The Republic of Iraq is a country at the heart of the Middle East. It is a predominately Arab and Muslim nation with a history that goes back thousands of years. For much of its history after the end of its monarchy and the start of its republic, Iraq was dominated by the Ba'athist Party. In 1979, Saddam Hussein seized power and ruled as a brutal dictator until being ousted by an American-led invasion in 2003.
History[]
Since the Gulf War of 1991, the United States and its allies had enforced a no-fly-zone over Iraq to protect Shia Muslims and the Kurdish people against chemical weapons used by the Hussein regime. After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack the United States suspected Iraq of developing nuclear weapons, possibly in conjunction with North Korea and Syria. U.S. military forces and their British counterparts invaded Iraq in 2003, installed a friendly, democratic government, and occupied the country for nine years. In that time, much of Iraq was heavily damaged in harsh fighting. A fundamentalist insurgency backed by Al-Qaeda established themselves, working to repel foreign influence. The United States and the United Kingdom withdrew their forces in 2012 despite efforts to re-stabilize Iraq, after over 5,000 American troops and 100,000 Iraqi civilians were killed.[1]
Division and Oil Wars[]
The destruction of Saddam Hussein's regime heavily destabilized Iraq. Sunni and Shia Muslims began fighting each other in a sectarian conflict after American and Coalition troops had withdrawn from the country. Ultimately in July 2015, the Iraqi government collapsed.[2]
Iran moved troops into the northern regions of Iraq to exert their influence over their fellow Shia population and Iraq's vast oil supply. Furthermore, the Iranian government allied the Iraqi Kurds in which they supported the formation of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq, allowing the Kurds to managed the Kurdish regions while the Iranians focused the majority Shiite regions. Iran's incursion prompted Saudi Arabia to occupy southern Iraq to protect their fellow Sunni population and stem Iranian influence in the region.[2]
The two powers eventually went to war over Iraq on June 8, 2016.[3] This conflict crippled much of Iraq's oil production capabilities and heavily damaged major cities.
Post-War[]
After the war, Iraq remained a divided nation. It can be assumed that the Kurdish state was formed while Iran continued to back Northern Iraq as a Shi'ite nation. In 2020, the Iranians invited special forces operators of the Korean People's Army to lead a counter-insurgency against Sunni guerrillas in Iraq. The operation was successful and without casualties.[4]
Trivia[]
- Prescott and Washington both served in the Second Gulf War.[5]
- Connor Morgan served in the Third Gulf War.
- Homefront predicted that a post-US withdrawal in Iraq would cause violent events. In reality, the United States pulled out its troops from Iraq in 2011 (a year off in the game) and would redeploy its troops in the region in June 2014. Also in 2014, Iraq was under the threat from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
References[]
In 1977, Iraq along with Syria and Iran established a pact with the Soviet Union. By 2003, the United States invaded Iraq in response to the September 11th terror attacks. The U.S. carefully prevented itself from provoking Iraq's Soviet ally, who provided assistance to the Iraqi military due to ongoing oil pipelines deals. Consequently, the conflict in Iraq spread across the Middle East and caused a never ending violence in the region.