The Modern History of Iraq

497 Pages·2011·2.56 MB·English

by  Phebe Marr

“I have been using Phebe Marr’s The Modern History of Iraq in my upper-division THIRD EDITION
MARR
undergraduate courses for years. This third edition is most welcome. Many books
on Iraq have come out since 2003, but none have the combination of coverage of
recent and current events situated within the modern history of Iraq going back two T
centuries. One cannot begin to comprehend the Iraq of today without a thorough
H
understanding of its historical context, and Marr’s book expertly provides both.”
—DAVID W. LESCH, TRINITY UNIVERSITY, EDITOR OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE UNITED STATES E
“The best one-volume work on Iraq in English, or in any other language
M
of which I am aware. . . . The comprehensive coverage of Iraq’s economic
and social history, as well as the political, will be welcomed by people
O
interested in the Middle East, lay and specialist alike.”
—MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL D
PHEBE MARR
E
The Modern History of Iraq
R
places in historical perspective the crises and upheavals that
continue to af�lict the country. The book focuses on several important themes: the search
N
for national identity in a multiethnic, multireligious state; the struggle to achieve economic
T
development and modernity in a traditional society; and the political dynamics that have H
led to the current situation. Phebe Marr draws on published sources in Arabic and English, IRH
personal interviews, and frequent visits to the country to produce a remarkably lucid D

account of the emergence of contemporary Iraq. EI
D
S
I
T
This edition features three new chapters that bring readers up to date on events since
IT
O
the U.S. invasion and give a clear picture of the political, social, economic, and ideological
N
consequences of the recent upheaval. Marr provides an insightful overview of the current O
political scene—Iraq’s new political elites; emerging �igures, parties, constituencies, and
support; and foreign in�luences. In the �inal chapter, Marr offers a uniquely penetrating R
analysis of Iraq’s current social and economic affairs, including the decline of the middle
Y
class, refugee displacement, the economics of oil, the status of women and ethnic groups, and
tPhHe rEisBe oEf s eMctaAriRanRism.

O
is a noted scholar and historian of the Middle East and a leading
consultant and lecturer on Iraqi politics. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations F
and the Middle East Institute. A former senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, she has

