Iraq

Geography
•  Size of California
•  Tigris and Euphrates
river valley, good
farmland
•  Mild climate in the
north, hot in the south
•  Capitol -- Baghdad, on
Tigris River, 6 million
Green zone
Baghdad airport
Oil fires set to obscure views for American planes
 Culture
•  Population 26 million
•  95% Muslim, slight
Shi’ite majority
•  Mainly herdsmen and
farmers, poor and
uneducated
•  Kurds -- 19% of
population, live in far
north, want their own
country
Tigris and Euphrates watershed
 Economics
•  Among world’s
leading oil exporters

•  Most productive of
Middle East
agricultures
 History
•  Ancient Mesopatamia,
4000 BC
•  Independence from
British in 1932,
kingdom established

•  Royalty overthrown,
followed by a series of
one party dictatorships
•  Saddam Hussein took
power in 1979 with
support of the Bath
party, pushing out his
uncle who was
president
• Saddam attacked Iran in attempt to gain
Persian Gulf access
Crossed Sabers Parade Ground
•  Saddam also waged
war against rebellious
Kurds, using poison
gas
•  Saddam built a huge
military force, buying
weapons with oil
money from all over
the world and trying to
acquire “weapons of
mass
destruction” (WMD)
• Saddam invaded Kuwait in August, 1990
 • Reasons for Iraq’s Invasion of Kuwait

1.  Persian Gulf access

2.  Could control 20% of world’s oil (adding Saudi
Arabia makes 45%)
3.  Owed Kuwait billions in loans from war with
Iran
4.  Kuwait had billions in their banks plus overseas
investments
5.  Most Arab nations resented the rich Kuwaitis
 Reasons argued why US should get involved

1.  Loyalty to allies

2.  Needed to stop Saddam from further conquests
(Hitler comparison)
3.  Effort could build new alliances to help solve
global problems
4.  U.S. needed Middle East oil to keep pumping
5.  A strong Iraq would be a threat to Israel and
Saudi Arabia
6.  Must protect U.S. citizens in the Middle East
 Reasons argued why U.S. should not have
become involved
1.  We would risk lives to protect oil and prices
2.  The leaders we were planning to help were not
elected by their people
3.  It might require a long involvement, which would
turn Middle East Arabs against us
4.  We would endanger citizens who could be
terrorized
5.  It would be very expensive for our economy
 • U.S. Involvement -- “Desert Storm”

1.  Led UN approved alliance to move military force from many

countries to protect Saudi Arabia
2.  Led a UN blockade to force Iraq to leave Kuwait (had little impact)
3.  Contributed majority of troops, ships, and planes, but not all
4.  Many nations contributed to the cost of the effort, especially Saudi
Arabia and Japan
5.  Followed two stated purposes -- protect Saudi Arabia and force Iraq
out of Kuwait
6.  After the war, supported a UN resolution requiring Iraq to disarm
and submit to regular weapons inspections
 •  The 2003 Iraq War
1.  Saddam interfered with UN weapons inspections
2.  UN turned down a US proposal for military action, so this time we
had to provide almost all the troops, weapons, and costs
3.  Invasion was quickly able to capture cities and force Saddam’s
government out of power
4.  More soldiers have died during the occupation of Iraq than during
the war
5.  Saddam’s capture allowed the US to begin turning governing power
over to Iraq in summer of 2004, but the various factions are not
cooperating with each other
6.  Contracts for rebuilding have made money for US companies
7.  Iraq’s oil industry is slowly being rebuilt
 • Reasons given for invasion
1.  Find and destroy WMD (none found)
2.  Prevent spread of terrorism (al-Queda was
not present in Iraq, but is now)
3.  Remove an evil dictator (accomplished)
4.  Bring democracy to Middle East
(struggling)
5.  Protect Israel (too early to tell)
 • Cost of the war
•  US deaths - 3957, injured - 28,000
•  $450 billion thus far, expected to exceed $1
trillion (about $10 billion per month)
•  $200 billion for health costs for injured
soldiers
•  Estimates of Iraqi deaths range from over 1
million to around 200,000