1. Iraq’s Long History of Conflict
Presentation 6

2. Early Conflicts
For centuries, Iraq’s Sunni Arab minority had dominated the country.
The Kurdish minority and the Shiite Arab majority had little power.
During the 1970s, Kurds took up arms to fight for power over their homeland in northern Iraq.
Iraq’s government responded brutally.

3. The Cold War
The Soviet Union & U.S. fought over control of Iraq because of its oil.
Eventually, after the monarchy was overthrown, the Soviets had closer ties with Iraq.
One of Iraq’s minorities, Sunni Arab, had controlled the country for centuries.
This left other groups with little or no power. Two of these groups include the Shiite Arab majority, and the Kurds minority.
Kurds are people part of the Kurdish minority. They live in Kurdistan, a region that covers parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
A Shiite, also known as a Shi'a, is a follower of Shia Islam, which is
the 2nd biggest denomination in Islam.

4. Many accused the dictator of committing genocide.
Iran-Iraq War
After having many border disputes in the past, Iran and Iraq finally went to war in 1980, when Iraq invaded from the west. After the Islamic revolution in Iran, he Saddam tried to take advantage of the turmoil. The war ended in 1988.
Iran had hated the U.S. since the cold war, so American’s had no problem supporting a country that was fighting one of their enemies, as well.
Hussein began unleashing chemical weapons onto Kurdish civilians and villages, which killed thousands of people.
Many accused the dictator of committing genocide.
Saddam Hussein seized his way into power when he became Iraq’s dictator in He’s most commonly known for acquiring weapons of mass destruction and other chemical weapons.

5. This threatened the Gulf, and was illegal on Saddam Hussein’s part.
The Gulf War
In 1990, Iraq invaded again, this time into Kuwait, in hopes of accessing some of their many oil fields, and getting closer to the Persian Gulf
This threatened the Gulf, and was illegal on Saddam Hussein’s part.
U.S. President at the time, George H.W. Bush created an alliance with Western and Middle Eastern nations, to get Iraq out of Kuwait.
In 1991, the coalition (alliance) of nations launched a counter attack onto the Iraqis in Kuwait. This ended up being call the “Gulf War”, but it ended quickly when allies crushed the Iraqi forces.
The Gulf War was an invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi forces, that took place in The coalition liberated Kuwait, and the Iraqi troops no longer invaded.

6. Saddam breaks the rules…
The U.S., along with the help of Britain and France, made efforts to protect the Kurds and Shiite’s lives, by setting up no-fly zones.
Iraq however, continued to disobey these restrictions
The UN helped by preventing Hussein from accessing and using oil profits to build weapons of Mass Destruction.
Iraq did not corporate with the fly zones, and continued to buy and use oil.
No-fly zones were set up by the UN, which restricted the zones in which Iraqi forces could fly over. This was created in hopes that less Kurdish and/or Shiite villages would be bombed.
Weapons of Mass Destruction, or WMD for short, Saddam Hussein used biological, chemical weapons, to harm minorities and use in the war with Iran, during his presidency.

7. U.S. Gets Rid of Hussein
Finally in 2002, Saddam Hussein was charged for having WMD’s, and a coalition (alliance) was formed between the U.S. and Britain.
George W. Bush, who had accused Hussein of being linked to terrorists and WMD, and Britain and othe allies, agreed to invade Iraq.
Some civilians were happy about the coalition’s action in the Iraq war, which removed the Iraqi’s dictator.
Some however, didn’t like that the U.S. was helping them out and felt threatened.
George W. Bush was elected as the 41st president of the United States in 2001 and was reelected in 2005.

8. Rebuilding Iraq
Although the U.S. was helping rebuild Iraq, Insurgents launched many attacks on Iraqi civilians, and also the foreigners who were helping.
In 2005 elections were held, and for the first time ever in Iraq’s history, the Shiite Majority won power over the Sunni’s.
The new government was attacked many times by the Sunni’s, because they were very bitter about losing their power for the first time.
Rebuilding a nation with a new group of people in power, would be a challenge for not only the government, but also the many citizens who didn’t want to give up hope.
The Shiites, Sunni’s, and Kurds would need to find peace in each other.
Insurgent: Someone who takes part in a rebellious force against a higher authority, hoping to change or improve conditions.