Literature review on Iraq before the war

Literature review on Iraq before the war

Iraq is a Middle Eastern country, with the majority of her citizens being Muslims. Iraq is a war-torn country since the protracted armed conflict began in 2003. The war was initiated by the United States-led coalition which invaded the country on the pretext that the then government led by Saddam Hussein failed to adhere to international rules of nuclear abandonment. However, the woes of Iraq began way earlier. Iraq has been a great interest for many researchers since the rise and fall of Iraq is one of the greatest stories in recent history, one which is full of tragedy and struggle. Since the beginning of time, the literature suggests that one of the greatest human desire has been liberty. However, liberty is, at times, contradicted by the rules and regulations put in place. The literature further suggests that rules and regulations are what make humans more civilized. In the wake of governance, some leaders have been in record of undermining the laws and regulations, most of which have led to conflicts of tribes against tribes, nations against nations, and governments against citizens (Gresham, 2006). Literature suggests that Iraq is one casualty of such conflicts but being more precise, government against citizens, which led to conflicts of nations against nations. Many researchers have embarked on telling the long journey Iraq has undergone to date. Despite the country being a Muslim dominated nation, there are still few citizens from other dominions. The story of Iraq before the war, through the war and after the war, is one for the ages according to literature, which might go into history books as a the closer to third world war the world has ever been.

Literal work done by Chalabi,” Iraq: The past as prologue”, the tyrannical rule of Saddam Hussein has been a problem since he took office in 1979. Ever since Saddam took office, his reign was characterized by brutality towards those opposed to him, and suppression of human rights. To suppress those who dare go against him, he executed those opposed to his political views turning the country into a dictatorship. Many nations, including the United States, were against his ruling methods, but not much could be done. Chalabi, in his work, indicated that the citizens became more and more fed up with Saddam’s ruling ways the extent that at the beginning of March 1991, Iraq citizens made a move that shocks the word where the internationally showed the courage and desire for liberty. The cast their votes for freedom of their lives. Saddam, however, did not hesitate to show how his tyrannical might had grown by deploying the military to suppress the fast and wide-spreading popular revolt, but it did not work. Literature suggests that the greatest casualty of the uprising was Saddam’s Baath party since most of its members turned against him, who were either jailed or executed (Hammoudi, 2016). Saddam became unruly, paranoid and expressed his ugliest nature by inflicting fear among the citizens. It became evident Saddam had become uncontrollable, and if not stopped, there could be long-term chaos in Iraq. As a result, the outside world took interest and started laying down plans on how to liberate the Iraqi people from the devastating shackles of Saddam dictatorship. Liberating Iraqi people was just a pretext the United States had since it was not more important than ensuring the safety of the Gulf, which allows free flow of oil to the West and Japan.

Literature suggests that Iraq had submerged into the wave of totalitarianism under Saddam, and democracy, as well as the political representation of the country to the outside world, became impossible. Several meetings took place in an attempt to bring Iraq to the face of the world, one of them being the Damascus meeting (Şarlak, & Agha,2018). The conference attempted to restore democracy and respect for human rights, which Saddam had disregarded for a long time as he extended his totalitarian campaign to his citizens as well as other nations. His rule introduced ethnicity where the country, according to Chalabi, was subdivided into small ethnic groups such as Shiite, Sunni, Arabs, and Kurds. It is due to these divisions that Saddam started pushing for ethnic cleansing. This lead to a massive uprising in the fight for democracy and refusal of dictatorship.

The uprising led to a civil war, where the major parts involved were the northern and southern Iraq. The Saddam government rebelled, especially against the Kurds, who were the more significant part of the rebellion. Since Sunni Arabs were the dominants of the Saddam ruling Baath party, the government became Sunni controlled terming every other ethnic group as rebels. In work done by Bierman, Stephenson, and Macleans, A Time of Turmoil’, it clearly describes the civil war between 1991 and 2003, a time that left millions of death on its wake (Bierman and Stephenson, 1991). Literature suggests that the International community, especially the United States, hoped for Saddam ousting at the time of the war. Research indicates that as war ranges in one country, the neighbors also suffers. In the case of the Iraqi war, Kuwait was one of the countries that suffered, first y direct attacks from Saddam forces during the gulf war where the Kuwait Palestinians supported Saddam. When the civil war started in Iraq, Palestine’s in Kuwait paid a terrible price since they were tortured and killed for supporting Saddam Hussein during the gulf war. The Kurds and other rebels continued with their campaigns, where they conquered several cities. Iranian and Turkish governments watched the uprising closely and became horrified by the actions of the Kurds. Despite the Kurds in these two countries being the minorities, unlike in Iraq where they were among the majority, the Iranian and Turkish armies out of fear attacked the minority Kurds claiming they were planning an up-rise the war which continues to date.

