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Constitutional framework

From 1968 to 2003 Iraq was ruled by the Baath (Arabic: Renaissance) Party. Under a provisional constitution adopted by the party in 1970, Iraq was confirmed as a republic, with legislative power theoretically vested in an elected legislature but also in the party-run Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), without whose approval no law could be promulgated. Executive power rested with the president, who also served as the chairman of the RCC, supervised the cabinet ministers, and ostensibly reported to the RCC. Judicial power was also, in theory, vested in an independent judiciary. The political system, however, operated with little reference to constitutional provisions, and from 1979 to 2003 Pres. Saddam Hussein wielded virtually unlimited power.

Following the overthrow of the Baath government in 2003, the United States and its coalition allies established the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), headed by a senior American diplomat. In July the CPA appointed the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), which assumed limited governing functions. The IGC approved an interim constitution in March 2004, and a permanent constitution was approved by a national plebiscite in October 2005. This document established Iraq as a federal state in which limited authorityover matters such as defense, foreign affairs, and customs regulationswas vested in the national government. A variety of issues (e.g., general planning, education, and health care) are shared competencies, and other issues are treated at the discretion of the district and regional constituencies.

The constitution is in many ways the framework for a fairly typical parliamentary democracy. The president is the head of state, the prime minister is the head of government, and the constitution provides for two deliberative bodies, the Council of Representatives (Majlis al-Nawwb) and the Council of Union (Majlis al-Ittid). The judiciary is free and independent of the executive and the legislature.

The president, who is nominated by the Council of Representatives and who is limited to two four-year terms, holds what is largely a ceremonial position. The head of state presides over state ceremonies, receives ambassadors, endorses treaties and laws, and awards medals and honours. The president also calls upon the leading party in legislative elections to form a government (the executive), which consists of the prime minister and the cabinet and which, in turn, must seek the approval of the Council of Representatives to assume power. The executive is responsible for setting policy and for the day-to-day running of the government. The executive also may propose legislation to the Council of Representatives.

The Council of Representatives does not have a set number of seats but is based on a formula of one representative for every 100,000 citizens. Ministers serve four-year terms and sit in session for eight months per year. The councils functions include enacting federal laws, monitoring the performance of the prime minister and the president, ratifying foreign treaties, and approving appointments; in addition, it has the authority to declare war.

The constitution is very brief on the issue of the Council of Union, the structure, duties, and powers of which apparently will be left to later legislation. The constitution only notes that this body will include representatives of the regions and governorates, suggesting that it will likely take the form of an upper house.

Iraq is divided for administrative purposes into 18 mufat (governorates), 3 of which constitute the autonomous Kurdistan Region. Each governorate has a governor, or mufi, appointed by the president. The governorates are divided into 91 aqiyyah (districts), headed by district officers, and each district is divided into niyt (tracts), headed by directors. Altogether, there are 141 tracts in Iraq. Towns and cities have their own municipal councils, each of which is directed by a mayor. Baghdad has special status and its own governor. The Kurdish Autonomous Region was formed by government decree in 1974, but in reality it attained autonomy only with the help of coalition forces following the Persian Gulf War. It is governed by an elected 50-member legislative council. The Kurdistan Region was ratified under the 2005 constitution, which also authorizes the establishment of future regions in other parts of Iraq as part of a federal state.

The Baath Party was a self-styled socialist and Arab nationalist party once connected with the ruling Baath Party in Syria, although the two parties were often at odds. After the Baath Party came to power, Iraq became effectively a one-party state, with all governing institutions nominally espousing the Baath ideology. In 1973 the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) agreed to join a Baath-dominated National Progressive Front, and in 1974 a group of Kurdish political parties, including the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), joined. In 1979, after the ICP had suffered serious disagreements with the Baath leadership and a bloody purge, it left the Front, and it was subsequently outlawed by the government. In addition to the ICP, several other opposition parties were outlawed by the Baath. The best known among them are the KDP, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and two Shii religious parties: the Islamic Dawah Party and the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (known since 2007 as the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq). Another group, the Iraqi National Congress, received strong, albeit intermittent, support from the U.S. government during the 1990s. All operated outside Iraq or in areas of the country not under government control.

