Ba'athist Iraq

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Iraqi Republic (1968–1992) الجمهورية العراقية al-Jumhūriyah al-‘Irāqīyah Republic of Iraq (1992–2003) جمهورية العراق Jumhūriyyat al-ʽIrāq
1968–2003
Top: Flag (1968–1991) Bottom: Flag (1991–2003) Top: Emblem (1968–1991) Bottom: Emblem (1991–2003)
Motto: (1968–1991) وحدة، حرية، اشتراكية Waḥda, Ḥurriyya, Ishtirākiyya[1] "Unity, Freedom, Socialism" (1991–2003) الله أكبر Allāhu akbar "God is the Greatest"
Anthem: (1968–1981) والله زمان يا سلاحي Walla Zaman Ya Selahy "It has been a long time, oh my weapon!" (1981–2003) أرض الفراتين Arḍ ul-Furātayn[2] "Land of the Euphrates"
Map of Ba’athist Iraq Map of Ba’athist Iraq from 1990 to 1991
Capital and largest city	Baghdad 33°20′N 44°23′E / 33.333°N 44.383°E / 33.333; 44.383
Official languages	Arabic
Ethnic groups (1987)[3]	75–80% Arab 15–20% Kurdish 5% other Minorities: Armenians Turkmen Yazidis Shabaks Kaka'i Roma Assyrians Circassians Sabaean-Mandaean Persians
Religion (2003)	Majority: 90% Islam –59% Shia Islam –31% Sunni Islam Minorities: 5% Christianity 2% Yazidism 3% Other religions
Demonym(s)	Iraqi
Government	Unitary Ba'athist one-party presidential Arab socialist[4] republic Saddamist totalitarian state[5][6][7][8] (1979–2003)
President
• 1968–1979	Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
• 1979–2003	Saddam Hussein
Vice President
• 1968–1979	Saddam Hussein
• 1970	Hardan al-Tikriti
• 1970–1971	Salih Mahdi Ammash
• 1974–2003	Taha Muhie-eldin Marouf
• 1979–2003	Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri
• 1991–2003	Taha Yassin Ramadan
Prime Minister
• 1968	Abd ar-Razzaq an-Naif
• 1968–1979	Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
• 1979–1991	Saddam Hussein
• 1991[9]	Sa'dun Hammadi
• 1991–1993[9][10]	Mohammed Hamza Zubeidi
• 1993–1994[11]	Ahmad as-Samarrai
• 1994–2003	Saddam Hussein
Legislature	Revolutionary Command Council
Historical era	Cold War • War on terror
• 17 July Revolution	17 July 1968
• Ba'ath Party Purge[12]	22 July 1979
• Iran–Iraq War[13]	Sep 1980 – Aug 1988
• Invasion of Kuwait[14]	2 August 1990
• First Gulf War	Aug 1990 – Feb 1991
• UN sanctions[15]	Aug 1990 – May 2003
• 2003 invasion of Iraq	20 March – 1 May 2003
• Fall of Baghdad	3–9 April 2003
Area
1999[16]	437,072 km2 (168,754 sq mi)
2002	438,317 km2 (169,235 sq mi)
Population
• 1999	22,802,063 (43rd)[17][18]
• 2002	24,931,921 (41st)[19][20]
• Density	57/sq mi (22.0/km2) (87th)
GDP (nominal)	2002 estimate
• Total	$18.970 billion (74th)
• Per capita	$761 (141th)[21]
HDI (2002)	0.603 medium (114th)
Currency	Iraqi dinar (د.ع) (IQD)
Time zone	UTC+3 (AST)
Drives on	right
Calling code	+964
ISO 3166 code	IQ
Internet TLD	.iq
Preceded by Succeeded by Iraqi Republic Saudi Arabian–Iraqi neutral zone Republic of Kuwait Kuwait Coalition Provisional Authority

