IRAQ - PAST AND PRESENT

Iraq is a Middle East country and a great part was the ancient Mesopotamia. The ancient people were the Sumerians who established one of the earliest civilisations.  They lived on the fertile valleys of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. It is believed that their civilisation reached as far back as 3,500 BC.

Then the Babylonian Empire rose in 1894 BC and fell in 550 BC to the Persians who were conquered by Alexander the great in 530 BC.

Iraq was fought over and invaded and conquered by Parthians, Romans, Sassanid and Byzantine Armies until the 7^th century AD when it became a Muslim Country.

The Ottoman Empire conquered Iraq in the 15^th century and ruled it till 1917. After the First Word War the British occupied Iraq under the League of                                                                                       Nations mandates. 

In 1921 Britain accepted Abdallah Faisal, the sharif (prince) of Mecca as king of Iraq who ruled till 1932 when Iraq became independent.

The British influence became a lot less after an army coup toppled the monarchy. In 1968 politics changed again when Ba’ath Socialist Party came into power by a coup. 1970 Saddam Hussein came into power and used the revenue from 3 million barrel a day to industrialize the country and implement social improvements. He used his power and oppressed opposition by a secret police force.

In 1990 Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait started the Gulf War. The war ended in February 1991 and was fought by 28 countries in the name of the United Nations.

1992 Iraqi Kurds who lived in region of northern Iraq established their own national assembly and defied a blockade by the Iraqis.

The year after the government forces attacked Shia communities in the southern Iraq and it provoked the Western victors of the Gulf War to declare the area an exclusion zone. In 1993 Iraqi forces violated the zone and it resulted in air strikes by Western forces.

In 2003 President Bush convinced UK Prime Minister Tony Blair of Weapon Of Mass Destruction in Iraq. Many top weapon experts were travelling there to find out the truth. Dr Kelly from the UK was one of them and disputed the existence of WMD.  The moment Tony Blair announced his name in the press Dr Kelly was dead.  Up to day it is still claimed he committed suicide but all the evidences are against it but nothing is done to clear it.

On 20 March 2003 USA, Britain and Nato invaded Iraq even so it was declared as illegal by the UN. Saddam Hussein was brought down and eventually hanged. After 10 years fighting in Iraq it cost almost a half a million people’s life. After strong protest the USA eventually brought their troops home and Britain also cut back their troops staying in Iraq.  The last few years the country was never at rest and many car bombs cost lives.

Now the ISIS got a grip on it and ran across the country. They call them themselves Islam State and try to establish a caliph in Iraq. IS are a branch of the Al-Qaeda but far more ruthless. Even Al-Qaeda is keeping well away from them. IS are killing any body who does not conform to the Islamic faith. There mass graves everywhere. The IS have a new way of fighting. They employed experts to crack codes of Bank accounts of the rich. By now they are the richest group of “rebels”.

Many Kurds, Christians and Yazidis an ancient religious civilisation but a minority  in Northern Iraq have fled and are hiding in the mountains.  Even Mr Obama who wanted to end the fighting in Iraq was forced to get involved again. Britain too sent the Para regiment in to help these people. It is thought there are about 40,000 people in the mountains with no food, water or covers. They are dropping supplies as much as they can.