Following the Persian Gulf War, the KDP and the PUK, although often at odds with one another, operated in the Kurdish Autonomous Region with relative freedom and remained largely unhindered by the government. In the rest of Iraq, however, isolation and the UN embargo further consolidated power in the hands of the government. Following the overthrow of the Baathists in 2003, a number of small political parties arose, and the major expatriate parties resumed operations domestically. The Sadrist Movement, led by Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shii cleric strongly opposed to the presence of foreign troops in Iraq, emerged as another powerful Shii party.

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Iraq - Government and society | Britannica

1. Senate eyes repeal of Iraq war authorization  Military Times
2. The Iran-Iraq War and the Lessons for Ukraine  War On The Rocks
3. Bipartisan bills would repeal authorization of Gulf, Iraq wars  The Hill

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Senate eyes repeal of Iraq war authorization - Military Times

Then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell holds up a vial that he said was the size that could be used to hold anthrax as he addresses the United Nations Security Council in February 2003 at the U.N. in New York. Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell holds up a vial that he said was the size that could be used to hold anthrax as he addresses the United Nations Security Council in February 2003 at the U.N. in New York.

This is part of a special series where NPR looks back at our coverage of major news stories in the past. Listen to the full audio story to hear excerpts from Colin Powell's U.N. speech and more of NPR's archival audio.

There wasn't just one moment that led to the Iraq War. But one speech, delivered 20 years ago at the United Nations, would come to define and undermine the conflict.

On Feb. 5, 2003, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell sat in front of members of the U.N. Security Council. He'd been a staunch critic of U.S. intervention against Iraq's authoritarian leader, Saddam Hussein.

But with the world watching, Powell made a case for war.

"My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources solid sources," he said. "These are not assertions. What we're giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence."

Powell used information that intelligence officials assured him was credible. There were reconnaissance photos, elaborate maps and charts, and even taped phone conversations between senior members of Iraq's military.

"Saddam Hussein has chemical weapons," Powell said. "Saddam Hussein has used such weapons. And Saddam Hussein has no compunction about using them again against his neighbors, and against his own people."

Powell repeatedly used one phrase during his hour-long speech: "weapons of mass destruction." He said those words a total of 17 times. It was the phrase the Bush administration kept publicly using to help justify invading Iraq.

A month and a half after the U.N. speech, President Bush ordered air strikes over Baghdad. It marked the beginning of a military operation "to disarm Iraq, to free its people, and to defend the world from grave danger," Bush said in a televised address to the nation.

U.S. forces toppled Hussein's regime in a matter of weeks, and the search intensified for evidence of Iraq's so-called "weapons of mass destruction." But the weapons were nowhere to be found.

Americans started asking questions.

"It's kind of embarrassing they haven't found anything," said Allen Hunley, a Tennessee dentist who spoke to NPR in July 2003 while attending the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. "It's almost like they were salesmen and they had a thing to sell."

National security analyst Joseph Cirincione also criticized Powell's speech in comments to NPR. Particularly, Powell's assurances that there was solid evidence behind his claims of sophisticated and illicit Iraqi weapons programs.

"Now we know that that just wasn't true," said Cirincione, then the director for non-proliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

California Rep. Jane Harman served as the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, and voted in support of the 2002 measure OK'ing the use of military force against Iraq. Reports of a "very long and scary list of active weapons of mass destruction" influenced that decision, Harman told NPR.

"I believed what I was told," Harman said on All Things Considered in January 2004. "And I'm as surprised as you that it turns out that there are no stockpiles of weapons."

Journalists and members of Congress started digging into the rationale for war laid out in Powell's U.N. speech. They discovered faulty and exaggerated reports from an intelligence community under political pressure from top White House officials.

