Military

(1) Ancient Mesopotamia, the "land between the waters," was located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers of Iraq. It is part of the "Fertile Crescent" and has been called by anthropologists as the "Cradle of Civilization," possibly the site of the Garden of Eden. One of the first civilizations of the world, Sumer, evolved here more than 5,000 years ago. The first Sumerians are believed to have been immigrants from the highlands of Turkey and Iran. As the area developed, migrations and invasions became more common and influenced the cultural make-up of the region. By the mid-24^th century B.C., the Sumerians were overrun by the Akkadians and thus began the rising and falling of a long series of empires in the area. With the spread of iron new weapons of war were developed and the Kingdom of Ashur--or Assyrian, as it is usually called-from the northern part of this region began dominating its neighbors. After the Assyrians fell in the seventh century B.C. the Babylonians reestablished their empire in the region and they were followed by the Medes, Persians, Greeks, and Romans.

(2) Following the seventh century A.D., Islam became entrenched in what is now Iraq. Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate (Islamic Empire), was the leading city of the world for five centuries and was the acknowledged leader of the Arab and Muslim world. In 1258 Baghdad was devastated by the Mongols and was later occupied by the Ottoman Turks. After World War I, the Turks were driven from the area by the British. Britain then created a mandate from three former Ottoman provinces and called this new country Al Iraq (the origin), the name formerly applied to only the southern region of the province of Basra. In 1932, Britain gave independence to this mandate and Iraq became a sovereign, independent state. However, Britain still maintained troops in Iraq and greatly influenced the government.

(1) In 1933, Iraq's King Feisal died. His death coincided with political unrest and dissatisfaction with the government. In 1936, Iraq experienced its first attempted coup d'etat and between 1936 and 1941 there were six more abortive coup attempts. All of these attempted coups were motivated by personal goals rather than political issues. In January 1943, pro-British Iraq declared war on the World War II Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) under the terms of a treaty with Britain. In 1945 Iraq became a founding member of the League of Arab States. Postwar Iraq, however, did not regain the stature it enjoyed in the pre-World War II Arab world. After joining the United Nations (UN) in December 1945, Iraq bitterly opposed the UN partition of Palestine and in 1948 entered the war against Israel.

(2) In 1958 King Faisal II of Iraq was executed in a coup by army officers. The leaders of the new regime declared their nation a republic committed to a foreign policy of nonalignment. Iraq's foreign policy, however, moved from a pro-West stance to one of friendly relations with the communist powers. Relations with the US were severed in 1967 after the US provided aid to Israel in the Six Day War.

(3) The Iraqi Baath (Resurgence) Party came to power through a coup in 1968 and Saddam Hussein became the number two man in the regime. By 1976 Hussein had in reality become the power in the regime and in 1979 he took complete control. The Baath regime closely parallels those that have existed since the overthrow of King Feisal II in 1958. The Government is controlled by Sunni Arab military elements who have succeeded in avoiding commitments to a political union with other Arab states. Hussein's Baath Party dominates both military and civilian communities.

(4) During the 1960s and 1970s Iraq had become increasingly more dependent on the former Soviet Union for military assistance. However, after the Soviets reneged on some military aid deals and provided inferior replacement equipment for war losses, the Iraqis began to improve relations with the West and decrease their dependence on the Soviets. During the late 1970s several border clashes with Iran increased tensions between the two countries. In 1979 Saddam Hussein expelled the Ayatollah Khomeini from Iraq, where he had been in exile since 1961. Removed from the seat of Shiite learning in Iraq, Khomeini vowed he would have Hussein's head brought to him on a platter. In February 1980 the Shah's caretaker's government fell and Khomeini returned to Iran via France vowing to spread the Islamic Revolution to the whole world. In September 1980, before Khomeini could consolidate his power, Iraq invaded Iran and the two countries were locked in war until September 1988, when a cease fire was agreed to, but no peace settlement has yet been achieved.

(5) In August 1990 Iraqi troops occupied Kuwait. The United Nations passed 12 resolutions and urged Iraq to leave Kuwait by 15 January 1991, but to no avail. United States and multi-national forces were rushed into Saudi-Arabia in response to an urgent call from the rulers of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. On 16 January 1991 the Gulf War started with thousands of bombing raids in an effort to evict Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi forces from Kuwait. On 23 February 1991 the ground war started; it ended in a US and multi-national forces victory after 100 hours fighting by ground forces. Kuwait was liberated and fighting erupted between Iraqi troops and Shiite and Kurd rebels.

(6) Hundreds of thousands of Kurdish refugees fled to Turkey and Iran. U.S. British, and French troops landed inside Iraq's northern border to set up refugee camps to protect another 600,000 Kurds from Iraqi government reprisals. Throughout 1992 Iraq came under increasing international pressure to eliminate its remaining weapons of mass destruction.

