Iraqi Culture: Culture in the Country of Iraq Iraqi culture has one of the world’s most ancient history of culture to date. The country of Iraq has dealt with numerous changes throughout the years ranging from war, economy downfall, and environment changes. A lot of the issues that arose had to do with the power and decision making of the former President, Saddam Hussein. The country of Iraq is located north of the Persian Gulf and its population is equivalent to that of California’s. This paper will discuss the economy in Iraq, as well as the Iraqi culture and their military. Iraq’s economy system was disastrously crippled by the Iran and Iraq War, the Persian Gulf War and the UN embargo. The country has yet to recover from …show more content…
Their religion, women, kids, and beliefs play a big role in the culture. Islam is the religion which claims a vast majority of the Iraqi population, the majority of the Iraqi’s identify with the Arab culture. The second-largest cultural group is the Kurds, who are in the highlands and mountain valleys of the north in a politically autonomous settlement. The Kurds occupy the provinces of As Sulaymaniyah, Dahuk and Irbil, the area of which is commonly referred to as Kurdistan. Almost all Iraqi’s speak, read, and write their official language, Arabic. As in Kurdistan, they speak Kurdish so they can distinguish between the Iraqi’s and the Kurds. There are five pillars of Islam: praise of Allah as the only God, with Muhammad as his prophet; prayer five times per day; almsgiving; fasting; and pilgrimage to Mecca. Ramadan falls on the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. This month consists of a period of fasting from all food, drink, and activities such as smoking and sexual intercourse during daylight hours. At nighttime the fast is broken, in other words, you can do what you cannot during the …show more content…
Their branches consist of the Iraqi Army, Navy, Air Force, Iraqi Air Defense, and Iraqi Special Forces. A few wars they have been a part of are World War 1, 3 Persian Gulf Wars (Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom), and a Civil War (currently with ISIS). 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. On September 11, 2001, militant Islamic terrorists hijacked commercial airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people (history.com). The U.S. automatically stepped up investigations into Iraq’s possible connection to the terrorist organization, Al-Qaeda, who were responsible for the attacks. In 2003, President George W. Bush declared war on Iraq and initiated Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2003 Saddam Hussein was captured and was hanged in 2006. His death marked a milestone in U.S. history and in 2011, all troops were brought home ending the War in Iraq. Currently there is a Civil War going on in the country of Iraq with a group known as
Elizabeth Fernea entered El Nahra, Iraq as an innocent bystander. However, through her stay in the small Muslim village, she gained cultural insight to be passed on about not only El Nahra, but all foreign culture. As Fernea entered the village, she was viewed with a critical eye, ?It seemed to me that many times the women were talking about me, and not in a particularly friendly manner'; (70). The women of El Nahra could not understand why she was not with her entire family, and just her husband Bob. The women did not recognize her American lifestyle as proper. Conversely, BJ, as named by the village, and Bob did not view the El Nahra lifestyle as particularly proper either. They were viewing each other through their own cultural lenses. However, through their constant interaction, both sides began to recognize some benefits each culture possessed. It takes time, immersed in a particular community to understand the cultural ethos and eventually the community as a whole. Through Elizabeth Fernea?s ethnography on Iraq?s El Nahra village, we learn that all cultures have unique and equally important aspects.
Over the next several weeks America launched over 2500 missiles on Iraq military. After this Iraq got tired of just sitting there so they finally started to fight back. They launched missiles at the barracks that were blocking Iraq from entering Saudi Arabia. Before February 24 the real ground war hadn’t even started.
In September 1980, a very destructive war with Iran was started by Saddam Hussein. This was a result of an invasion in Iran. This invasion spurred an eight year war. Saddam used c...
On September 11, 2001, the Islamist terrorist group known as al-Qaeda launched a series of terrorist attacks on the United States of America, specifically in the New York City and Washington D.C areas. Nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes with the intention of using them as suicide attacks that would crash those planes into designated buildings, or targets. Two of the four passenger jets were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, both of which collapsed entirely within two hours of being hit. The third plane was crashed into the Pentagon, and the west side of the building, which is the Headquarters of the US Department of Defense, partially collapsed. The fourth hijacked plane was intended for the US Capitol Building in Washington D.C, but instead crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after the passengers of the plane interfered with the hijackers. The attack on September 11th was devastatingly fatal—almost 3,000 people died in the attacks, including all of the al-Qaeda hijackers and every passenger aboard the four planes.
