Iraq's Counter Insurgency Strategy

Historically, Iran and Iraq’s problems go way back for centuries. There is the obvious difference which is that Iraq is mostly Arab and Iran is Persian. Their cultural differences will be one of the main factors leading up to the war. Both Iran and Iraq have a mass population of Muslims among other religious minorities. There is a difference in the type of Muslims they are. Persia, which is now Iran, contains Shiite Muslims as a majority among other religious minorities. Iraq on the other hand contains Sunni Muslims as a majority. Another important issue would be with their borders because they share a border in both land and water. This border will play a huge role in was because of its significance to Iraq. A peace agreement was signed in the year 1639 between the Persian and Ottoman Empires. Since then, those treaties have been signed and ignored various times. But one dispute stood out, in the previous century, as the Shatt Al Arab River was put into perspective. This river is a border that separates the two countries and is important to both sides. This issue led up to both countries having a tense relation following up to the war and basically is part of the reason what Iraq is has fought for. Before the war started the Shah of Iran was paranoid about Iraq and considered it a threat. In response to this, the Shah made sure that he kept Iraq distracted with something else. The Shah decided to aid the Kurdish rebellion and motivating them to fight against the Iraqi

Iraq and Iran have been subjected to a civil war since the seventh century (Murphy 1). This existing problem began because of political and theological divergence, but with the help of outside forces such as Britain, Russia, and North America, it developed into a more complex crisis.

The course of the Iraq War has been shaped immensely by the geography of the region for nearly 40 years. The movement of Iraq forces throughout the region, for better or worse, has had many effects on the way in which the way has gone. For instance, these forces often threatened certain resources needed by many countries and regions. The result of this was often war or conflict, concluding in a devastating amount of casualties. This also left Iraq with debt as well as very low resources such as food and water. The basis of the whole entire war has been on certain aspects of the geography, which has had a result of creating many small wars throughout this whole ordeal as well as many other

Before the American intervention, Iraq was safer and wealthier. It was a relatively wealthy nation in the 70’s to the 80’s, until Saddam Hussein went to war with Iran. After the war, Iraq needed a lot of money to help fix it’s main infrastructure. He was accused by locals of not spending to fix the infrastructure, instead spending money on a lavish lifestyle, including construction of palaces for himself. Saddam Hussein's autocracy gave base camps, working bases, and other backing to terrorists battling the administrations of neighboring Turkey and Iran, and in addition to hard-line Palestinian organizations. Amid the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam charged a few fizzled terrorist assaults on U.S. offices. Preceding the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the State Department recorded Iraq as a

occupation. Three major ethnic groups inhabit Iraq – the Sunnis consist of about 20% of the total population, the Shia’s (60%) and the Kurds (20%). It is important to note the Iran; a Shia majority enjoyed the support of southern Iraq during the reign of Saddam Hussein. The smaller Sunni population was the ruling class (Ba’ath Party) under Saddam and enjoyed the luxury of his autocratic leadership style while basking in the ill-gotten gains his terror brought them. When the U.S. invaded Iraq to ouster Saddam, the military vanished without mounting any significant resistance, the government collapsed; the Ba’ath Party went into hiding - rendering the country helpless and leaderless. Since the fall of Baghdad to the present, the state has possessed very little capability to control or regulate the society, their actions or foster a peaceful existence. Currently, elected in 2014, the President of Iraq is Fuad Masum, a Kurdish leader representing about 20% of the population. Insurgents (ISIS) are running rampant in the country and attacks on Iraqi

The conflict in Iraq is currently sectarian violence between Sunni religious rebels, represented by ISIL, and the Iraqi government lead by secular Shia parties

The Iraq War, also known as the Second Gulf War, was a long armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a U.S. that overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more people were killed. The invasion began on March 20, 2003 with the U.S., joined the United Kingdom and several allies. Iraqi forces were quickly overwhelmed as U.S. forces swept through the country.Many violent insurgent groups were supported by Iran and al-Qaeda in Iraq. The United States responded with a troop surge in 2007. The winding down of U.S. involvement in Iraq accelerated