(7) In 1993 UN officials announced that they had completed dismantling Iraq's nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare capability, prompting calls by Iraq to end the UN-sponsored trade embargo. Again in October 1994 the U.S., Britain and France responding to another buildup of Iraqi troops along the border with Kuwait deployed about 40,000 troops and more than 600 aircraft to the Persian Gulf region. Many analysts thought Iraq was trying to force the UN to lift its trade embargo against Iraq. A short while later, Iraq's soldiers were withdrawn from the border. In November Saddam Hussein signed a decree formally accepting Kuwait's sovereignty, political independence, and territorial integrity. The decree effectively ended Iraq's claim to Kuwait as a provincial territory.

(8) In 1994 Iraq continued its efforts to crush internal resistance with an economic embargo of the Kurdish-populated north and a military campaign against Shiite Muslim rebels in the south. The Shiites were quickly quieted, but the crisis in Kurdistan, which had long suffered from internal rivalries, continued. Kurds had often argued over land rights, and as their economic and political security deteriorated in the early 1990's, the conflicts escalated. In May 1994 supporters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) clashed with supporters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), leaving 300 people dead. Over the next two years the UK and KDP fought several more times, eventually devolving into a state of civil war. In August 1996, leaders of the KDP asked Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to intervene in the war. Hussein sent at least 30,000 troops into the UN-protected Kurdish region, capturing the PUK stronghold of Irbil. The KDP was immediately installed in power. The U.S. responded with two missile strikes against southern Iraq, but in early September Iraq again helped KDP fighters, this time taking the PUK stronghold of As Sulaymaniyah.

(1) The Iraqi climate is similar to that of the extreme southwestern United States with hot, dry summers, cold winters, and a pleasant spring and fall (Table 17). Roughly 90% of the annual rainfall occurs between November and April, most of it in the winter months from December through March. The remaining six months, particularly the hottest ones of June, July, and August, at approximately 102° F (32° C), are dry. The summer months are marked by two kinds of wind phenomena. The southern and southeasterly "Sharqi," a dry dusty wind with occasional gusts up to 80 km per hour, occurs intermittently from April to early June and again from late September though November. The wind is often accompanied by violent dust storms that may rise to several thousand meters in altitude, causing hazardous flying conditions. From the north and northwest comes the "Shamal," a steady prevailing wind from mid-June to mid-September. Very dry air which accompanies the shamal permits intensive sun heating of the land surface but also provides some cooling effect. The influence of the Persian Gulf on the climate of Iraq is very limited. Near the gulf the relative humidity is higher than in other parts of the country.

(2) In the western and southern desert region, the climate is characterized by hot summers and cool winters. This region also receives brief violent rainstorms in the winter that usually total about 10 centimeters (cm). Most nights are clear in the summer, and about one third of the nights are cloudy in the winter.

(3) In the rolling upland (foothill) region there is basically no precipitation in the summer and some showers in the winter. The winter rainfall normally averages about 38 centimeters (cm). The nights are generally clear in the summer and in the winter dense clouds are common about half of the nights.

(4) The alluvial plain of the Tigris and Euphrates Delta in the southeast receives most of its precipitation accompanied by thunderstorms in the winter and early spring. The average annual rainfall for this area is only about 10 to 17 cm. Half of the days in winter are cloudy, and in the summer the weather is clear most of the time.

(5) In the mountains of the north and northeast the climate is characterized by warm summers and cold winters. Precipitation occurs mainly in winter and spring, with minimal rainfall in summer. Above 1,500 m, heavy snowfalls occur in the winter, and there is some thunderstorm activity in the summer. Annual precipitation for the whole region ranges from 40 to 100 cm. Few nights are cloudy in summer and about half of the days are cloudy in winter.

(1) The desert zone constitutes 38% of the total land area and lies west and southwest of the Euphrates (Nahr al Furat) River; it is a part of the Syrian Desert. The region is sparsely populated and consists of a wide stony plain interspersed with rare sandy stretches. A widely ramified pattern of wadis runs from the border to the Euphrates. Some wadis are more than 400 km long and carry brief, but torrential floods during the winter rains.

(2) The uplands region, between the Tigris north of Samarra and the Euphrates north of Hit, is known as Al Jazirah and is part of a larger area that extends westward into Syria, between the two rivers, and into Turkey. Water in the area flows in deeply cut valleys. Much of this zone may be classified as desert.