The tension in the country escalated, and in 2003, the United States and her allies declared war on Iraq. The conflict continued for the more significant part of the decade, which led to an insurgency that opposed the forces which were occupying as well as the government that took over after Saddam. During the war, the literature suggests that more than 500,000 Iraqis lost their lives. It is the Barack Obama administration that began the withdrawal of troops in Iraq (BIERMAN,& PHILLIPS,1991). The entire Islamic world also bursts into uprising with countries such as Syria starting a civil war that has lasted for almost a decade now. Iraq moved from being one of the wealthiest oil-producing countries to one of the poorest war-torn countries in the world. Iraq became the most dangerous place on earth.

Despite all the war, people still exist in the country, and after the war, the country had to move on. Dylan O’Driscoll and Dave van Zoonen in their literal work ”The Future of Iraq: Is Reintegration Possible? Is one of the best question to ask at a time when the country is engaging in a healing process (O’Driscoll, & van Zoonen, 2017). Iraq is now an Islamic State after it was declared it’s a caliphate in 2014 (Jacoby, 2017). According to Dylan and Dave, civil war will be elevated if there is no integration of the fighting communities. The two scholars suggest that there is a need for the fighting forces to establish a joint military and police force, one that will ensure that there is equal and fair treatment of every one in Iraq.

One of the main reasons leading to the United States and allied forces strike on Iraq was terrorism. The United States government was convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Iraq was harboring and supporting terrorism. The United States believed that terrorists such as Osama Bin Laden, who was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in the United States were getting support from the Iraqi government led by Saddam Hussein at the time (Abadie,2006). Brandon, the author of ”Poverty, Religion, and the Determinants of Domestic Terrorism” suggested that one of the leading causes of terrorism is poverty (Brandon 2009). Brandon had a notion that due to the poor economic state of Iraq, it led to anger and desperation, which encourages some people to carry out terrorist attacks to effect political change (Brandon 2009). Terrorism is also linked to Islam since, in the recently heightened coverage by the media, the fight was substantially pointed at Iraq and Afghanistan. Brandon also suggested that terrorism is highly related to political freedom. The more politically stable a country is, the likely it is to engage in peace. The more unstable it is, the more likely it’s to engage in terrorism. This has been the case of the majority of Islamic countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraq is, however, slowly getting back to its feet (Bishku, 2019). As much as the campaign was against Islamic communities in the war against terrorism, the battle is now changing its course since not only Muslims engage in terrorism. Iraq is on the verge of becoming a democratic nation, and there is hope that it will soon get back into the international community as an ally.

References

Bierman, J., & Stephenson, C. (1991). A time of turmoil. Maclean’s, 104(13), 20-22.

https://elibrary.ru/page_404.asp?qx=https%3A%2F%2Felibrary%2Eru%2Fitem%2Easp%3Fid%3D1635410

BIERMAN, J., & PHILLIPS, A. (1991). IRAQ AFTER SADDAM. MACLEAN’S, 104(10), 32-33.

https://elibrary.ru/page_404.asp?qx=https%3A%2F%2Felibrary%2Eru%2Fitem%2Easp%3Fid%3D1578893

Chalabi, A. (1991). Iraq: The Past as Prologue?. Foreign Policy, (83), 20-29.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1148714?seq=1

Jacoby, T. (2017). Culturalism and the rise of the Islamic State: faith, sectarianism, and violence. Third World Quarterly, 38(7), 1655-1673.

file:///C:/Users/pc/Pictures/Culturalism-and-the-rise-of-the-Islamic-State.pdf

Bishku, M. B. (2019). The Muslim Middle East and Northeast Africa: The Interaction of Geopolitics, Economic Interests, and Regional Rivalries. Journal of Global South Studies, 36(1), 1-22.

file:///C:/Users/pc/Pictures/The-Muslim-Middle-East-and-Northeast-Africa-The-Interaction-of-Geopolitics-Economic-Interests-and-Regional-Rivalry.pdf

Şarlak, N., & Agha, O. M. M. (2018). Spatial and temporal variations of aridity indices in Iraq. Theoretical and applied climatology, 133(1-2), 89-99.

file:///C:/Users/pc/Pictures/Spatial-and-temporal-variations-of-aridity-indices-in-Iraq.pdf

O’Driscoll, D., & van Zoonen, D. (2017). The future of Iraq: Is reintegration possible?. Middle East Policy, 24(3), 34-47.

file:///C:/Users/pc/Pictures/The-Future-of-Iraq.pdf

Hammoudi, A. (2016). The conjuncture in international law: the revolutionary struggle against semi-peripheral sovereignty in Iraq. Third World Quarterly, 37(11), 2028-2046.

file:///C:/Users/pc/Pictures/The-conjunctural-in-international-law-the-revolutionary-struggle-against-semi-peripheral-sovereignty-in-Iraq.pdf

Abadie, A. (2006). Poverty, political freedom, and the roots of terrorism. American Economic Review, 96(2), 50-56.

file:///C:/Users/pc/Pictures/Poverty-Religion-and-the-Determinants-of-Domestic-Terrorism.pdf

Gresham, J. (2006). Iraqi Perceptions of Out‐groups: Effects of Ethnicity, Religion, and Location. Digest of Middle East Studies, 15(2), 26-40.

file:///C:/Users/pc/Pictures/Iraqi-Perceptions-of-Out-groups.pdf