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• Introduction
• Alex Danilovich
• PART I: FEDERALISM, DOMESTIC POLITICS AND SECESSION
• CHAPTER 1 The Paradox of Federalism and the Iraqi Federation
• Hemin R.A. Akreyi
• CHAPTER 2 Seeking Sovereignty under Modern Conditions: The Case of Iraqi Kurdistan
• Anwar Anaid
• CHAPTER 3 Together We Stand, Divided We Fall: Transcending the Obstacles to Internal Sovereignty in Iraqi Kurdistan
• Nigel Greaves
• CHAPTER 4 From Shotgun Marriage to Amicable Divorce? The Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Self-determination, Secession and Recognition in Comparative Perspective
• Francis Owtram
• CHAPTER 5 KRG Survival in Iraq and in the Middle East: Non-Alignment and Sectarian Neutrality
• Sara Salahaddin Mustafa
• PART 2: RECOGNITION REGIME: GLOBAL POWERS' AND SIGNIFICANT NEIGHBORS' ON KURDISTAN'S SOVEREIGNTY ASPIRATIONS
• CHAPTER 6 Kurdistan: the Strategy of Secession and International Recognition Regime
• Ryan D. Griffiths
• CHAPTER 7 Iraqi Kurdistan Independence Aspirations and the Neo-Ottomanist Turkey
• Emel Tugdar and Serhun Al
• CHAPTER 8 Iran's Regional Hegemony and Iraqi Kurdistan's Independence
• Sardar Aziz and Sherko Kirmanj
• CHAPTER 9 Israel's Periphery Doctrine and the Kurds
• David Romano and Shivan Rojhilat
• CHAPTER 10 China's Energy Strategy in Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan
• Hugo El Kholi
• CHAPTER 11 Kurdish Interests and US Foreign Policy in the Middle East
• Alex Danilovich and Paula Pineda
• CHAPTER 12 Russia's Strategy Towards Iraq and Kurdistan
• Alex Danilovich and Kirill Vertyaev
• Conclusion
• Alex Danilovich.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Federalism is widely believed to be an efficient tool to quell ethnic conflict, yet recently there has been a pronounced global tendency among ethnic minorities to break away from larger nations. Iraqi Kurdistan, a region within the newly established Iraqi federation, also harbors plans to proclaim its own sovereign state. This volume analyses the factors that have caused the Kurds to change their minds about living in a federal Iraq, and the reaction of their neighbors and the international community at large. Using a broad theoretical framework of federal studies and secession theory, this book examines the causes for the breakup of ethnic federations fuelled by nationalism as well as the international regime of recognition of newly formed entities. It provides a first-hand account and theoretically informed interpretations of the Iraqi situation, showing that federalism is not always a universal remedy for ethnic and religious conflicts; it also emphasizes that the international recognition regime is a significant variable in peoples' actions and aspirations to sovereignty. Enriching the ongoing debate on federalism and self-determination, this volume will appeal to scholars and students of politics, international relations, and comparative politics, as well as those interested in federalism, the Middle East and Kurdistan.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction 1 Iraq: Imperial and Historical Legacies 2 The Origins of Federations 3 Justification for the Adoption of Federalism in Iraq 4 Iraq's Reconstruction: Actors, Pressures and Challenges 5 The Constitutional Process, the Constitution and Constitutionalism in Iraq 6 The Institutional Structure of the Iraqi Federation 7 The Significance of the Iraqi Experiment Conclusion.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Political instability has characterised the modern history of Iraq, which has proven itself as a complex state to govern. However, the creation of a federal system in 2005 offers the potential for change and a deviation from a past characterised by authoritarian government, brutality and war. The Iraqi Federation explores why and how Iraq became a federal state, and analyses how the process of formation impacts on the operation of the Iraqi federal system. It argues that the different approaches taken by various federal theorists in the past, particularly William H. Riker's bargain theory, are insufficient to explain the formation of the Iraqi federation completely. The process of the establishment of a federal Iraq must be understood in the context of its unique history and cultural specificity, as well as in the context of the other new federal models that have appeared since the end of the Cold War, including Belgium, the Russian Federation, Ethiopia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Nigeria. Drawing on interviews with contemporary political players in Iraq, this book helps to deepen our understanding of how one of the newest federal states operates in a practical sense. By linking the new federal models to the classic federal theory, it also provides a unique contribution to theories on federal state formation. It will therefore be of great interest to students and scholars of Middle East Politics, as well as those studying Federalism.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Southern Iraq
• An American advisor in the new Iraq
• The campaign for democracy
• Democracy and the culture of violence
• Bottoming out
• Baghdad and beyond
• "Welcome back to your country"
• Islam and democracy in the new Iraq
• The struggle to reduce corruption
• Extending the anti-corruption struggle to the national level
• The struggle for human rights
• The struggle to protect civil society organizations
• The personal meaning of terrorism
• The day the music died
• Sinking your own ship
• The instinct to control
• USAID and lessons learned in Iraq
• Kurdistan from the inside
• The Kurds : red, white, and blue and shades of gray
• A ministry from the ground up
• Reforming a ministry : starting low, aiming high
• America and the future of Iraq
• Picking up the pieces in a shattered country
• Winning the endgame in Iraq
• Drawing lines in the sand
• The American from Iraq.

The Struggle for Iraq is a vivid personal account of the Iraqi people's fight for democracy and justice by an American political scientist. Thomas M. Renahan arrived in southern Iraq just three days before the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003; later he worked in Baghdad through the dark days of the country's sectarian violence and then in Iraqi Kurdistan. One of the few Americans to serve in all three major regions of Iraq, he spearheaded projects to develop democratic institutions, promote democracy and elections, and fight corruption. With inside accounts of two USAID projects and of a Kurdish government ministry, this engrossing and cautionary story highlights efforts to turn Baathist Iraq into a democratic country. Renahan examines the challenges faced by the Iraqi people and international development staff during this turbulent time, revealing both their successes and frustrations. Drawing on his on-the-ground civilian perspective, Renahan recounts how expatriate staff handled the hardships and dangers as well as the elaborate security required to protect them, how Iraqi staff coped with the personal security risks of working for Coalition organizations, and the street-level mayhem and violence, including the assassinations of close Iraqi friends. Although Iraq remains in crisis, it has largely defeated the ISIS terrorists who seized much of the country in 2014. Renahan emphasizes, however, that reconciliation is still the end game in Iraq. In the concluding chapters he explains how the United States can support this process and help resolve the complex problems between the Iraqi government and the independence-minded Kurds, offering hope for the future.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• List of Abbreviations Chronology Preface Acknowledgments Part I. Introduction Chapter One. The Inculcation of Loyalty Chapter Two. The Origins of Husseini Ba'thist Totalitarianism
• Part II. Ideology Chapter Three. Husseini Ba'thism Chapter Four. Culturalization
• Part III. Organization Chapter Five. The Leader and the Party Chapter Six. The Party State Chapter Seven. The Ba'thification of Society
• Part IV. Terror and Enticement Chapter Eight. Terror Chapter Nine. Enticement
• Conclusion. A Total Strategy Postscript. The Legacy of Ba'thification Appendix 1. A Work Plan for Coordination between the Party and Mass Organizations in the Field of the Ba'thification of Society Appendix 2. Special Regulations for How to Deal with the Relatives of Criminals Convicted for Political Crimes Notes Glossary of Arabic Terms Bibliography Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq as a dictator for nearly a quarter century before the fall of his regime in 2003. Using the Ba th party as his organ of meta-control, he built a broad base of support throughout Iraqi state and society. Why did millions participate in his government, parrot his propaganda, and otherwise support his regime when doing so often required betraying their families, communities, and beliefs? Why did the Husseini Ba thist system prove so durable through uprisings, two wars, and United Nations sanctions?Drawing from a wealth of documents discovered at the Ba th party s central headquarters in Baghdad following the US-led invasion in 2003, "The Ba thification of Iraq" analyzes how Hussein and the party inculcated loyalty in the population. Through a grand strategy of Ba thification, Faust argues that Hussein mixed classic totalitarian means with distinctly Iraqi methods to transform state, social, and cultural institutions into Ba thist entities, and the public and private choices Iraqis made into tests of their political loyalty. Focusing not only on ways in which Iraqis obeyed, but also how they resisted, and using comparative examples from Hitler s Germany and Stalin s Russia, "The Ba thification of Iraq" explores fundamental questions about the roles that ideology and culture, institutions and administrative practices, and rewards and punishments play in any political system. ".
