Ba'athist Iraq

Iraqi Republic (1968–1992) الجمهورية العراقية al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘Irāqiyyah 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 Arḍu 'l-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 republic[4] under a Saddamist totalitarian dictatorship[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 Novels Blood Quran Zabibah and the King The Fortified Castle Men and the City Begone, Demons
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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
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Ba'athist Iraq, officially the Iraqi Republic (1968–1992) and later the Republic of Iraq (1992–2003), was the Iraqi state between 1968 and 2003 that existed as a Ba'athist one-party state under the rule of the Iraqi regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The regime emerged as a result of the 17 July 1968 Revolution which brought the Ba'athists to power, and lasted until the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. Between 1979 and the fall of the Ba'athist regime in 2003, Iraq was under the rule of Saddam Hussein, so it is referred to as the Saddam regime.

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.^[22] By the mid-1970s, Saddam Hussein became the country's de facto leader, despite al-Bakr's de jure presidency. Saddam's new policies boosted the Iraqi economy, improved living standards, and elevated Iraq's standing within the Arab world. Land reforms aimed at wealth redistribution were introduced. However, several internal factors were imminently threatening Iraq's stability; the Sunni-dominated Ba'athist government faced Shia religious separatism and Kurdish ethnic separatism. The Second Iraqi–Kurdish War was of great concern to the government as Kurdish rebels received extensive support from Iran, Israel, and the United States. Following the 1974–1975 Shatt al-Arab clashes, Saddam met with Iranian monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and signed the 1975 Algiers Agreement, ceding territory to Iran in exchange for an end to Kurdish support. With the Kurdish rebellion subsequently disadvantaged, the Iraqi military reasserted the federal government's control over Iraqi Kurdistan.

In 1979, Saddam succeeded the ailing al-Bakr as president and publicly purged the Ba'ath Party of his opponents. Alarmed by the Iranian Revolution, Saddam adopted an aggressive stance against Iran and its new theocratic leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, fearing his influence over Iraq's Shia majority. In September 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, triggering the eight-year-long Iran–Iraq War that ended in a stalemate in 1988. The conflict left Iraq economically devastated and dependent on foreign loans.

Kuwait, which had loaned money to Iraq, demanded repayment and increased oil production, lowering international oil prices and worsening the Iraqi economy, while pressuring the Iraqi leadership to repay the loans. Iraq demanded that the Kuwaitis reduce their oil output, as did OPEC. In 1989, Iraq accused Kuwait of stealing Iraqi petroleum, and failed 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 expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Subsequent international sanctions Iraq cut Iraq off from all global markets and crippled the Iraqi economy throughout the 1990s, though it began recovering by the early 2000s as sanctions enforcement waned. The sanctions were widely criticized for negatively impacting Iraq's quality of life, prompting the establishment of the Oil-for-Food Programme.

Following the September 11 attacks, the United States' Bush administration began building a case for invading Iraq and overthrowing Saddam's regime, falsely claiming that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and had links with al-Qaeda. On 20 March 2003, Iraq was invaded by a U.S.-led coalition, which overthrew Saddam and captured much of Iraq by May. 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 Shi'ite rebels. After sentencing Saddam to death, the Iraqi Special Tribunal executed him for crimes against humanity on 30 December 2006.