The Iraq war fiercely changed life in Iraq and in its neighboring countries. The war started in March 2003. The united states joined the war because of 9/11: an attack of mass destruction in New York city by a terrorist group named Al-Qaeda, which killed almost Three thousand people. The united states getting involved in the war; made it worse, and withdraw from the war on December 2011. During the war, life was difficult to survive emotionally for the soldiers, especially for those who are new. The historical fiction book Sunrise over Fallujah, by Walter Dean Myers, is set in Iraq. Robin "Birdy" Perry, a recruit from Harlem, NY, showed that war needs emotional readiness. Throughout Sunrise over Fallujah, the author uses
The Iraq war, also known as the second Gulf War, is a five-year, ongoing military campaign which started on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by U.S. troops. One of the most controversial events in the history of the western world, the war has caused an unimaginable number of deaths, and spending of ridiculous amounts of money. The reason for invasion war Iraq’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction, which eventually was disproved by weapons inspectors. Many people question George W. Bush’s decision to engage a war in Iraq, but there might be greater reason why the decision was made. The ideas of George W. Bush might have been sculpted by one of the greatest works of all time, "The Prince."
troops were staying. They killed two Australian tourists. At the same time, a group of al-Qaeda operatives were caught trying to shoot rockets at U.S. planes. In 1993, al-Qaeda bombed the World Trade Center and killed 6 people. That same year, al-Qaeda created a large plan to bomb places all over New York, but the FBI raided their warehouse and arrested 12 people. Also in 1993, al-Qaeda tried to kill the prince of Jordan, and they trained Somalis to kill Americans, which lead to America leaving Somalia. In 1995, a plan to blow up 11 jumbo jets was created, but it got edited and turned into the plans for the 9-11 bombings. There were also many other attacks by al-Qaeda from 1993 to 2000 that included car bombs and suicide bombers (msnbc.com 1). On September 11, 2001, three planes flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, South Tower of the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon. This was the biggest terrorist attack on the United States as it killed a little over 3,000 people, and scared the rest of the country (History.com 1). This attack was al-Qaeda’s greatest accomplishment, and after 2001, they performed many more suicide bombings and car bombs. To stop these attacks from happening and people dying, Bin Laden was assassinated in 2011. After that, al-Qaeda fell of the
At the end of World War I, the British Empire took control of the land, and imposed a monarchy on the region. However, in 1932 the British mandate came to an end, and the Iraqi people came in control of their newly independent country. Led by a series of kings, the country remained sufficiently stable and thrived off of discovered oil in the country. However, due to increased political oppression, a group known as “Free Officers” overthrew the monarchy and instituted a republic government on the land. (Iraq Foreign Policy, Brittanica, 2010)
Rivkin, David B., Jr., and Lee A. Casey. "The New Iraqi Constitution." The Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation, 16 Sept. 2005. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
After the events of September 11, 2001, George W. Bush suspected there was a connection between Al-Qaeda the Iraqi government. On March 20, 2003, the United States attempted the assassination of Saddam Hussein. The number of troops invading was less than expected for the reason that the US thought that Iraq’s military was weak in comparison. In a way, they were correct. The United States had been executing air-strikes on Iraq for so long that the invasion was much easier.
On September 11th, 2001, 2,753 people were killed in a terrorist attack on United States soil well known as “9-11”. (cnn.com) Two planes, flown by 19 men, were purposely crashed straight into the world trade centers. (cnn.com) Later, another plane was flown into the pentagon, a United States government building located in Washington, DC. Almost 3,000 people were killed by 19 members of one single terrorist group. The group’s name is Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda, meaning “The Base” in Arabic, is a terrorist group that was formed in 1989 to get rid of non-islamic government influences from the west.
Woods, Kevin M., Stout Mark E. 2010. “Saddam’s Perceptions and Misperceptions: The Case of ‘Desert Storm’.” The Journal of Strategic Studies (February): 5-41.
After only two and a half years, Iraq later had a new constitution and had elected a parliament. President Bush was hopeful that Iraq would soon become a “stable democracy capable of defending itself (page 336)”. In conclusion, the Iraq War possibly reduced the threat of an even bigger problem that could have occurred, and it removed Saddam Hussein
The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a US-led coalition. The US wanted to destroy Saddam Hussein’s regime and bring democracy. To addition to that, US and its allies believed that Iraq had secret stocks of chemical and nuclear weapons, hence Iraq was a threat to the world (Axford 2010). In March 2003, US air bombed Baghdad and Saddam escaped Iraq. The invasion disarmed the government of Saddam Hussein. President Bush in March 2003 gave a premature speech, that tyrant of Iraq has fallen and US has freed its people. President Bush flew into Iraq to show the world that the war is over, even though nothing was accomplished (Kirk et al. 2014). Iraq was facing 13 years of scantions, therefore regime diverted its resources to flexible networks of patronage that kept it in power (Dodge 2007, 88). Iraq faced widespread of lawlessness and after the violent regime changed US could not control the situation. Iraqi civilians were looting, attacking ministries building and this resulted into a series of event (Kirk et al. 2014) . From a military perspective the regime was taken down, but they made no commitment to rebuild or secure the country.