(3) The northeastern highlands begin just south of a line drawn from Mosul to Kirkuk, and they extend to the borders with Turkey and Iran. High grounds, separated by broad, undulating steppes, give way to mountains ranging from 1,000 to 4,000 m near the borders. Except for a few valleys, the mountain area proper is suitable only for grazing in the foothills and steppes; adequate soil and rainfall make cultivation possible. Iraq's largest oil fields are located near Mosul and Kirkuk.

(4) The alluvial plain begins north of Baghdad and extends to the Persian Gulf. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers lie above the level of the plain in many areas in this region. The whole area is a delta interlaced by the channels of the two rivers and by irrigation canals. Intermittent lakes, fed by the rivers in flood, also characterize southeastern Iraq. A fairly large area just above the merging of the two rivers at Al Qurnah and extending east of the Tigris beyond the Iranian Border is marshland, known as the Hawr al Hammerar. Much of it is permanent marsh, but some parts dry out in early winter, and other parts become marshland only in years of great floods.

(1) Within the last 10 years, Iraq's urban and rural society has been expanding and undergoing rapid social change. The growth of the Baghdad and Basra urban centers, for example, has been astounding. The accelerated urbanization process throughout the country has resulted in a dramatic decrease of the population in the rural areas. The growth of the cities reflects the concentration of trade, construction, and real estate business activities fed by oil revenues and agricultural surpluses.

(2) Most rural inhabitants live in villages where houses and buildings are of primitive construction and are similar in size and shape. In the south the majority of the houses are made of mud and reeds, and in the north they are made of stone. The villages are generally located along rivers or canals and dwellings are built in irregularly patterned clusters connected by narrow, winding roads. The larger villages have a central area where the mosque and one or more coffee houses are located. Within these rural areas, state funds are being used to update or introduce electricity, potable water, and health services.

(1) The Iraqi Republic Railway system consists of two separate railroads. One is the standard 4.71 feet (ft) (1,435 m) gauge; the other is the 1-meter gauge. Total track of both gauges is 2,032 km. Table 23 identifies the Iraqi rail network. Table 24 and Figure 2-4 identify and locate the main routes.

(2) In the 1980s Iraq started to increase its rail network substantially with the addition of more standard gauge, high-speed tracks. A new line from Baghdad to Umm Qasr, via Basra, was under construction. A 273 m line was also under construction between Al Hadithad and Kirkuk, via Bayji. All lines entering Baghdad were scheduled to be connected to a new 112 km Baghdad loop line. Furthermore, Iraq planned to provide links with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

(3) The Iraqi railway network has suffered serious disruption as a result of both the Gulf War and the subsequent sanctions imposed. In 1992, freight loads had been cut in half from the previous year's total. However, passenger traffic has actually increased. Railway construction is attempting to reverse this downward trend. The main priority has been the development of lengthy branch lines serving industrial plants. Baghdad remains, however, the focus for the majority of railway lines, and a key component of the new main line plans is a Baghdad Belt Line of 112 km, from which the new trunk routes will extend in flying or burrowing junctions. This scheme, involving three major river bridges and a 7.5 km tunnel, is also motivated by anxiety to separate Baghdad area passenger and freight traffic to the maximum extent.

(1) The Iraqi regular army has three basic types of divisions: armored, mechanized (mech) infantry, and infantry. The basic organizational structure of each type of division is similar. They consist of 3 x maneuver brigades, divisional artillery, and various combat support and service support units (Figure 2-12). Typically a mechanized infantry division has 3 x mechanized infantry brigades and an armored division has 3 armored brigades. The infantry division has 3 x infantry brigades.

(1) Historicalevolution.

(2) Operational experience. The final two years of the Iran-Iraq war saw the development of a mature, experienced RGFC organization. The RGFC was employed skillfully as a strategic reserve in a series of two-corps defensive and offensive operations. The RGFC assumed a tactically offensive role: the counterattack.

(3) Personnel.

(4) Strengths. The RFGC is the best equipped and best trained force in the Iraqi ground forces. It is a self sufficient and self contained force with organic combat, combat support, and combat service support elements. It maintains its own supply system and has priority for all supplies. This results in "pampered" forces that are relatively well paid and receive the best food, uniforms, equipment, etc.

(1) The Iraqi Popular Army consists of a popular militia composed of civilian volunteers, members of the Ba'ath regime against internal opposition and to serve as a power base (and counter-balance) to the regular army.

(2) The Popular Army is organized on an area basis with a total of l9 divisions.

(3) Each base contains up to 10 x squads of from 10 to 15 men. Personnel are assigned to squads based on their residences, to ensure swift mobilization.

(4) Training in the Popular Army is limited to several weeks prior to mobilization, although some instructors come from the regular army to help improve the quality of training. Training is conducted in: