The remaking of Iraq

How old is the nation of Iraq?

It is an ancient land, though a relatively new nation. Iraq is situated in what was once known as Mesopotamia, one of the cradles of civilization. In the Middle Ages, Baghdad was the cultural and political capital of a vast Islamic empire. But the nation we now know as Iraq was cobbled together less than a century ago out of three ethnically distinct provinces of the Ottoman Empire. At the end of World War I, France took its pieces and created Syria and Lebanon. The British carved their chunk into what are now Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, Israel, and Iraq.

Who ruled the new country?

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The British chose a king, Faisal I, to reign over the fledgling nation. Faisal was the son of their World War I ally, Sharif Hussein of Mecca. Faisal I took power in 1921, and Iraq was officially granted independence in 1932. Many Iraqis resented the three successive kings who would rule their land, largely because they were foreigners propped up by the British. Faisal I, in turn, was not overly fond of his subjects. He described Iraq as “prone to anarchy,” filled with “unimaginable masses of human beings, devoid of any patriotic idea, imbued with religious traditions and absurdities.”

So how did its rulers hold Iraq together?

Through violence and intimidation. From the beginning, Iraqi rulers recognized they would need a strong military to stay in power. In 1933, the tiny Assyrian minority demanded autonomy, and the Iraqi army responded by slaughtering 3,000 Assyrians. Each of the three kings had to fend off attempted coups and keep order with military force. Finally, in 1958, the monarchy fell in a coup led by Gen. ‘Abd al-Karim Qasim. The military declared Iraq to be a republic, no longer under the rule of foreign puppets. To emphasize the point, a mob shot the king and the crown prince to death outside the gates of the royal palace, then dragged the mutilated body of the prince through the streets and impaled it on the gate of the Ministry of Defense.

Was the new regime popular?

No. It gave no voice to most Iraqis, whose 24 million people are divided into three major ethnic groups and 150 tribes. Sunni Muslims, who make up just 20 percent of the population, were the favored minority under Ottoman rule, and have retained control of the Baghdad government since independence. The three monarchs and subsequent rulers, including Saddam Hussein, have all been Sunnis. Shiite Muslims, who make up 60 percent of the population, largely live in the south of Iraq, centered around the city of Basra. They’ve had little say in the national government. The Kurdish minority in the north is even more marginalized, and since the 1991 Gulf War, has run its territory as a state within a state.

How did Saddam gain power?

In the traditional manner—through violence and intimidation. Born into a humble Sunni family near the town of Tikrit, Saddam was raised by an abusive stepfather, Hassan Ibrahim, known locally as “Hassan the Liar.” The boy quickly earned a reputation as a brute who entertained himself by torturing cats and dogs with a hot poker. At 10, Saddam went to live with an uncle, Khayrallah Talfah, who was a former army officer. His uncle introduced the boy to politics, imparting to him principles Talfah later spelled out in a book, Three Whom God Should Not Have Created: Persians, Jews and Flies. Another kinsman, Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, took Saddam under his wing and introduced him into the ranks of the Iraqi Baath Party.

Did Saddam gain power immediately?

No. In 1959, just a year after Gen. Qasim established the Iraqi Republic, Saddam and six co-conspirators tried to assassinate him. The attempt failed and Saddam, wounded, went into exile. He returned after his party toppled the government in 1963, with the help of army officers. Hassan al-Bakr, Saddam’s mentor, took control of the Baath Party and the government in 1968. Saddam proved himself the most brutal of Bakr’s henchmen. To quell one uprising of unhappy Iraqis, Saddam sent in army tanks and helicopter gunships, killing hundreds of protesters and arresting thousands, most of whom were then tortured. In 1979 Saddam forced Bakr to step down, and eliminated all of his potential challengers in a bloody purge. He has been watching his back ever since. “I know that there are scores of people plotting to kill me,” Saddam reportedly said shortly after seizing power. “And this is not difficult to understand.”

What would happen if Saddam fell?

The U.S. plans for the military to keep order for at least 18 months, while giving the Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds time to set up a provisional government. Many Iraqis warn that it won’t be easy to establish a peaceful democracy in a land accustomed to violent coups and steeped in long-standing blood feuds. After the Persian Gulf War, Shiites in the south slaughtered government supporters until Saddam’s troops crushed the rebellion. In the north, Kurds rose up against the battered regime, and they are already training to resume the fight, amid talk of autonomy when Saddam is gone. “After Saddam Hussein, the country will face terrible anarchy, political and religious,” an Iraqi Shiite told the Los Angeles Times. “If the Americans leave, there will be civil war,” another Shiite said. “If they stay, there will be civil war.”

America’s old ally