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface
• Contributiors
• Administrative epistolography in ancient empires : an introduction / Lucian Reinfandt, Sven Tost and Michael Jursa
• Epistolography in the ancient near east
• Some like it hot : reflections on the historical "Temperature" of letters from Mesopotamian royal archives / Eckart Frahm
• Special cases and legal matters : diction and function of letters in the state of the third dynasty of Ur (2110-2003 BC) / Walther Sallaberger
• To write or not to write : the duty of information towards the king in the amorite near east (20th-17th centuries B.C.) / Dominique Charpin
• Les lettres des rois d'Aššur découvertes à Kanis (XIXe siècle av. J.-C.) / Cecile Michel
• Royal pen pals : the kings of Assyria in correspondence with officials, clients and total strangers (8th and 7th centuries BC) / Karen Radner
• Doing the king's work : perceptions of service in the Assyrian royal correspondence / Heather D. Baker and Melanie Grob
• Idiolects and identities in the Neo-Assyrian epistolary corpus / Frederick Mario Fales
• Rhetorics, politeness, persuasion and argumentation in late babylonian epistolography : the contrast between official correspondence and private letters / Michael Jursa and Johannes Hackl
• Royal strategies of representation and the language(s) of power : some considerations on the audience and the dissemination of the achaemenid royal inscriptions / Robert Rollinger
• Epistolography in the classical world
• Amtliche Ermahnungsbriefe aus dem hellenistischen Ägypten / Charikleia Armoni
• Communications between city and king in the Hellenistic East / Vera Hofmann
• Die Korrespondenz hellenistischer und römischer Herrscher aus der Perspektive modernen Managements / Hans Taeuber
• Three revolutions in government / Clifford Ando
• The epistolary genre of classical antiquity and the epigraphy of early imperial galatia : the 'Appendix' to the res gestae / Rosalinde Kearsley
• Die römischen Amtsträger und die sozialen Gruppen im Imperium Romanum : der Reflex in der epigraphischen Dokumentation / Werner Eck
• Tradition, precedent, and power in roman Egypt / Ari Z. Bryen
• Epistolography in late antiquity and early Islam
• "The augusti and caesars say" : imperial communication in a collegiate monarchy / Simon Corcoran
• Diktion und Funktionalität verwaltungsinterner Korrespondenz von Amtsträgern des Sicherheitswesens im spätantiken Ägypten / Sven Tost
• Des villageois en quête de lettres officielles : le cas des pétitionnaires d'Aphrodite (Egypte, Vie s. ap. J.-C.) / Jean-Luc Fournet
• The Rhetoric of power and the voice of reason : tensions between central and local in the correspondence of Qurra ibn Sharīk / Arietta Papaconstantinou
• Empireness in Arabic letter formulae / Lucian Reinfandt
• Performatives in Arabic administrative speech / Stephan Prochazka and Ursula Bsees
• Index
• Plates.

• Les éléments structurels de l'organisation administrative en Irak : éclairage sur les divisions administratives de la région du Kurdistan
• Les collectivités locales et leurs propriétés
• La nature des entités locales décentralisées
• Le découpage administratif du territoire irakien en "départements décentralisés".
• Cas pratique : les modalités de la genèse et de la disparition d'une entité décentralisée
• A propos de la répartition des compétences entre les différents niveaux administratifs
• Les attributions déterminées par le législateur pour chaque niveau administratif
• Les "départements décentralisés", vers la fin de la tutelle du pouvoir fédéral et régional.
• Un rapport de subordination entre les "départements décentralisés".
• L'administration territoriale, les aspects liés à la référence juridique, au personnel et, au budget
• Au sujet de la personnalité juridique propre.