published numerous scholarly articles, chapters, and reports and has taught Middle East I
hCOiVsEtR oIMrAyG Ea ©t tFAhLeEH UKHnEIiBvERe/rRsEUiTtEyR So/CfO TRBeISnnessee, Knoxville, and California State University, Stanislaus. R
COVER DESIGN: MIGUEL SANTANA & WENDY HALITZER
A
Q
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
www.westviewpress.com
www.perseusacademic.com
9780813344430-text_Layout 1 7/18/11 4:27 PM Page i
THE MODERN HISTORY OF IRAQ
9780813344430-text_Layout 1 7/18/11 4:27 PM Page ii
9780813344430-text_Layout 1 7/18/11 4:27 PM Page iii
THIRD EDITION
THE MODERN HISTORY OF
IR AQ
PHEBE MARR
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
9780813344430-text_Layout 1 7/18/11 4:27 PM Page iv
Westview Press was founded in 1975 in Boulder, Colorado, by notable publisher and
intellectual Fred Praeger. Westview Press continues to publish scholarly titles and high-
quality undergraduate- and graduate-level textbooks in core social science disciplines.
With books developed, written, and edited with the needs of serious nonfiction readers,
professors, and students in mind, Westview Press honors its long history of publishing
books that matter.
Copyright © 2012 by Westview Press
Published by Westview Press,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may
be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case
of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address
Westview Press, 2465 Central Avenue, Boulder, CO 80301.
Find us on the World Wide Web at www.westviewpress.com.
Every effort has been made to secure required permissions for all text, images, maps,
and other art reprinted in this volume.
Westview Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United
States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information,
please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300
Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call [phone], ext. 5000,
or e-mail [email protected].
Designed by Trish Wilkinson
Set in 11.5 point Adobe Garamond Pro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Marr, Phebe.
The modern history of Iraq / Phebe Marr. — 3rd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8133-4443-0 (pbk : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8133-4521-5 (ebook)
1. Iraq—History—1921– I. Title.
DS79.65.M33 2011
956.704—dc23
2011021092
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
9780813344430-text_Layout 1 7/18/11 4:27 PM Page v
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Note on Transliteration xi
1 The Land and People of Modern Iraq 3
2 The British Mandate, 1920–1932 21
3 The Erosion of the British Legacy, 1932–1945 37
4 The End of the Monarchy, 1946–1958 61
5 The Qasim Era, 1958–1963 81
6 The Arab Nationalists in Power, 1963–1968 113
7 The Era of Ba’th Party Rule, 1968–1979 137
8 The Saddam Husain Regime, 1979–1989 175
9 The Saddam Husain Regime, 1990–2003 213
10 The US Attempt at Nation-Building in Iraq,
2003–2006 257
11 The Stabilization of Iraq, 2007–2011 305
12 Economic, Social, and Cultural Change in Iraq,
2007–2011 355
Appendix: Tables 381
Notes 387
Glossary 429
Political Personalities 437
Bibliography 445
Index 465
v
9780813344430-text_Layout 1 7/18/11 4:27 PM Page vi
9780813344430-text_Layout 1 7/18/11 4:27 PM Page vii
PREFACE
Although Iraq is a comparatively new state—some ninety years old—of
modest size, few countries have been the focus of such world attention
or endured such domestic trauma in recent decades. Wars, sanctions, oc-
cupation, and brutal civil strife have brought abrupt, severe, and often
disabling change to its historical trajectory, making it difficult to chart
Iraq’s future path and to relate these changes to Iraq’s enduring continu-
ities. Yet the continuities will remain. Iraq has had a remarkably rich and
varied history. Even before recent headlines made Iraq a household word
in the West, it was difficult to do justice to the complexity of Iraq’s mod-
ern history and to explain the impact of rapid change and moderniza-
tion on a society going back six millennia. Events since 2003, with their
profound discontinuities and uncertainties, have now made this task
more challenging, but new possibilities have also made it rewarding. Al-
though much more is now known (but possibly misunderstood) about
contemporary Iraq, even more remains opaque. This revision will not
seek to provide answers to the future but rather to identify the forces at
work since 2003, the trends and directions in evidence, and to relate
them to Iraq’s past history since its founding as a state in 1920.
This book is not meant to be an exhaustive and detailed history of
modern Iraq. My aim instead has been to present a clear, readable one-
volume account of the emergence of modern Iraq and the forces that
shaped it. To understand how and why Iraq has reached this point in
the context of a longer historical perspective, I have drawn extensively
on many perceptive monographs and studies on modern Iraq. I have
tried to include enough general interpretation of events to make the
vii
9780813344430-text_Layout 1 7/18/11 4:27 PM Page viii
viii Preface
country and its people understandable and enough detail to give color
to the events described. Above all, I have tried to be evenhanded in de-
picting the course of events and to avoid oversimplifying complex situ-
ations. Although the book is directed at the general reader, I hope that
scholars and students of the Middle East as well as many of those now
traveling and working in Iraq will find it useful.
The material has been grouped around several themes that, in my
view, have dominated Iraq’s history from 1920 to the present. The first is
the creation and construction of a modern state within the boundaries
bequeathed to Iraq by the British in the 1920s and the search by Iraq’s
leaders for a cultural and national identity capable of knitting together
the country’s various ethnic, religious, and social groups. This i ssue of
identity and its impact on the Iraqi state is paramount today. A second
theme is the process of economic and social development, a process that
began at the end of the nineteenth century but greatly accelerated in the
1970s, although it has suffered a multitude of setbacks recently through
war, sanctions, and social disruption. A third, and most essential, theme
is the development of political institutions and ideologies and their in-
terrelationship with domestic society and the world outside Iraq. The
book seeks to show both changes and continuities in Iraq’s political dy-
namics as well as to explain the results of a brutal totalitarian system, like
that of Saddam Husain, on society, and the impact of foreign occupa-
tion on the political system emerging in Iraq today. A fourth theme is
that of foreign domination and the interaction of the newly created state
with the West, Iraq’s neighbors, and the global environment. This theme
has, of course, intensified with the occupation. Although Iraq’s future is
uncertain at the end of the first decade of this millennium, it is better
understood through historical perspective.
In recent years a growing and valuable body of literature on Iraq
written by Iraqis themselves has appeared, including memoirs, first-
hand accounts, and studies. I have drawn on these whenever possible.
Since 2003 a veritable flood of books and articles by journalists and
practitioners has appeared in English about the occupation and its af-
termath. Even though no one can read all of them, a number, especially
those by Iraqis, have been very useful, and I have used them extensively.
9780813344430-text_Layout 1 7/18/11 4:27 PM Page ix
Preface ix
As the Western side of this story can be readily accessed in these works,
I have tried to focus in this book on Iraq. Freedom of the press and me-
dia in Iraq and the spread of the Internet to Iraqis have provided a mul-
titude of new sources, such as blogs, which I have used selectively.
Quantitative data and statistical reports from the United Nations, the
World Bank, and international organizations, such as International Or-
ganization for Migration–Iraq, have also increased since 2003 and pro-
vide invaluable source material. The reader is warned, however, that
statistics are still difficult to gather, are often subject to controversy, and
should be treated with caution.
Acknowledgments
Traveling in Iraq and talking to people openly and freely were virtually
impossible in Saddam’s last decade. This changed in 2003 when the
country opened up to Americans and others for a brief period of a year
or two, but with increasing violence, traveling there subsequently be-
came difficult and hazardous once again. Nonetheless, to supplement
the published record, I have made extensive use of interviews with Iraqi
political figures, educators, journalists, and ordinary men and women
conducted during several trips to Iraq in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2010.
I would like to acknowledge their help, particularly Iraqi leaders in
ISCI, Da’wa, Fadila, the IIP, and Iraqiyya, as well as various MPs, jour-
nalists, lawyers, tribal leaders, and civil society workers who gave gener-
ously of their time in attempting to explain what was happening in
Iraq. In particular, I wish to thank Ibrahim al-Ja’fari, Abd al-Karim al-
Musawi, Muwaffiq al-Ruba’i, Humam al-Hammudi, Saif al-Din Abd
al-Rahman, and A. Heather Coyne for their help in arranging inter-
views and for the time they gave to my efforts. I am also indebted to
Mas’ud Barzani, president of the KRG, and Jalal Talabani, president of
Iraq, for their support and hospitality in making trips to Iraqi Kurdis-
tan possible in the 1990s and to their staff for unfailing assistance and
much valuable information.
I am also greatly indebted in this update of this book to the United
States Institute of Peace for a fellowship grant for two years 2004–2006