The History of Iraq between 1945 and 2001 Essay

Introduction

Iraq, anciently known as Mesopotamia, is a home of ancient civilisations of the world. According to historians, the cultural history of Iraq began over 10, 000 years ago—cultural history that formed the ordinary soubriquet, the Cradle of Civilisation. However, it is imperative to note that during this time, the name Iraq did not exist, at least not until World War I. In fact, throughout the Iron Age and Bronze Age, Iraq mainly existed as Mesopotamia, a fertile land. Nevertheless, just like any other country with a hierarchy of command, different empires ruled Mesopotamia successively¹.

The paper gives historical accounts of Iraq that occurred between 1945 and 2001. Notably, these events affected international relations and consequently wars erupted. The paper will highlight the accounts of the Second World War in Iraq following the British reoccupation. Here I shall underscore that the cooperation of the Iraq’s Kurds with the Turks affected the international relationship with Britain prompting invasion—British reoccupation. The claim of ownership of the waterway along the border separating Iran and Iraq poured cold water on the international relationship between the two countries, which later led to the famous Iran-Iraq war. Coming from war, the debt-ridden Iraq owed Kuwait, an oil producer, over 80 billion dollars. Unable to pay, Iraq started accusing Kuwait of deluging the market with cheap oil. This affected the relationship of the two countries and eventually Iraq sent troops to invade Iraq.

This invasion annoyed several countries including United States and other European counties who formed a special force led by US forces to go and defend Kuwait. This was the First Gulf War that saw US-led forces force Iraq out of Kuwait in 1991. The first Gulf War had affected the relationship between Iraq and United States. During the first Gulf War, George Bush was the president of US and Saddam Hussein was the president Bush who was visiting Kuwait then. Saddam Hussein unsuccessfully tried to kill Bush in 1993 when he visited Kuwait. On realising this, US forces launched a cruise missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad in retaliation for the attempted assassination².

Additionally, the paper will highlight the manufacturing of nuclear, chemical and nuclear weapons in Iraq affected the international relationship forcing the US and UK to launch a bombing campaign, “Operation Desert Fox”, to destroy these weapons. It is paramount to note that the relationship between Iraq and US allies became irreparable and the two were always at loggerheads. In 2001, the exchanges between US and Iraq sired another conflict, which forced Britain and US to carry out bombing raids aimed at disabling Iraq’s defence network. Two years later, Iraq was again the subject of debate in United Nations headquarters and a special committee was set up to inspect Iraq’s nuclear programmes. However, Iraq failed to cooperate, something that annoyed US and other countries like Britain and France. Eventually, in 2003, the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein from power, something that has thrown Iraq into civil war since then³.

1939-1945: World War II: Britain re-occupies Iraq

Many historians give credit to the British for putting together the Iraq that had been torn into pieces following the end of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. As highlighted above, Iraq had three major demographic groups. However, to the northern part where the Kurds inhabited, oil was there in plenty. Nonetheless, the idea of the Turks owning the oil-rich region did not go well with the British who saw it as a threat to revive the Ottoman rule that they had defeated. Consequently, the British constituted a constitutional monarchy, comprising of the legislative assembly, and a Saudi Arabian imported royal family to safeguard their interests. During this time, democracy was an extraterrestrial thing to many countries. However, many Iraqis accepted it⁴.

As time went by, corruption became a talk of the day, and the mistrust between communities increased even further. Additionally, there grew animated animosity that divide people along ethnic, tribal and religious lines, which eventually deteriorated the already volatile situation. For example, Kurds only comprised of 20 percent while the Shia Moslems were the majority constituting 60 percent of the Iraq population. Conspicuously, although the Sunni Arabs comprised the smallest minority sect in Iraq, they were many when it comes to government portfolios, and dominated business, education and the general management of very many affairs⁵.

It is important to note that even the Ottoman Empire relied heavily on the Sunni Arabs to manage Iraq something that did not go well with Britain. Now, since the Sunni Arabs allied to the Turks dominated almost everything, it forced Britain to reoccupy Iraq in the Second World War. Additionally, the Sunni Arabs introduced Nazism in Iraq something that angered the British even more. However, the cultural practices of Nazism had spread its tentacles among many Arabs who not only admired it but also, practice it even today. The British soldiers landed in Basra, Iraq amid calls from government authorities insisting that they leave Iraq immediately. That never happened.