There were also claims Bush took advantage of Powell's reputation by dispatching him to the U.N.

"As Bush said to him at the time, 'Maybe they'll believe you. Maybe the audience will believe you,' " journalist and Powell biographer Karen DeYoung told NPR in 2006. "Because it was always clear in the Bush administration that Powell was more popular than anyone else."

To this day, the Iraq War is widely viewed as a foreign policy and humanitarian disaster. The conflict dragged on for almost nine years and claimed nearly 4,500 American lives. Over 185,000 Iraqi civilians were killed, according to Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. Some 2 million Iraqis had been displaced from their homes by the time U.S. forces pulled out in 2011.

Three years later, President Obama ordered troops back to Iraq to help combat the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS assuring Americans he would not commit to "another ground war." U.S. forces officially withdrew in December 2021 after almost seven years of fighting.

Powell later called his U.N. speech a "great intelligence failure" and a "blot" on his record, telling NBC News' Meet the Press in 2004 he trusted the information he'd gotten.

"But it turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and in some cases deliberately misleading," Powell said. "And for that, I am disappointed. And I regret it."

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20 years ago, the U.S. warned of Iraq's alleged 'weapons of mass ...

This discussion surveys the history of Iraq since the 7th century ce. For the earlier history, see Mesopotamia.

In 600 Iraq was a province of the Persian Sasanian empire, to which it had belonged for three centuries. It was probably the most populous and wealthiest area in the Middle East, and the intensive irrigation agriculture of the lower Tigris and Euphrates rivers and of tributary streams such as the Diyl and Krn formed the main resource base of the Sasanian monarchy. The name Iraq was not used at this time; in the mid-6th century the Sasanian empire had been divided by Khosrow I into four quarters, of which the western one, called Khvarvaran, included most of modern Iraq.

The name Iraq is widely used in the medieval Arabic sources for the area in the centre and south of the modern republic as a geographic rather than a political term, implying no precise boundaries. The area of modern Iraq north of Tikrt was known in Muslim times as Al-Jazrah, which means The Island and refers to the island between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (i.e., Mesopotamia). To the south and west lay the Arabian Desert, inhabited largely by Arab tribes who occasionally acknowledged the overlordship of the Sasanian kings. Until 602 the desert frontier had been guarded by the Lakhmid kings of Al-ra, who were themselves Arabs but ruled a settled buffer state. In that year Khosrow II (Parvz) rashly abolished the Lakhmid kingdom and laid the frontier open to nomad incursions. Farther north the western quarter was bounded by the Byzantine Empire. The frontier more or less followed the modern Syria-Iraq border and continued northward into modern Turkey, leaving Nisibis (modern Nusaybin) as the Sasanian frontier fortress while the Byzantines held Dr and nearby Amida (modern Diyarbakr).

The inhabitants were of mixed background. There was an aristocratic and administrative Persian upper class, but most of the population were Aramaic-speaking peasants. A considerable number of Arabs lived in the region, most of them as pastoralists along the western margins of the settled lands but some as townspeople, especially in Al-ra. In addition, there were Kurds, who lived along the foothills of the Zagros Mountains, and a large number of Greeks, mostly prisoners captured during the numerous Sasanian campaigns into Byzantine Syria.

Ethnic diversity was matched by religious pluralism. The Sasanian state religion, Zoroastrianism, was largely confined to the Persian ruling class. The majority of the people, especially in the northern part of the country, were probably Christians. They were sharply divided by doctrinal differences into miaphysites, linked to the Jacobite church of Syria, and Nestorians, linked to the Church of the East. The Nestorians were the most widespread and were tolerated by the Sasanian kings because of their opposition to the Christians of the Roman Empire, who regarded the Nestorians as heretics. The miaphysites were regarded with more suspicion and were occasionally persecuted, but both groups were able to maintain an ecclesiastical hierarchy, and the Nestorians had an important intellectual centre at Nisibis. By that time the area around the ancient city of Babylon had a large population of Jews, both descendants of the exiles of Old Testament times and local converts. In addition, in the southern half of the country, there were numerous adherents of the old Babylonian paganism, as well as Mandaeans and gnostics.