This article is part of a series about Saddam Hussein
Personal Early life Saddamism Ba'athist Iraq Family Uday Qusay Raghad Rana Sajida Talfah Affiliations Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party Iraq-based Ba'ath Party Revolutionary Command Council Political offices President of Iraq (1979–2003) Prime Minister of Iraq (1979–1991, 1994–2003) Vice President of Iraq (1968–1979) Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council (1979–2003) Regional Secretary of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party (1964–1966, 1979–2006) Secretary General of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party (1992–2006) Rise to power 1959 Mosul uprising Ramadan Revolution 17 July Revolution First Iraqi–Kurdish War Yom Kippur War Second Iraqi–Kurdish War 1974–75 Shatt al-Arab conflict 1975 Algiers Agreement 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge Presidency Iran–Iraq War Iraqi invasion of Iran Dujail massacre Anfal campaign Halabja massacre Iraqi invasion of Kuwait Gulf War missile attacks on Israel missile attacks on U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia 1991 Iraqi uprisings 1999 Shia uprising 2003 invasion of Iraq Battle of Baghdad Firdos Square statue destruction Human rights record Al-Qaeda link allegations Timeline Nuclear weapon program Operation Opera Desposition Capture Interrogation Trial Execution Reactions Elections and referendums 1995 Iraqi presidential referendum 2002 Iraqi presidential referendum Books Blood Quran Zabibah and the King The Fortified Castle Men and the City Begone, Demons
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Part of a series on the
History of Iraq
Prehistory Ubaid period Hassuna culture Halaf culture Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period Samarra culture (Eridu) Uruk period Jemdet Nasr Period
Bronze Age Early Dynastic Period Sumer Hamazi Assyria Akkadian Empire Gutian Dynasty Neo-Sumerian Empire Isin-Larsa period Simurrum Babylonia First Babylonian Empire Kassites Middle Assyrian Empire Neo-Assyrian Empire Neo-Babylonian Empire
Iron Age Achaemenid Assyria Seleucid Babylonia Parthian Babylonia Roman Mesopotamia Sasanian Asorestan
Middle Ages Islamic conquest Rashidun Caliphate Umayyad Caliphate Abbasid Caliphate Hamdanids Buyid amirate of Iraq Marwanids Uqaylids Al-Mazeedi Ayyubids Seljuk Empire Atabegs of Azerbaijan Zengids Ilkhanate Jalairid Sultanate Timurid Empire Kara Koyunlu Aq Qoyunlu
Early modern period Safavids Ottoman Iraq Mamluk dynasty
Modern Iraq Mandatory Iraq Kingdom of Iraq Republic of Iraq (1958–68) Ba'athist rule (1968–2003) Occupation (2003–11) Recent history
Iraq portal
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Ba'athist Iraq, officially the Iraqi Republic (1968–1992) and later the Republic of Iraq (1992–2003), was the Iraqi one party state between 1968 and 2003 under the rule of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. This period began with high economic growth, but ended with the country facing severe levels of socio-political isolation and economic stagnation. By the late 1990s, the average annual income had decreased drastically due to a combination of external and internal factors. UNSC sanctions against Iraq, in particular, were widely criticized for negatively impacting the country's quality of life, prompting the establishment of the Oil-for-Food Programme. The Ba'athist period formally came to an end with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the Ba'ath Party has since been indefinitely banned across the country.^[22][23]

The Ba'ath Party, led by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, came to power in Iraq through the bloodless 17 July 1968 Revolution, which overthrew president Abdul Rahman Arif and prime minister Tahir Yahya.^[24] By the mid-1970s, Saddam Hussein, through his post as chief of the party's intelligence services, became the country's de facto leader, despite al-Bakr's de jure presidency. Under Saddam's new policies, the Iraqi economy and citizens' living standards grew, and Iraq's standing within the Arab world increased significantly. As land reforms were introduced, the country's wealth was distributed more equally. However, several internal factors were imminently threatening Iraq's stability; the Sunni-dominated Ba'athist government was drawn into an escalating conflict with the religious separatism among Shia Muslims and the ethnic separatism among Kurds. The then-ongoing Second Iraqi–Kurdish War, in particular, was increasingly becoming a concern for the government, because Kurdish rebels were receiving extensive support from Iran, Israel, and the United States. After the Iraqis suffered a major defeat to the Iranians in the 1974–1975 Shatt al-Arab clashes, Saddam met with Iranian monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and, with the ratification of the 1975 Algiers Agreement, ceded parts of Iraqi territory in exchange for Iran's termination of support for the Kurds. With the Kurdish rebellion subsequently disadvantaged, the Iraqi military reasserted the federal government's control over Iraqi Kurdistan.

In 1979, al-Bakr resigned from the presidency and was succeeded by Saddam. The Ba'ath Party suppressed a surge of Shia-led anti-government protests. Alarmed by the Iranian Revolution, Saddam adopted an aggressive foreign policy stance towards Iran's new theocratic leader Ruhollah Khomeini, who had begun calling for the establishment of a similar Shia theocracy in Saddam's secular Iraq; the Iraqi leadership feared that the Iranians would leverage the religious zeal among Iraq's Shia-majority population to destabilize the country. Believing Iran had been militarily weakened by internal post-revolutionary chaos, Saddam and his government invaded Iran in September 1980, triggering the eight-year-long Iran–Iraq War. For the duration of the conflict, Iraq's economy deteriorated and became dependent on foreign loans to fund the war effort. The Iran–Iraq War ended in a stalemate in 1988, when both sides accepted UNSC Resolution 598.

Iraq emerged from the conflict under a steep economic depression while owing millions of dollars to foreign countries. Kuwait, which had loaned money to Iraq during the conflict, began demanding repayment, although Iraq was not in a position to do so. The Kuwaiti government subsequently increased the country's oil output, greatly reducing international oil prices and further weakening the Iraqi economy, while continuing to pressure the Iraqi leadership to repay the loans. Iraq demanded that the Kuwaitis reduce their oil output, as did OPEC.^{[citation needed]} In 1989, Iraq accused Kuwait of slant drilling across the Iraq–Kuwait border to steal Iraqi petroleum, and demanded compensation. Failed bilateral negotiations resulted in the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, triggering the Gulf War. Iraq occupied Kuwait until February 1991, when a 42-country UNSC military coalition forced all Iraqi troops out of Kuwait. The international community sanctioned Iraq, cutting it off from all global markets. Consequently, the Iraqi economy worsened for the remainder of the 1990s, but began to gradually rebound by the early 2000s, primarily because many countries started ignoring sanctions enforcement. Following the September 11 attacks, the United States' Bush administration began building a case for invading Iraq and overthrowing Saddam's regime. They falsely asserted that Iraq still possessed weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam had links with al-Qaeda. In December 2003, American troops captured Saddam and turned him over to Iraq's new Shia-led government. From 2005 to 2006, Saddam was put on trial for crimes against humanity concerning the 1982 Dujail massacre, in which the Iraqi government killed Shiite rebels. After sentencing Saddam to death, the Iraqi tribunal executed him for crimes against humanity.