Instead, the British troops staged a war that lasted for 30 days where they succeeded in restoring their allies into power. To an extent, the British rule managed to convince the Sunni Arabs to stay away from Nazism if they wanted to run their affairs effectively and efficiently. During the British reoccupation, martial law became into effect resulting into the killing or imprisonment to thousands of Arab nationalists in absence of trails⁶.

1980 – 1988: Iran-Iraq War

The conflict involving two bordering countries Iraq and Iran has existed for decades now following a heavily affected international relationship. The long history of this conflict lies in the religious differences that degenerated into fighting. The government of Iraq mainly comprised of Sunni Muslims, while that of Iran comprised of Shiite Muslims. The genesis of the Iran-Iraq lies squarely on the impasse on who is the real owner of the Shatt al-Arab waterway. Nevertheless, this was just one of the problems. Perhaps to describe this waterway a little bit, two rivers, Tigris and Euphrates, unite at the southern border of the two countries.

The two countries claimed ownership of the waterway. For instance, according to Iran, the border happened to ne at the centre and therefore, it belonged to Iraq’s territory. On the other hand, the authorities of Iraq alluded that the waterway lied on the Eastern bank and therefore, Iran should keep off. Another problem that fuelled animosity between Iran and Iraq is what had previously conspired in Iraq between 1961 and 1975⁷.

History records that during this period, Iran was instrumental in assisting Kurdish rebels to fight their government. Indeed, this was true simply because, in 1975, the two countries signed a peace treaty forcing Iran to withdraw its shore up for the Kurds. In fact, Iran accepted the deal on condition that Iraq kept off from the Shatt waterway. Thus, even though Iraq accepted to withdraw its ownership of the Shatt waterway, the authorities still viewed it as a defeat. After Saddam Hussein took over the leadership of Iraq in 1979, the conflict between Iraq and Iran rekindled. One year later, precisely, on September 17, 1980, Saddam Hussein rubbished the peace agreement signed between the two countries and engaged Iran into a military offensive. One month later, Iraq soldiers were now in control of the port of Iran—something that threatened the mining and selling of Iranian oil products especially in Abadan. On realising this, Iran sought to defend its territorial integrity amid fears that soldiers from Iraq had better and advanced weapons⁸.

As it came out, ironically, though the Iraq soldiers had advanced weapons, they did not have the fighting spirit to carry on. Additionally, the poorly lead chain of command in the Iraq military was itself an obstacle. Capitalising on the weaknesses of the enemy, Iran instituted a counter attack mechanism in 1981 that left Iraq authorities blaming poor communication lines, inexperience and reservists on their part. When countries go to war, they use strategies.

Iran employed the infantry attack at night, which was alien to Iraq soldiers. The fighting continued for a long time claiming many lives. In 1982, the Iranian soldiers managed to drive out all Iraqi soldiers by sending them to back to the border. For two years, the military offensive between the two countries tool place at the border. In 1984, the Iranian soldiers overpowered their counterparts from Iraq and moved further into Iraqi’s territory from Kurdistan through the Tigris River only to stop at the oil rich island—Majnoon. At this point, Iraq decided to employ its advanced technicality by producing weapons of mass destruction such as mustard gas and modern nerve gas, which later overpowered Iranian soldiers forcing them to the border to their home country in 1986⁹.

One year later, Iranian military staged a successful assault on Iraq targeting Iraq’s second largest city, Basra. The fighting in Basra caused many people flee the town following the heavy artillery bombardment that left most of the city damaged. Nevertheless, the military assault on Iraq did not stop the Iraq defence from waging a counter mechanism. On the other hand, the Iranians also continued with the assault and vowed not to back down. A ‘Total War’ ensued involving the use of sophisticated weapons such as missiles and bombs. Iraq was the first to strike Iranian cities with bombs prompting the same reaction from Iran.

However, the two countries fells short of bombs hence, saving much damage. In 1987, the flabbergasted Iraqis launched missile attacks targeting both civilians and the capital city of Iran, Tehran. Fuelled by anger, Iranians also started throwing missiles targeting Baghdad. The climax of Iraq-Iran war came in 1988. This time Iran came with full swing. The Iranian troops crossed the border into Iraq via Kurdistan with a target to capture Iraqi’s power-generating dam near Dukan. The pressure from the Iranian troops almost overpowered Iraqi by sending them to a no-breathing corner. Iraqis resorted to its defence mechanism of using poisonous gases that killed many civilians. The poisonous gas attacks soon forced Iranian troops out of Iraq territory thus, allowing Iraqi to acquire back the land they had lost during the war¹⁰.