• La fonction publique des entités décentralisées
• Les finances des entités décentralisées
• Examen des objectifs politiques de la décentralisation
• Une réalisation chancelante : la démocratie de proximité
• Le droit à l'information du citoyen : un droit plus ou moins ignoré
• Un processus électoral vicié
• Une "démocratie directe" invisible
• Sur l'efficacité du système administratif décentralisé : une pertinence quasi introuvable
• Une géographie administrative en débat
• La question de l'efficience du modèle administratif décentralisé
• Un usager qui reste à inventer
• Retour sur l'imaginaire et les conditions de la décentralisation
• Une notion d'intérêt local confondue à l'intérêt national
• La nécessité d'un état fort pour une décentralisation solide
• Le temps d'une éducation à la décentralisation.

"Le "pays des deux fleuves" évolue aujourd'hui sous la menace d'un éclatement généralisé. La région du Kurdistan affiche des velléités sécessionnistes tandis que l'État islamique avance. Beaucoup y voient les conséquences délétères de l'opération "Freedom Iraq". En lien avec cela, d'aucuns y décèlent également les manifestations de la résurgence des antagonismes confessionnels et ethniques, longtemps en sommeil sous le régime dictatorial de Saddam Hussein. Toutefois, ces explications sont loin d'épuiser la question de la décomposition de l'État irakien. Au contraire, elles n'ont pour fonction que de voiler ce qui, en surplomb, favorise cet état des choses : la Constitution du 15 octobre 2005, et notamment la révolution institutionnelle impossible incarnée par un cocktail de décentralisation et de fédéralisme..."--Page 4 of cover.

• Radio songs, Kurdish stories, videos: politics of healing after ethnic cleansing
• Televised war, poetry, and Shiite women: a case study of generation gaps
• Sectarian media, 9 women, and the stage : transregional identities
• Baghdad blogs and gender sites : an Iraqi spring for youth culture?
• Media and Iran's forgotten spring : intergenerational politics in persepolis
• Guerrilla fighters, televised testimonies : democratic miracle or African spring?
• 9/11 media : gendered nationalism beyond Islamic/Jewish borders
• Bewitched democracies : a ritual spring for youth culture?

This text provides an analysis of the social and cultural impacts of war, social unrest and political violence in two societies that have undergone traumatic conflict and upheaval.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Contents: A diamond is forever. Or is it?
• Agenda setting - 'A rebel is a girl's best friend': creating global concern for blood diamonds
• Decision making: the creation of an independent tripartite forum, the Kimberley Process
• The Kimberley Process certification scheme: a voluntary agreement, not a treaty
• Implementation: translating words into action
• Revitalization: resetting agendas and reinvigorating the campaign
• Conclusions: beyond blood diamonds
• Bibliography
• Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This book proposes a significant reassessment of the history of Iraq, documenting democratic experiences from ancient Mesopotamia through to the US occupation. Such an analysis takes to task claims that the 'West' has a uniquely democratic history and a responsibility to spread democracy across the world. It also reveals that Iraq has a democratic history all of its own, from ancient Middle Eastern assemblies and classical Islamic theology and philosophy, through to the myriad political parties, newspapers and protest movements of more recent times. This book argues that the democratic history of Iraq could serve as a powerful political and discursive tool where the Iraqi people may come to feel a sense of ownership over democracy and take pride in endorsing it. This could go a long way towards mitigating the current conflicts across the nation and in stabilizing and legitimating its troubled democracy. Taking an interdisciplinary approach and referring to some of the most influential critical theorists to question ideological assumptions about democracy and its history, this book is useful to those interested in political and legal history, human rights and democracy.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Acknowledgements Introduction Part I
• 1. The Kurds in Iraq: A History
• 2. Saddam Hussein and the Kurds
• 3. Iraq after Saddam Part II
• 4. Kurdistan and the Iraqi Central Government
• 5. Regional Relations
• 6. International Relations Part III
• 7. Future Issues Notes Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

During the United States military occupation of Iraq, the Kurdistan region was one of the few places in the country where insurgent violence was not a daily occurrence. However, as tension with the Iraqi central government increases over issues of security, oil and gas management and the disputed territory of Kirkuk, and with Turkey and Iran continuing their cross border military operations, Kurdistan Iraq faces numerous challenges. The current context allows for a fresh look at the situation of the Kurds in Iraq. No longer subject to the cruel regime of Saddam Hussein, the Kurds are set to be important figures in the shaping of Iraq's future. The Future of Kurdistan: The Iraqi Dilemma focuses on how issues faced by Kurdistan Iraq today are being dealt with by both central government and international forces as well as on the prospects for Kurdistan and Iraq's political, economic and cultural future.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface
• Iraq: Politics, Governance, & Human Rights
• Iraq Report: Political Fragmentation & Corruption Stymie Economic Growth & Political Progress
• Testimony of Brett H. McGurk, Columbia School of Law
• Testimony of Kenneth M. Pollack, Director, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, The Brookings Institution
• Iraq Country Profile
• Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Relations among major political factions have worsened substantially since late 2011, threatening Iraq's stability and the perception of the achievements of the long U.S. intervention in Iraq. Sunni Arabs, always fearful that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki would seek unchallenged power for Shiite factions, accused him of an outright power grab as he seeks to purge the highest-ranking Sunni Arabs from government and to cripple attempts by Sunni-inhabited provinces to achieve greater autonomy. Iraq's Kurds have also become increasingly distrustful of Maliki over territorial, political, and economic issues, and similarly accused him of authoritarian practices. More recently, the Shiite faction of Moqtada Al Sadr joined the other groups to put pressure on Maliki to share power. This book examines the politics, governance and human rights challenges of Iraq under Nuri al-Maliki.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. The rise of the Ba'th party
• 2. Party structure and organization
• 3. The Ba'th party branches
• 4. Security organizations during the Ba'th era
• 5. The Ba'th and the army
• 6. The personality cult of Saddam Hussein
• 7. Control and resistance
• 8. Bureaucracy and civil life under the Ba'th.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The Ba'th Party came to power in 1968 and remained for thirty-five years, until the 2003 US invasion. Under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, who became president of Iraq in 1979, a powerful authoritarian regime was created based on a system of violence and an extraordinary surveillance network, as well as reward schemes and incentives for supporters of the party. The true horrors of this regime have been exposed for the first time through a massive archive of government documents captured by the United States after the fall of Saddam Hussein. It is these documents that form the basis of this extraordinarily revealing book and that have been translated and analyzed by Joseph Sassoon, an Iraqi-born scholar and seasoned commentator on the Middle East. They uncover the secrets of the innermost workings of Hussein's Revolutionary Command Council, how the party was structured, how it operated via its network of informers and how the system of rewards functioned.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction
• Section 1: Iraq 1. Religion, Sect, Ethnicity and Tribe: The Uncertainties of Identity Politics in the New Society Faleh Abdul-Jabbar 2. Lessons from Iraq Laith Kubba 3. Kurdistan: Democracy and Future of Iraq Salah Aziz 4. Forging a Third Way: Sistani's Marjaiyya between Quietism and Wilayat al-Faqih Abbas Kadhim
• Section 2: 5. Humble Democracy? On the Need for New Thinking about an Aging Ideal John Keane 6. Islamic Democracy: A Valid Concept of an Oxymoron? Ali Paya 7. Promoting Democracy Bhikhu Parekh 8. The Democratic Freedom Deficit in the Middle East Beverley Milton-Edwards
• Section 3: The Future of the Muslim World 9. World of Islam, Historical Perspectives and Modern Political Discources Seyyed Mohammad Khatami 10. The Saga of Islam and Democracy in the Middle East John Esposito 11. Islam's Future Imperfect: Fighting over Camels at the End of History Abdelwahab El-Affendi 12. Triumph through Destabilization: The Future of Politcal Islam Mohammad Samiei 13. Reason and revelation in Islamic Political Ethics Abdulaziz Sachedina.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Iraq, democracy and Islam are powerful global forces which shape not only many aspects of the lives of Muslims, but the lives of other citizens of the world as well. This book explores many of the challenging questions posed by the interconnections between these three forces, concentrating on issues which have global significance and which have been less studied up until now. It contains contributions from many of the leading thinkers and academics from this subject area, including the former President of Iran, Seyyed Mohammad Khatami. Topics such as the compatibility of Islam and democracy, and the question of whether democracy can be encouraged in the Middle East are looked at carefully. Contributors evaluate the circumstances under which democracy can be imposed by outside force, and asks what forces are driving the confrontation between the West and Islam, before looking at how this confrontation is likely to develop. This book presents a comprehensive picture of dynamic change in the geopolitics of our time, and offers a timely contribution to research on Middle East Politics and Islamic Studies.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• A U.S. legacy
• The politics of victimization
• Dwindling minorities, debased women
• De-baʻthification and politics of exclusion
• Uprooting the Baʻth and sectarianism
• Deficient justice
• Sectarian execution
• Elections and illusive democracy
• Confessionalism and legitimacy
• Externalization of legitimacy
• Federalism and politics of separatism
• Nationalism and territories
• Armaments, oil, and corruption
• Republic of corruption.