In the early 7th century the stability and prosperity of this multicultural society were threatened by invasion. In 602 Khosrow II launched the last great Persian invasion of the Byzantine Empire. At first he was spectacularly successful; Syria and Egypt fell, and Constantinople (modern Istanbul) itself was threatened. Later the tide began to turn, and in 627628 the Byzantines, under the leadership of the emperor Heraclius, invaded Iraq and sacked the imperial capital at Ctesiphon. The invaders did not remain, but Khosrow was discredited, deposed, and executed. There followed a period of infighting among generals and members of the royal family that left the country without clear leadership. The chaos had also damaged irrigation systems, and it was probably at this time that large areas in the south of the country reverted to marshlands, most of which remained until modern times. It was with this devastated land that the earliest Muslim raiders came into contact. (See also Islamic world: Conversion and crystallization [634870].)

The first conflict between local Bedouin tribes and Sasanian forces seems to have been in 634, when the Arabs were defeated at the Battle of the Bridge. There a force of some 5,000 Muslims under Ab Ubayd al-Thaqaf was routed by the Persians. In 637 a much larger Muslim force under Sad ibn Ab Waqq defeated the main Persian army at the Battle of Al-Qdisiyyah and moved on to sack Ctesiphon. By the end of the following year (638), the Muslims had conquered almost all of Iraq, and the last Sasanian king, Yazdegerd III, had fled to Iran, where he was killed in 651.

The Muslim conquest was followed by mass immigration of Arabs from eastern Arabia and Oman. These new arrivals did not disperse and settle throughout the country; instead they established two new garrison cities, at Kfah, near ancient Babylon, and at Basra in the south. The intention was that the Muslims should be a separate community of fighting men and their families living off taxes paid by the local inhabitants. In the north of the country, Mosul began to emerge as the most important city and the base of a Muslim governor and garrison. Apart from the Persian elite and the Zoroastrian priests, whose property was confiscated, most of the local people were allowed to keep their possessions and their religion.

Iraq now became a province of the Muslim Caliphate, which stretched from North Africa and later Spain in the west to Sind (now southern Pakistan) in the east. At first the capital of the Caliphate was at Medina, but, after the murder of the third caliph, Uthmn ibn Affn, in 656, his successor, the Prophet Muhammads cousin and son-in-law Al, made Iraq his base. In 661, however, Al was murdered in Kfah, and the Caliphate passed to the rival Umayyad family in Syria. Iraq became a subordinate province, even though it was the wealthiest area of the Muslim world and the one with the largest Muslim population. This situation gave rise to continual discontent with Umayyad rule that took various forms.

In 680 Als son al-usayn arrived in Iraq from Medina, hoping that the people of Kfah would support him. They failed to act, and his small group of followers was massacred at the Battle of Karbala, but his memory lingered on as a source of inspiration for all who opposed the Umayyads. In later centuries the city of Karbala and Als tomb at nearby Najaf became important centres of Shii pilgrimage that are still greatly revered today. The Iraqis had their opportunity after the death in 683 of the caliph Yazd I, when the Umayyads faced threats from many quarters. In Kfah the initiative was taken by al-Mukhtr ibn Ab Ubayd, who was supported by many mawl (singular, mawl; non-Arab converts to Islam), who felt they were treated as second-class citizens. Al-Mukhtr was killed in 687, but the Umayyads realized that strict rule was required. The caliph Abd al-Malik (685705) appointed the fearsome al-ajjj ibn Ysuf al-Thaqaf as his governor in Iraq and all of the east. Al-ajjj became legendary as a stern but just ruler. His firm measures aroused the opposition of the local Arab elite, and in 701 there was a massive rebellion led by Muammad ibn al-Ashath. The insurrection was defeated only with the aid of Syrian soldiers. Iraq was now very much a conquered province, and al-ajjj established a new city at Wit (Medial), halfway between Kfah and Basra, to be a base for a permanent Syrian garrison. In a more positive way, he encouraged Iraqis to join the expeditions led by Qutaybah ibn Muslim that between 705 and 715 conquered Central Asia for Islam. Even after al-ajjjs death in 714, the Umayyad-Syrian grip on Iraq remained firm, and resentment was widespread.

