Editing History of Iraq (section)

====Under Saddam Hussein====
[[File:Saddam1970s.jpg|thumb|Saddam Hussein promoting women's education in the 1970s]]

In July 1979, [[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr|President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr]] was forced to resign by [[Saddam Hussein]], who assumed the offices of both President and Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council. Saddam then [[1979 Ba'ath Party Purge|purged]] his opponents including those from within the Baath party.

;Iraq's Territorial Claims to Neighboring Countries
 
Iraq's territorial claims to neighboring countries were largely due to the plans and promises of the [[Entente countries]] in 1919–1920, when the [[Ottoman Empire]] was divided, to create a more extensive Arab state in Iraq and [[Arabian Peninsula|Jazeera]], which would also include significant territories of eastern [[Syria]], southeastern [[Turkey]], all of [[Kuwait]] and [[Iran]]’s border areas, which are shown on this English map of 1920.
[[File:Mideast1920.jpg|thumb|British ruled Mesopotamia in pink]]

Territorial disputes with [[Iran]] led to an inconclusive and costly eight-year war, the ''[[Iran–Iraq War]]'' (1980–1988, termed ''[[Battle of al-Qādisiyyah|Qādisiyyat]]-Saddām'' – 'Saddam's [[Battle of al-Qādisiyyah|Qādisiyyah]]'), which devastated the economy. Iraq falsely declared victory in 1988 but actually only achieved a weary return to the ''[[status quo ante bellum]]'', meaning both sides retained their original borders.

The war began when Iraq invaded Iran, launching a simultaneous invasion by air and land into Iranian territory on 22 September 1980, following a long history of [[Territorial dispute|border disputes]], and fears of [[Shia]] insurgency among Iraq's long-suppressed Shia majority influenced by the [[Iranian Revolution]]. Iraq was also aiming to replace Iran as the dominant [[Persian Gulf]] [[State (polity)|state]]. The [[United States support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war|United States supported Saddam Hussein]] in the war against Iran.<ref>Tyler, Patrick E. [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/18/world/officers-say-us-aided-iraq-in-war-despite-use-of-gas.html "Officers Say U.S. Aided Iraq in War Despite Use of Gas"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630202109/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/18/world/officers-say-us-aided-iraq-in-war-despite-use-of-gas.html |date=30 June 2017 }} ''New York Times'' 18 August 2002.</ref> Although Iraq hoped to take advantage of the revolutionary chaos in Iran and attacked without formal warning, they made only limited progress into Iran and within several months were repelled by the Iranians who regained virtually all lost territory by June 1982. For the next six years, Iran was on the offensive.<ref name="Molavi2005p152">{{cite book|last=Molavi |first=Afshin|title=The Soul of Iran|publisher=Norton|year=2005|page=152}}</ref> Despite [[United Nations Security Council Resolutions concerning Iraq|calls for a ceasefire]] by the [[United Nations Security Council]], hostilities continued until 20 August 1988. The war finally ended with a United Nations-brokered ceasefire in the form of [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 598]], which was accepted by both sides. It took several weeks for the Iranian armed forces to evacuate Iraqi territory to honor pre-war international borders between the two nations (see [[1975 Algiers Agreement]]). The last [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] were exchanged in 2003.<ref name="Molavi2005p152" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DEFDC113EF937A25750C0A9659C8B63 |work=The New York Times |first=Nazila |last=Fathi |title=Threats And Responses: Briefly Noted; Iran-Iraq Prisoner Deal |date=14 March 2003 |access-date=16 February 2017 |archive-date=17 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217021100/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DEFDC113EF937A25750C0A9659C8B63 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The war came at a great cost in lives and economic damage—half a million Iraqi and Iranian soldiers, as well as civilians, are believed to have died in the war with many more injured—but it brought neither reparations nor change in borders. The conflict is often compared to [[World War I]],<ref>Abrahamian, Ervand, ''A History of Modern Iran'', Cambridge, 2008, p.171</ref> in that the tactics used closely mirrored those of that conflict, including large scale [[trench warfare]], manned machine-gun posts, bayonet charges, use of [[barbed wire]] across trenches, [[human wave attacks]] across [[no-man's land]], and extensive use of [[chemical weapons]] such as [[mustard gas]] by the Iraqi government against Iranian [[troops]] and civilians as well as Iraqi [[Kurd]]s. At the time, the [[UN Security Council]] issued statements that "chemical weapons had been used in the war." However, in these UN statements, it was never made clear that it was only Iraq that was using chemical weapons, so it has been said that "the international community remained silent as Iraq used weapons of mass destruction against Iranian as well as Iraqi Kurds" and it is believed.