This book examines Iraq since 2003 and argues that a new democratic Iraq cannot be grounded on destructive politics of victimization, narrow nationalism, sectarian confessionalism, and a consensual, power-sharing political arrangement.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Recent outbursts of sectarian and ethnic violence in Iraq have made many observers question the viability of the state itself. It is said that due to the artificiality of the state and a lack of deep-seated political institutions, Iraqi politics is doomed to endlessly revert back to primordialism. Political parties are mere facades for the real intention of pursuing ethno-sectarian interests, the argument goes. But the present situation has largely been caused by Saddam Hussein's infamous rule over the past three decades, combined with the plight of international sanctions. Before Saddam's ascent to power in the late 1970s, however, the Iraqi political spectrum was full of political parties operating from ideological platforms. The largest, and arguably most important of these groups, was the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP). The ICP stands out as the only true cross-sectarian party in Iraqi history, drawing support from all of Iraq's diverse communities. From its inception in 1934, it continuously fought the various regimes in power and endeavoured to spread communist ideology throughout Iraq. At times the party achieved considerable success in this regard, although ultimately never able to seize power. Red Star over Iraq analyses the twists and turns of the ICP from its inception until its ultimate demise as a significant political force at the hands of Saddam in 1979.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• March 7, 2010 national election
• How to raise oil production levels
• inadequate Iraqi spending
• Crude oil production and export earnings
• Oil exports : a closer look
• Oil service contracts and oil company negotiations
• Above ground risks
• Pipelines
• Electricity.

• al-Kitāb 1. Taʼrīkh mashriq wa-tayyār fī al-ummah, 12/10/1957 - 17/7/1968
• al-kitāb 2. Baḥth wathāʼiqī fī masīrat al-daʻwah, 17/7/1968 - 9/4/1980
• al-Kitāb 3. Fī muʻtarak al-aḥdāth, min baʻd shahādat al-Imām al-sayyid Muḥammad Bāqir al-Ṣadr fī 8/4/1980.

• الكتاب
• 1. تأريخ مشرق وتيار في المة، 12/10/1957 17/7/1968 الكتاب
• 2. بحث وثائقي في مسيرة الدعوة، 17/7/1968 9/4/1980 لكتاب
• 3. في معترك الاحداث، من بعد شهادة الامام السيد محمد باقر الصدر في 8/4/1980.

• Preface
• Summary
• Policy in the 1990s Emphasised Containment
• Post-September 11, 2001: Regime Change and War
• Post-Saddam Transition and Governance
• Security Challenges, Responses, and Options
• Reaction to "Troop Surge", Iraq Study Group Report, Legislative Proposals, and Other Options
• Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Operation Iraqi Freedom overthrew Saddam Hussein's regime, but much of Iraq remains violent because of Sunni Arab resentment and a related insurgency, compounded by Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence that, in the judgment of many, constitutes a "civil war." Mounting U.S. casualties and financial costs -- without dramatic improvements in levels of violence or clear movement toward national political reconciliation among Iraq's major communities -- have intensified a debate within the United States over whether to reduce U.S. involvement without completely accomplishing initial U.S. goals. President Bush announced a new strategy on January 10, 2007 ("New Way Forward") consisting of deployment of an additional 28,500 U.S. forces ("troop surge") to help stabilise Baghdad and restive Anbar Province. The strategy is intended to provide security conditions conducive to Iraqi government action on a series of key reconciliation initiatives that are viewed as "benchmarks" of political progress. The FY2007 supplemental appropriation, P.L. 110-28, linked some U.S. reconstruction aid to progress on the eighteen named benchmarks, but allows for a presidential waiver to continue the aid even if little or no progress is observed in Administration reports due July 15, 2007 and September 15, 2007. The latter will include a major assessment of the effects of the "troop surge" to date. According to the required July 15, 2007 Administration report, released on July 12, the Baghdad security plan has made progress on several military indicators and some political indicators, but progress is unsatisfactory on the most important political reconciliation indicators. The Administration report asserts that the "overall trajectory... has