (Iraq Foreign Policy, Brittanica, 2010)
The article, “Why Is There So Much Conflict in the Middle East?” written by Mirjam E. Sørli et. al corresponds a great deal with the text Politics and Change in the Middle East as far as the reasons for conflict in the Middle East. Sørli et. al disputes the idea of “Middle East exceptionalism,” which says that there is something different about Middle Easterners that make them prone to violence and conflict (142). Sørli et. al says this is not true, but rather there are very simple reasons as to why there has been conflict in the Middle East. As stated, the lack of regional natural resources such as water, oil, and arable la...
Quarterly, inc. "Syria." The Middle East. 11th ed. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2007. 437 - 456. Print.
...most distressed by outcome of a war, could exercise only inadequate control on the issue of armed action against Iraq. Most of the regional actors discarded the U.S. policy towards Iraq with varying intensity as they feared insecurity after Iraq’s disintegration (Reuters, 2003) whereas; Jordan decided not to endanger its rewarding ties with Washington. Another key actor at this level is the Baathi party in Iraq which was based on tribal division, domestic oppression and economic enticement. Under Baathi regime military, bureaucracy and security services was divided into several competing institutions which reinforced Hussein’s dictatorship in Iraq. In the post war Iraq, the USA in collaboration with the Iraq National Congress and the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution started to make Iraq a democracy that is similar to the American political culture and values.
Woods, Kevin M., Stout Mark E. 2010. “Saddam’s Perceptions and Misperceptions: The Case of ‘Desert Storm’.” The Journal of Strategic Studies (February): 5-41.
The abrupt end of decade long dominating regime in three weeks had created a political vacuum, that is evident in shifting coalitions and divisions among religious groups, ethnic groups, regional groups and even classes (Barnett et al. 2003, 25). US did not realize, moreover, the depth of the hostility between Kurds and Arabs, Sunnis and Shiites, and the members of different tribes and local religious groups. Furthermore, to deal with destruction in Iraq new plan was decided by the US. The plan was to pull out all troops and hand over the responsi...
Liberty is the mother of goodness and virtue, and “independence is happiness.” All independent countries and territories have the right to fight for their recourses, especially oil. The Gulf war between Iraq and Kuwait has involved the demanding of annexation of Kuwait’s land to Iraq, declaring it as Iraqi territory. This claim was an excuse to get hold of Kuwait’s sufficient and plentiful amount of oil and recourses. On August 2, 1990 at 2:00am, Iraq secretly commenced an invasion of Kuwait. The state of Kuwait was forcefully annexed, and in a few days Saddam Hussein has proclaimed that it was the nineteenth province of Iraq. Immoral and uncivilized battles have emerged between the two political parties, as well as the loss of innocent and blameless souls. The invaders caused so much destruction to the state's groundwork and infrastructure, and the burgling of homes was widespread. Iraqi soldiers attempted to change all Kuwaiti car license plates to Iraqi ones. Above all, the Iraqi’s treatment to the Kuwaitis was ruthless and merciless. Iraqi troops held thousands of citizens who were questioned in an uncivilized manner. There were also numerous incidents of murders and rape. Kuwait fought blood and tears for their land, oil, and their freedom. ...
According to an article published by CNN on March 31st entitled Operation Iraqi Freedom states that on June 28, 2004 the US handed over sovereignty to the temporary Iraqi government, which was also set up by the US (Operation Iraqi).
In 1980, the militant state of Iraq, led by President Saddam Hussein invaded the Republic of Iran. Predicted to be an overwhelming victory for Iraq, the war took a different turn. It was an even battle, one that lasted eight years. After these eight years, the Iraqi economy was in a dire situation. Iraq's oil business was losing to other Arab countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, who were producing more oil for less money. Iraq needed more oil money to support the massive military it had amassed. On August 2, 1990, Iraq decided to invade Kuwait so that they could obtain Kuwait's oil and possibly gain access to the Saudi oil fields. This led to political conflict that eventually started the Gulf War between the US-led UN Coalition forces and Iraq. Although the US was successful in forcing Iraq to retreat from Kuwait, they made a poor exit which allowed Iraq to keep much of their military and left Hussein in power, which in turn caused many problems in the years to come.
Iraqi culture has one of the world’s most ancient history of culture to date. The country of Iraq has dealt with numerous changes throughout the years ranging from war, economy downfall, and environment changes. A lot of the issues that arose had to do with the power and decision making of the former President, Saddam Hussein. The country of Iraq is located north of the Persian Gulf and its population is equivalent to that of California’s. This paper will discuss the economy in Iraq, as well as the Iraqi culture and their military.
Thakur, R. & Sidhu, W. P. S., 2006. The Iraq Crisis and World Order: Strutural, Institutional and Normative Challenges. Tokyo: United Nations University Press.