The war ranged from 1980-1988 with both countries taking over 400 billion dollars in damage in both oil wells and cities. Iraq began the war by using "indiscriminate ballistic-missile attacks, extensive use of chemical weapons and attacks on third-country oil tankers in the Persian Gulf." -History.com. At this point Iraq had used the ban chemical weapons and began to push into the Iranian land. By 1988 cities along the border were in rubble and over 1,000,000 soldiers had died collectively. It was after the war that Saddam Hussein began to claim the nearing of a Nuclear Warhead. Some Americans thought he was bluffing while others grew worried of MAD coming back from the Cold War. As a result of the mismanaged and neglected cities and countries in the MIddle East, terror groups began to form so that order could be in the land, but they only caused terror and fear in the citizens. Flashforward to 2001 and the terrorism has grown to the outskirts of the capital city and everywhere else In Iraq. Saddam Hussein had made little to no effort to remove the threat from the country. Saddam was more focused on suppressing the Kurdish uprising, which had been and ongoing fight since the eighties. The UN had implemented sanctions against the Iraqi government for using deadly force on the nations own citizens. The UN had been keeping a close eye on Iraq, but now more than ever, Saddam had announced the Lethal Arms Program which was to develop nuclear and biological WMD. Later in 2002 George Bush stated the vulnerability of a Iraq nuclear strike and the collaboration between Iraq and the

As of present, the state of Iraq is plagued with a myriad of problems, each of which must be taken into consideration when determining the best possible course of action for the United States. First, previous interventions, particularly those conducted by the United States, in Iraq must be considered in order to understand how a particular course of action in the current dilemma might play out. While the United States has played a role in Iraqi coups throughout the 20th century and assisting the Kurdish population in the north, the most decisive interventions began with the Persian Gulf War. The second is the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq, and the third is the American-led intervention in Iraq against ISIS which is ongoing.

2006-2007 marked a time of violence in Iraq. Following the American invasion of 2003, numerous terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda,were fighting a guerilla campaign against the American occupiers and their colleagues in the Iraqi Security Force. The American response was to implement a surge of troops, which was successful in reducing the organization and effectiveness of al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. But, following the 2011 withdrawal of American troops, we have recently seen a resurgence by al-Qaeda in Iraq.

From 1979 to 2003 Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq in a brutal dictatorship. The first action taken against Hussein’s regime began in 1990 when Iraq invaded and annexed Kuwait. In a coalition led by the United States, Great Britain, and Saudi Arabia, Saddam Hussein was defeated. From that point the United Nations imposed many sanctions upon Iraq. In 2003 President George W. Bush and the United States asked the United Nations Security Council to

The Republic of Iraq is also known as ‘The Cradle of civilization’ because of its vast and remarkable history. The fertile strip of Iraq in precise, between Euphrates and Tigris; the two rivers, was known as Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is renowned for its inventions, such as cuneiform; one of the earliest forms of writing. Iraq was the hub of the world and the people of Iraq were living in a golden age. People from all over the world came to Baghdad in order to exchange knowledge. During WW1 the Ottoman Empire became an ally with Germany and their defeat in 1918 led to the British taking control over Iraq in 1920. Iraq is a multi-religious country, consisting of 60% Shia Arab, 20% Sunni Arab, 17% Sunni Kurd and 3% others. The problems in Iraq

After the gulf wars, a ceasefire was negotiated between the United Nations coalition and Iraq. During the ceasefire, the United Nations became aware that Iraq had started a biological warfare program in the 1980s, as well as a chemical warfare program. Upon further investigation, they found that these programs had not continued after the war. As a result, the United States main focus moving forward was the removal of the Saddam regime, their official foreign policy for years to come focused on this goal. With the suspicions that Saddam Hussein had the abilities to acquire weapons of mass destruction, the Bush administration going as far as to claim he already had them, the United States and other countries began devising a plan of action. These countries strongly believed that Iraq was a treat to its neighbors and the rest of the world, and that the only solution was to invade Iraq. The United States invading Iraq in 2003 was a turning point in the reason why relationship between Iraq and the United States is the way it is today.

While the Iran-Iraq War during the 1980's may have permanently altered the course of progress in Iran and Iraq, the war also altered the resulting permanent involvement of the rest of the world in the middle-east. The rich and complicated history in Iraq has established numerous cultural and ethnic traditions that all play a part in where the country is today. The Iran-Iraq War brought into focus some of those traditions and how they conflicted, while also bringing Iraq and its economic situation into the spotlight. Being on top of some of the most mineral rich soil in the world makes Iraq a major contributor to the world's economy through petroleum and crude oil exports. This, among other reasons, ties nations

In recent years, the Iraqi nation has endured a crisis that will forever remain in the hearts and minds of the Middle Eastern culture. However, the outcomes of the War on Iraq will not change the long-lasting and passionate traditions and memories that have been held in the country for decades. One major event that happened in Iraq’s history is that on October 3, 1932 Iraq was established as an independent nation. Iraq has always been a country in which respect and generosity have been highly valued and play an important cultural role in everyday life. Additionally, approximately ninety-five percent of Iraqis are Muslim, and therefore Islam is the official religion of this nation (Gutierrez 1). Furthermore, Iraq is a