There came another turning point of the war. Iraqi was not the only enemy to Iran. A rebel group calling itself, the National Liberation Army, mainly comprising of Iranian militants, teamed up with Iraqi to fight Iran. Due to the terrain of Iraqi, Iran became tired and welcomed a UN ceasefire, which the two countries ratified on August 20, 1988. The eight-year war caused massive destruction of property, and left over 150,000 Iraqis and about 500,000 Iranians dead¹¹.

1990: Iraq invades Kuwait, prompting the First Gulf War

As we have seen above, the period 1980 to 1988 saw Iraq engage Iran in a deadly war that cost many lives and destruction of property. Nevertheless, though Iraq had better weapons than Iraq, the numerically superior Iran looked more dangerous. In order for Iraq to win the war, change of tactic was necessary. Nevertheless, Iraq’s debts had gone up in excess of US$80 billion. As it came out, these debts in addition to ‘superior war weapons and tactics’ formed the foundation of conflict that degenerated into war.

Unquestionably, Iraq was deeply in a financial crisis. The revenue generated from the sale of oil products was not enough for government expenditure. Since oil prices at that time seemed so low, Iraq found ground to accuse Kuwait of producing and deluging cheap oil into the market. In order to lower tension, Kuwait decided to lessen its production rate but Iraq was not yet done. Another complaint came up again; this time round, Iraq wanting to own the Rumalia oil field that belonged to Kuwait¹².

For a long time, Europe did not focus on the crisis between the two countries, as it was busy cooling the shocks of the Cold War. On August 2, 1990, over 100,000 Iraq soldiers headed by the Republican Guard invaded Kuwait by making a stopover at the Saudi Arabian border. Although Iraq army was the largest in the world by then, they had come from war short of technicians and poor management. In addition, poor training of soldiers and outdated artillery caused them terribly. It is imperative to note that the invasion was a surprise to many countries including Saudi Arabia who asked US and other Western countries reinforcements. However, the coalition took three months to build and Saddam Hussein idiotically waited all this long without molesting Saudi Arabia fields¹³.

By 1991, the coalition comprising EU and US soldiers had managed to assemble both air and land artilleries and marched to take on the Republican Guard. Once again, the aim of the coalition was to destroy Iraqi artillery and seize control of the situation. Surprisingly, the air superiority overpowered that of Iraq and it was now time for ground assault. The first day went well and the coalition forces led by US and Britain outclassed the Republican Guard who had pitiable recon and poor armoury supplies. On the second day, heavy rains and sandstorms prevented assault, but in the night, the British soldiers attacked Iraqi soldiers leaving many of them injured. On the third day, an accident happened when a US A-10s accidentally collided with a Britain AFV killing nine and injuring eleven soldiers. Nevertheless, the war ended without Iraqi achieving any of their ideas. It even left Iraq more financially crippled¹⁴.

1993: US forces launch a missile attack on Iraq intelligence headquarters in Baghdad

The bad relationship between Iraq and western countries continued even after the first Gulf War. In April 1993, former President Bush visited Kuwait without prior intelligence knowledge that Saddam Hussein had hired goons to smuggle a car bomb that will kill President Bush on the eve of his lecture at Kuwait University. Nevertheless, the plan failed as Kuwait police officers intercepted the bomb and arrested the criminals. This happened just three months after Bush had left office and Clinton was the sitting President. The US intelligence service carried investigations and found Iraqi responsible. In response, President Clinton ordered a military offensive directing Iraq intelligence service headquarters. Most of the missiles targeting the six buildings hit the target although some hit and killed nine civilians and twelve suffered serious injuries¹⁵.