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Iraq - History | Britannica

UNITED NATIONS (AP) The U.N. special envoy for Iraq urged the countrys new government Thursday to keep fighting corruption and move quickly on much-needed economic, fiscal and financial reforms.

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert told the U.N. Security Council many other areas also need immediate government attention, among them ensuring human rights, resolving issues with the Kurdistan Regional Government, improving public services, addressing environmental challenges, and continuing to return Iraqis from camps and prisons in northeast Syria.

The hope is that the confirmation of Iraqs new government will provide an opportunity to structurally address the many pressing issues facing the country and its people, she said. The urgency is for Iraqs political class to seize the brief window of opportunity it is awarded, and to finally lift the country out of recurring cycles of instability and fragility.

A more than year-long political stalemate punctuated by outbreaks of street violence ended in late October with the confirmation by Iraq's Council of Representatives of a new government and Cabinet led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

Hennis-Plasschaert said that during its first three months, al-Sudanis government has shown a commitment to tackle endemic corruption, poor public services and high unemployment.

Turning to the fight against corruption, she pointed to a number of important steps taken by the government, including trying to recover stolen funds and investigating allegations of graft.

That said, I can only encourage the Iraqi government to persevere, as those who stand to lose will undoubtedly seek to hinder these efforts, she said. But if Iraq is to build a system that serves the need of society instead of serving a closed community of collusion, then ensuring accountability across the spectrum is absolutely essential.

The U.N. special representative said systemic change is vital to address corruption and improve services that directly affect peoples lives.

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As for economic, fiscal and financial reforms, Hennis-Plasschaert expressed concern at the increase in the exchange rate on the parallel market adding to the pressure on everyday Iraqi women and men.

On the short term, it is obviously essential that the federal budget is passed expeditiously, she said. A further delay will only result in worsening the situation due to the well-known spending constraints.

Despite high unemployment, Hennis-Plasschaert cautioned against any further bloating of Iraqs already extremely inflated public sector.

She cautioned the government against relying totally on the countrys oil, which is vulnerable to price shocks, and urged it to focus on diversifying the economy, including by developing an employment-generating private sector.

Hennis-Plasschaert said the government also needs to swiftly implement the Sinjar Agreement brokered by the U.N. in October 2020 between Baghdad and the Kurdish-run regional government to jointly manage the Sinjar region. It is home to Iraqs Yazidi religious minority, and the agreement aims to restore the states hold over the patchwork of militia groups and competing authorities in the area after the defeat of Islamic State extremists.

When IS fighters swept into northern Iraq in 2014 the militants massacred thousands of Yazidi men and enslaved an estimated 7,000 women, including Nadia Murad, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her campaign to end sexual violence as a weapon of war. She returned to her home village in Sinjar this week with actress and activist Angelina Jolie to meet survivors of IS brutality and see progress in redeveloping the region.

U.S. deputy ambassador Richard Mill called on the government to improve its respect for human rights and commit to implementing the Sinjar Agreement in close consultation with the Yazidi community.

He said the United States supports the prime ministers efforts to root out corruption and improve public services, particularly providing electricity, and encourages development of the private sector and job growth, with a focus on increasing womens participation in the workforce.

Mills added that the Biden administration is eager to work with the government on addressing the negative impacts of climate, including through the use of renewable energy and reducing gas flaring.

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UN envoy: Iraq's new leaders must keep fighting corruption