The armed forces in 1988 conceivably could have been expected
to reflect the varied ethnic, religious, and class components
of Iraqi society, because universal male conscription has been
compulsory since 1934. To a certain extent the enlisted men did
reflect society, especially after seven years of war. Indeed,
for the purpose of unifying the diverse minority groups in this
extremely heterogeneous country, the armed forces was one of the
most important institutions in Iraq. For political reasons, this
unification was never fully accomplished, however. Selective recruitment
policies for the Military College, for example, were instituted
by the British in the 1920s to favor the Sunni Arab community,
and this bias was perpetuated by the Sunni political and military
elite, which has also tended to dominate the Baath party. The
Shia majority was represented in the officer corps, but in a proportion
far below that of their numerical presence in society.
The majority of the officers were of lower middle class urban
background; they were the sons of minor government officials and
small traders, for whom a career in the military promised considerable
social advancement. Family ties to officers also played an important
role in the recruitment of new personnel, and in the mid-1980s,
Iraq's top military commanders were from the small town of Tikrit,
on the Euphrates River in the heart of Iraq's Sunni Arab community.
Country
name Iraq conventional long form Republic of Iraq conventional
short form Iraq local long form Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah local short form Al Iraq
Area
- total: 437,072 sq km land: 432,162 sq km water: 4,910 sq km
Geographic
Location - Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iran and Kuwait
Terrain
- Mostly broad plains; reedy marshes along Iranian border in south with large
flooded areas; mountains along borders with Iran and Turkey
Climate- Mostly desert; mild to cool winters with dry, hot, cloudless summers; northern
mountainous regions along Iranian and Turkish borders experience cold winters
with occasionally heavy snows that melt in early spring, sometimes causing extensive
flooding in central and southern Iraq
Geography
- Strategic location on Shatt al Arab waterway and at the head of the Persian
Gulf
Waterways
- 1,015 km note: Shatt al Arab is usually navigable by maritime traffic
for about 130 km; channel has been dredged to 3 m and is in use; Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers have navigable sections for shallow-draft boats; Shatt al Basrah canal
was navigable by shallow-draft craft before closing in 1991 because of the Gulf
war
Information
Courtesy: The Library of Congress - Country Studies
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