OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM
Introduction
On March 20, 2003, the combined military forces of the United States and Britain crossed the southern border of Iraq and Kuwait with the intent of capitulating the government of Saddam Hussein. Over the course of 21 days, the joint task force moved quickly and decisively to seize major objective cities along the road to Baghdad using aviation, armor, artillery, and infantry. Following the overwhelming success of the primary combat operations of the invasion, stability and support systems proved insufficient as sectarian violence and other criminal activity among the local population of Iraq increased.
History
In ancient times, Iraq was known by the Greek term Mesopotamia, or the land between two rivers. These two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, formed what was known as the “Fertile Crescent.” The vast stretch of low level land retained rain and flood water, making the soil exceptional for farming, thus it is said to be the cradle of civilization. It was home to the Sumerian Empire, beginning around
4000BC, long before Egypt, Greece, or Rome were known to have sophisticated societies. Agriculture, mathematics, literature, and the earliest forms of government were all established in this region. (1)
Conflict has also been a significant part of Iraqi history since the Akkadian wars of 2340 BC. The rise of the Babylonian dynasty in 1700 BC gave way to the Assyrian dynasty in 1340 BC. The Assyrians were eventually overthrown in the seventh century BC by the Persian Empire of Alexander the Great. (2) The Arabs conquered the region in the early expansion of Islam in the eighth century AD, followed by the Mongol invasion in 1258. The last of the great dynasties to rule th...
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References
1. Arabic-Media.com (Arabic Media) Site 1997-2011, http://arabic-media.com/iraq_history.htm 2. CRS Report for Congress, 17 February, 1998, http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/crs/98-129.pdf
3. UN Security Council Resolution 687, 8 April 1991, http://www.casi.org.uk/info/undocs/gopher/s91/4
4. UN Security Council Resolution 1441, S/RES/1441, 8 November 2002, PP 3, http://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/documents/1441.pdf
5. Gordon, Micheal, R., Cobra II; The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq, Pantheon Books, New York, 2006
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8. Trainor, Bernard, E., Cobra II; The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq, Pantheon Books, New York, 2006
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The first civilization to rise was the Mesopotamia, located in present day Iraq, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and Egypt, along the Nile River. It’s split in two ecological zones. In the south Babylonia (irrigation is vital) and north Assyria (agriculture is possible with rainfall and wells). By 4000 B.C.E., people had settled in large numbers in the river-watered lowlands of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Archaeologists have shown that large-scale irrigation appeared only long after urban civilization had already developed, meaning major waterworks were a consequence of urbanism (population). Mesopotamia cities were made of people called the Summerians in the land of Sumer located on the south of Babylonia. The Summerian city was one of
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Millions of years ago the procreant low lands in the river basins of Euphrates and Tigris was probably the home of some animal life, but no great civilizations. However, things change over time, and just a few thousand years ago the same fertile low lands in the river basins of Euphrates and Tigris became the home of a very rich and complex society. This first high society of man was located in what some still call "Mesopotamia". The word "Mesopotamia" is in origin a Greek name meaning "land between the rivers." The name is used for the area watered by the Euphrates and Tigris and its tributaries, roughly comprising modern Iraq and part of Syria. South of modern Bagdad, this alluvial plain was called the land of Sumer and Akkad. Sumer is the most southern part, while the land of Akkad is the area around modern Bagdad, where the Euphrates and Tigris are closest to each other. This first high, Mesopotamian society arose as a combined result of various historical, institutional, and religious factors. The reality of these factors occurring at a specific place within the fabric of space / time indeed established the basis for this first high civilization. Items like irrigation, topography, and bronze-age technical innovations played a big part along with the advent of writing and the practice of social conditioning (through the use of organized religion) in this relatively early achievement of man.
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