begun to stabilise, " a finding on the security situation that is corroborated, to some extent, by an August 2007 National Intelligence Estimate A required report by the GAO released September 4, 2007, assesses less progress on security benchmarks than does the Administration and is pessimistic, as is the NIE, on the prospects for political reconciliation. Some in Congress -- as well as the Iraq Study Group -- believe that the United States should begin winding down U.S. combat involvement in Iraq. Both chambers adopted a FY2007 supplemental appropriation to fund U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan (H.R. 1591) that would have set an outside deadline of March 31, 2008, for U.S. combat withdrawal if the President did not certify Iraqi progress on the "benchmarks." President Bush vetoed it on May 1, 2007, and subsequent bills mandating forms of withdrawal or combat reduction have not moved forward. Some observers say such legislation might see further action after the Administration's September 15 progress report, while others say some positive assessments of the "troop surge" might forestall immediate congressional action. Iraq has not previously had experience with a democratic form of government, although parliamentary elections were held during the period of British rule under a League of Nations mandate (from 1920 until Iraq's independence in 1932), and the monarchy of the Sunni Muslim Hashemite dynasty (1921-1958). The territory that is now Iraq was formed from three provinces of the Ottoman empire after British forces defeated the Ottomans in World War I and took control of the territory in 1918. Britain had tried to take Iraq from the Ottomans earlier in World War I but were defeated at Al Kut in 1916. Britain's presence in Iraq, which relied on Sunni Muslim Iraqis (as did the Ottoman administration), ran into repeated resistance, facing a major Shiite-led revolt in 1920 and a major anti-British uprising in 1941, during World War II. Iraq's first Hashemite king was Faysal bin Hussein, son of Sharif Hussein of Mecca who, advised by British officer T.E Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"), led the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Faysal ruled Iraq as King Faysal I and was succeeded by his son, Ghazi, who was killed in a car accident in 1939. Ghazi was succeeded by his son, Faysal II, who was only four years old. A major figure under the British mandate and the monarchy was Nuri As-Said, a pro-British, pro-Hashemite Sunni Muslim who served as prime minister 14 times during 1930-1958. Faysal II, with the help of his pro-British Prime Minister Nuri al-Sa'id who had also served under his predecessors, ruled until the military coup of Abd al-Karim al-Qasim on July 14, 1958. Qasim was ousted in February 1963 by a Baath Party-military alliance. Since that same year, the Baath Party has ruled in Syria, although there was rivalry between the Syrian and Iraqi Baath regimes during Saddam's rule. The Baath Party was founded in the 1940s by Lebanese Christian philosopher Michel Aflaq as a socialist, pan-Arab movement, the aim of which was to reduce religious and sectarian schisms among Arabs. One of the Baath Party's allies in the February 1963 coup was Abd al-Salam al-Arif. In November 1963, Arif purged the Baath, including Baathist Prime Minister (and military officer) Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr, and instituted direct military rule. Arif was killed in a helicopter crash in 1966 and was replaced by his elder brother, Abd al-Rahim al-Arif, who ruled until the Baath Party coup of July 1968. Following the Baath seizure, Bakr returned to government as President of Iraq and Saddam Hussein, a civilian, became the second most powerful leader as Vice Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council. In that position, Saddam developed overlapping security services to monitor loyalty among the population and within Iraq's institutions, including the military. On July 17, 1979, the aging al-Bakr resigned at Saddam's urging, and Saddam became President of Iraq. Under Saddam Hussein, secular Shiites held high party positions, but Sunnis, mostly from Saddam's home town of Tikrit, dominated the highest party and security positions. Saddam's regime repressed Iraq's Shiites after the February 1979 Islamic revolution in neighboring Iran partly because Iraq feared that Iraqi Shiite Islamist movements, emboldened by Iran, would try to establish an Iranian-style Islamic republic of Iraq.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)