1998: Operation Desert Fox

On grounds that Iraq was in possession of weapons of mass destruction, United Nations ordered the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) to inspect Iraq on the same under its cooperation. However, Iraq failed to comply thus calling the wrath of its enemies. This prompted a reaction from United States and United Kingdom who sent troops to carry out a military operation in Iraq. The main aim of the attack according to the Clinton administration was to mortify the capability of Iraq to manufacture and use weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The four-day operation targeted military barracks and security equipments and systems of Iraq that formed the bulwark to manufacture, preserve and deliver WMD. Additionally, the US and UK soldiers aimed at facilities behind the production of WDM such as secret police entities, defence spots, oil fields and the Republican police forces. In sum, about 62 Iraqi soldiers lost their lives and over 180 left with heavy causalities¹⁶.

2001: Britain, US carry out bombing raids to disable Iraq’s air defence network

According to US and Britain, Iraq’s nuclear programmes were a threat to world security and action was therefore necessary. In 2001, and Britain United States went back to Iraq, time round, to bomb and destroy the network system. The main reason of the attack remains elusive even as many countries criticised the attack. Seven months later, the terrorists drawn from the Al Qaeda and led by Osama bin Laden carried an attack in US. Consequently, this formed the ground for President George W. Bush to take the attacks to another level. Started in 2003, the Operation Iraqi Freedom took three months of serious combat operations that eventually brought down the government of Iraq¹⁷.

Bibliography

Andre Frank. “Third World War in the Gulf: A New World Order”. Political Economy Notebooks for Study and Research 1, no. 14 (1991): pp. 5-34. Web.

Auchinleck, Claude. Dispatch on Operations in the Middle East From 5th July, 1941 to 31st October 1945. London: War Office. 1946. Web.

Bruce, Kelly. “Weapons of Mass Destruction”. The Invasion of Kuwait. Web.

Chapin, Helen. Iraq: A Country Study. New York: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1990. Web.

Conversino, Mark. Operation DESERT FOXES: Effectiveness with Unintended Effects. Web.

Cordesman, Anthony, and Wagner, Abraham. The Lessons of Modern War – Volume IV: The Gulf War. Oxford: Westview Press, 1996. Web.

Elsheshtawy, Yasser. Planning Middle Eastern Cities. London: Routledge, 2004. Web.

Hart, Duncan. A Phoenix Rising. New York: World Arts Press, 2007. Web.

Jensen, Robert. Western Bombing of Iraq violates the International Law. Web.

Karsh, Efraim. The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988. London: Osprey, 2002. Web.

Pike, John. “Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988)”. Global Security. Web.

Pollock, Susan. Ancient Mesopotamia. The Eden that never was, Case Studies in Early Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Web.

“The Secrets of Iraq”. Web.

Von, David, and Jeffrey Smith. “U.S. strikes Iraq for Plot to Kill Bush”. The Washington Post. Web.

“Who started the Iran-Iraq War?” Virginia Journal of International Law, 33, no. 1 (1992): 69–89. Web.

Footnotes

1. Susan Pollock, Ancient Mesopotamia. The Eden that never was, Case Studies in Early Societies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 8-32.
2. Helen Chapin, Iraq: A Country Study (New York: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1990), p. 5-17.
3. Duncan Hart, A Phoenix Rising (New York: World Arts Press, 2007), pp. 32-38.
4. Yasser Elsheshtawy, Planning Middle Eastern Cities (London: Routledge, 2004), pp.63).
5. Claude Auchinleck, Dispatch on Operations in the Middle East From 5th July, 1941 to 31st October 1945 (London: War Office., 1946), pp. 4215-4230.
6. “The Secrets of Iraq”.
7. “Who started the Iran-Iraq War?” Virginia Journal of International Law, 33, no. 1 (1992): 69–89.
8. “The Secrets of Iraq”.
9. Efraim Karsh, The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988 (London: Osprey, 2002), pp. 7-28.
10. “The Secrets of Iraq”.
11. “The Secrets of Iraq” p.1.
12. Anthony Cordesman and Abraham Wagner, The Lessons of Modern War – Volume IV: The Gulf War (Oxford: Westview Press, 1996), pp. 13-89).
13. Frank Andre, “Third World War in the Gulf: A New World Order”. Political Economy Notebooks for Study and Research 1, no. 14 (1991): pp. 5-34.
14. Kelly Bruce, “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, The Invasion of Kuwait.
15. David Von and Jeffrey Smith, “U.S. strikes Iraq for Plot to Kill Bush”, The Washington Post, 1993.
16. Mark Conversino, Operation DESERT FOXES: Effectiveness with Unintended Effects.
17. Robert Jensen, Western Bombing of Iraq violates the International Law.