The Republic
In 1958, Iraqi army troops led by General Abdul Karim el-Kassem overthrew the government and declared a republic. Faisal II was killed, and Kassem became premier. Iraq withdrew from the Baghdad Pact in 1959 and became a neutralist nation. In 1961 Iraq's Kurdish minority began a rebellion when the government refused to grant the Kurds self-government.
In 1963 Kassem was overthrown in a military revolt. The new government followed a socialist, Arab nationalist policy but was wracked by rivalry between factions supporting and opposing Egypt's President Nasser. Iraq was a member of the Arab alliance that was defeated in the Six Day War against Israel in June, 1967. However, few Iraqi troops were involved in combat.
In 1968 Iraq's president was ousted in a military coup that brought the Baath party, a radical Arab nationalist group, to power. The party named Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr president, but gradually power shifted to party leader Saddam Hussein. In 1979 he replaced at-Bakr as president.
Meanwhile, in 1970 Kurdish autonomy was recognized, but many Kurds, supported by aid from Iran, continued their rebellion. In 1975 Iran agreed to end its aid to the Kurds in exchange for some disputed territory on the Iran-Iraq border. Kurdish resistance then collapsed.
In 1980 Iraq invaded Iran in an attempt to win back the ceded territory. Iraqi forces made some territorial gains, but in 1982 the Iranians drove the Iraqis back and the war became a stalemate. The Kurds launched another rebellion, but in 1988, after a ceasefire went into effect between Iraq and Iran, it was crushed.
In August, 1990, Iraq invaded and annexed Kuwait. A coalition of Western and Middle Eastern nations—including the United States, Great Britain, France, Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia—was formed to oppose Iraq. Quickly settling its differences with Iran, Iraq moved troops from the Irani border into Kuwait.
On January 16, 1991, the coalition powers attacked Iraq, launching the Persian Gulf War. Iraqi forces were defeated and pushed out of Kuwait. Upon Iraq's surrender on February 27, the Kurds again rebelled and Shiite groups in the south revolted. Saddam Hussein ruthlessly put down both rebellions. United States, British, and French troops moved into northern Iraq to create a protective zone for Kurds.
In 1998, Iran and Iraq exchanged prisoners of war from their 1980–88 war. Later that year, the United States and Great Britain launched renewed attacks on Iraq for its refusal to cooperate with UN weapons inspection teams carrying out terms of the agreement that ended the Persian Gulf War. Hussein allowed UN weapons inspection teams back in Iraq in late 2002. The inspection teams did not find clear evidence that Iraq held weapons of mass destruction, but the United States and Great Britain claimed there were indications that Hussein was hiding such weapons and therefore was a threat to the safety of the world.
On March 19, 2003, the United States and Great Britain, with some support from other countries, invaded Iraq, starting Gulf War II. Within six weeks, Hussein's regime was overthrown and the United States declared an end to all major U.S. combat operations in Iraq. However, sporadic fighting continued and by 2004 there were frequent attacks by various insurgent forces against US. troops and Iraqi targets, such as police stations and army-recruiting centers. Hidden roadside bombs and suicide bombings using vehicles loaded with explosives were commonly used against U.S. military patrols.
In 2003, the United States appointed a governing council made up of Iraqi citizens as a first step toward establishing a new representative government in Iraq. In June, 2004, sovereignty was transferred to the Iraqi Interim Government, and in January, 2005, national elections were held to select the Transitional National Assembly with the responsibility of drafting a new constitution for the country.
Since mid-2004, coalition troops have clashed with Sunni militants in central Iraq, especially in Fallujah, and with Shiite militants loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada (also spelled Moqtada) al-Sadr. A group believed to have ties to the worldwide terrorist network called al-Qa`ida has been blamed for several guerrilla attacks and bombings in 2004 and 2005. In mid-2004, Sunni militants gained control of Fallujah and a few other cities in central Iraq. U.S. and Iraqi forces regained control of Fallujah in November, 2004, after launching major air and ground assaults on the city.
In late 2004, the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) issued a report stating that no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq. However, the report also said there was evidence that Hussein had intended to restart his program to develop such weapons. The ISG, a team of American and British experts, conducted the search for weapons of mass destruction on behalf of the coalition.
In April, 2005, the National Assembly elected Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, as interim president of Iraq. Talabani is the first Kurd to serve as head of state in an Arab-majority country. Later that month, Talabani and his two deputy presidents named Ibrahim al-Jafari, a Shiite leader, as interim prime minister of Iraq. The prime minister is the most powerful official in the government. Jafari was the preferred candidate of the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), the political group that won the Assembly election.
Later in 2005, the National Assembly oversaw the preparation of a draft constitution for Iraq. In October of that year, Iraqis approved the constitution in a nationwide referendum. In December, Iraqis elected a permanent legislature called the Council of Representatives to replace the National Assembly. The UIA received the most seats but did not have enough for a majority. It began talks in January, 2006, with Sunni and Kurdish parties to create a coalition government, which would join two or more parties. However, Sunni and Kurdish parties refused to join a government with the Shiite alliance's nominated prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jafari, and called for him to resign. In April, 2006, Jafari withdrew his candidacy, and the UIA nominated Nouri Kamel al-Maliki. The council approved al-Maliki's nomination, and he became prime minister in May. The council also reelected Talabani as president.
In 2005, an Iraqi court formally charged Hussein with ordering the massacre of over 140 Shiites in 1982. In 2006, the court charged him with genocide for killing over 100,000 Kurds in the 1980's. In November, the court convicted Hussein of the Shiite massacre charges and sentenced him to death by hanging. He was executed by Iraqi authorities the following month.