A long-standing territorial dispute was the ostensible reason for Iraq's [[invasion of Kuwait]] in 1990. In November 1990, the UN Security Council adopted [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 678|Resolution 678]], permitting member states to use all necessary means, authorizing military action against the Iraqi forces occupying Kuwait and demanded a complete withdrawal by 15 January 1991. When Saddam Hussein failed to comply with this demand, the [[Gulf War]] (Operation "[[Desert Storm]]") ensued on 17 January 1991. Estimates range from 1,500 to as many as 30,000 Iraqi soldiers killed, as well as less than a thousand civilians.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Findlay |first1=Justin |title=What Was Operation Desert Storm? |url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-operation-desert-storm.html |website=WorldAtlas |date=6 October 2017 |access-date=9 December 2020 |archive-date=5 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205183121/https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-operation-desert-storm.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Heidenrich |first1=John G. |title=The Gulf War: How Many Iraqis Died? |journal=Foreign Policy |date=1993 |issue=90 |pages=108–125 |doi=10.2307/1148946 |jstor=1148946 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1148946 |access-date=9 December 2020 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225221201/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1148946 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In March 1991 revolts in the [[Shia Islam|Shia]]-dominated southern Iraq started involving demoralized [[Iraqi Army]] troops and the anti-government Shia parties. Another wave of insurgency broke out shortly afterwards in the [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] populated northern Iraq (see [[1991 Iraqi uprisings]]). Although they presented a serious threat to the Iraqi [[Ba'ath Party]] regime, Saddam Hussein managed to suppress the rebellions with massive and indiscriminate force and maintained power. They were ruthlessly crushed by the loyalist forces spearheaded by the [[Iraqi Republican Guard]] and the population was successfully terrorized. During the few weeks of unrest tens of thousands of people were killed. Many more died during the following months, while nearly two million Iraqis fled for their lives. In the aftermath, the government intensified the forced relocating of [[Marsh Arabs]] and the draining of the [[Tigris-Euphrates river system|Iraqi marshlands]], while the Coalition established the [[Iraqi no-fly zones]].
[[File:Iraqi Governorates Map (1990-1991).jpg|thumb|Kuwait became a Governorate of Iraq.]]
On 6 August 1990, after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the U.N. Security Council adopted [[UN Resolution 661|Resolution 661]] which imposed [[economic sanctions]] on Iraq, providing for a full trade embargo, excluding medical supplies, food and other items of humanitarian necessity, these to be determined by the Security Council sanctions committee. After the end of the Gulf War and after the Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait, the sanctions were linked to removal of [[weapons of mass destruction]] by [[UN Resolution 687|Resolution 687]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mideastweb.org/687.htm|title=UN Security Council Resolution 687 -1991|website=www.mideastweb.org|access-date=11 November 2008|archive-date=12 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180512025610/http://www.mideastweb.org/687.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> To varying degrees, the effects of government policy, the aftermath of Gulf War and the sanctions regime have been blamed for these conditions.

The effects of the sanctions on the civilian population of Iraq have been disputed.<ref name=unicef99>[http://www.unicef.org/newsline/99pr29.htm Iraq surveys show 'humanitarian emergency'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806193122/http://www.unicef.org/newsline/99pr29.htm |date=6 August 2009 }} [[UNICEF]] Newsline 12 August 1999</ref><ref name="Rubin">{{cite journal|last=Rubin |first=Michael |title=Sanctions on Iraq: A Valid Anti-American Grievance? |journal=[[Middle East Review of International Affairs]] |volume=5 |issue=4 |url=http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/meria-rubin-sanctions-1201.htm |pages=100–115 |date=December 2001 |author-link=Michael Rubin (historian)|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028003924/http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/meria-rubin-sanctions-1201.htm |archive-date=28 October 2012 }}</ref> Whereas it was widely believed that the sanctions caused a major rise in child mortality, recent research has shown that commonly cited data were fabricated by the Iraqi government and that "there was no major rise in child mortality in Iraq after 1990 and during the period of the sanctions."<ref name=Spagat>{{cite web |url=http://personal.rhul.ac.uk/uhte/014/Truth%20and%20Death.pdf |title=Truth and death in Iraq under sanctions |first=Michael |last=Spagat |date=September 2010 |publisher=[[Significance (journal)|Significance]] |access-date=22 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711190050/http://personal.rhul.ac.uk/uhte/014/Truth%20and%20Death.pdf |archive-date=11 July 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Dyson|first1=Tim|last2=Cetorelli|first2=Valeria|date=1 July 2017|title=Changing views on child mortality and economic sanctions in Iraq: a history of lies, damned lies and statistics|url= |journal=BMJ Global Health|language=en|volume=2|issue=2|pages=e000311|doi=10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000311|issn=2059-7908|pmc=5717930|pmid=29225933}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/08/04/saddam-hussein-said-sanctions-killed-500000-children-that-was-a-spectacular-lie/|title=Saddam Hussein said sanctions killed 500,000 children. That was 'a spectacular lie.'|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=4 August 2017|archive-date=4 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804154954/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/08/04/saddam-hussein-said-sanctions-killed-500000-children-that-was-a-spectacular-lie/|url-status=live}}</ref> An [[oil for food program]] was established in 1996 to ease the effects of sanctions.

Iraqi cooperation with UN weapons inspection teams was questioned on several occasions during the 1990s. [[UNSCOM]] chief weapons inspector [[Richard Butler (diplomat)|Richard Butler]] withdrew his team from Iraq in November 1998 because of Iraq's lack of cooperation. The team returned in December.<ref>Richard Butler, ''Saddam Defiant'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2000, p. 224</ref> Butler prepared a report for the [[UN Security Council]] afterwards in which he expressed dissatisfaction with the level of compliance [https://web.archive.org/web/20010723110631/http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/meast/9811/11/iraq.05/]. The same month, US President Bill Clinton authorized air strikes on government targets and military facilities. Air strikes against military facilities and alleged WMD sites continued into 2002.