Saddam Hussein Regime Research Articles

Islamic and sectarian or secular and nationalist? New classification of Iraqi Shi’a political actors based on ideological anchorage

ABSTRACT Since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003, Iraqi Shi’a political actors have been the main forces leading the country, dominating the domestic legislative scene over their Sunni and Kurdish counterparts. This article brings innovative analysis and classification of actors, such as Islamic Da’wa Party, Badr Organization, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), Harakat Huquq, Al-Hikma, Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), Sadrist Movement, or Imtidad, bringing more light on the Iraqi political scene since the parliamentary elections in 2021. The ideological anchorage of the parties is evaluated in two dimensions, religious and sectarian, placing them on the Islamic-secular and sectarian-nationalist axes, reflecting their approach towards intra-religious issues, vilayet al-faqih, possible normalization of relations with Israel, sectarianism, and nationalism. The methodology of this research is based on Chapel Hill Expert Survey data collection, semi-structured interviews with politicians and political experts from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Iraq, Jordan, and the United Kingdom, content analysis of examined actors’ statements on social and official media and opinion polls, reflecting the voices of the Iraqi society. The main results of this research singled out clusters of more pro-Iranian actors (Badr Organization, AAH, Harakat Huquq), with the highest tendency to use Islamic and sectarian policies, followed by more traditional Iraqi political actors such as Islamic Da’wa Party and ISCI. Al-Hikma, Sadrist Movement and Imtidad then inclined to be more nationalist and secular. Finally, it shows the Iranian influence as a crucial factor in shaping the domestic and foreign policies of thoseactors.

The Form of Remembrance: Prison Writing and the Memory of the Ba‘th in Dreaming of Baghdad and I‘jaam

In his 2019 critical study, Husayn Sarmak Hassan complained that not enough attention has been given to the production of Iraqi prison writing even after the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime and its censorship apparatus. He notes, for example, that during the 2017 Cairo book fair, he found thirty (presumably new) prison novels, none of which were written by Iraqis. The relative scarcity of prison novels from Iraq is most certainly not due to lack of content; since the collapse of the old regime, there has been a proliferation of personal accounts, both oral and written, detailing the horrors of Saddam's Ba'th and the extent of the human toll of its wars and oppression. The ensuing documentation projects that emerged out of this mass catharsis aimed to amplify voices that had hitherto been marginalized and silenced, including the experiences of political prisoners. Hassan's study on prison writing, published by the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, can be seen in this light: as part of a national effort to process the literary and psychological aspects of the Ba‘th's legacy. However, the author's interest in prison writing also stems from his professional background as a medical doctor and psychiatrist directly involved in the study and treatment of PTSD in military veterans of the Iran–Iraq War. His personal interest in the experiences of Iraqi political prisoners is also made clear by certain paratextual elements in his study; in the acknowledgements, for example, Hassan dedicates his text to a friend who spent twenty years in incarceration as a political prisoner, and to his brother, who he found unrecognizable due to starvation and torture on a visit to a Najaf prison in 1994.

State and Religion in Iraq: The Sufi Insurgency of the Former Baʿth Regime in Historical Context

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, Iraqi society has experienced profound crises in its transition from a strong centralized state under secular Baʿth Party authoritarianism to a new weak but still authoritarian federal state that is dominated by Shiʿi Islamist parties and plagued by factionalism, open sectarian competition, and conflict. A comprehensive scrutiny of the country's recent historical ruptures and continuities that pertain to the relations between the state and religion in particular is still a desideratum in contemporary Iraq studies. The extent to which thirty-five years of Baʿthi dictatorship transformed and lastingly shaped Iraq's diverse religious landscape is still not yet fully understood. Following the US-led invasion, the former regime was well-remembered for its repression and atrocities against almost all segments of society, but its image and the long-held notion and memory of it as “atheist” and “antireligious” are increasingly being challenged. Moreover, sectarian conflicts and violence since 2005 reveal an ongoing conflict over the interpretive sovereignty and ownership of famous religious sites of memory, such as shrines and mosques, between the various factions in Iraq. Beginning with the Iran–Iraq War in 1980, the Baʿth regime lavishly sponsored Sunni and Shiʿi shrines and advertised them in its religious war propaganda all over the country as sites of memory for the Iraqi and Arab nation. Many of these religious sites were surrounded by a certain confessional ambiguity and constitute memorials and meeting places for Sunnis and Shiʿis equally. After the fall of the regime, this ambiguity sparked sectarian competition over these sites since both communities often associated with one and the same shrine quite different memories of the same saintly figure, or they disagreed about who was buried there. Radical jihadist Salafis, in turn, generally rejected them as un-Islamic and even associated them with the old regime from 2014 onward.

Many Bodies, One Heart

Many Bodies, One Heart

The United States of America and the Iraqi identity crisis after 2003

Identity has become a major concern in contemporary thought and in many fields of research, especially political and social, and before that in psychological reflection. Therefore, the identity crisis is considered one of the most complex crises facing, in the current era, many modern peoples and societies, including those of ancient civilizational origins. Or even those that lack belonging to the ancient civilization alike. And Iraq, as a well-known historical example of the ancient nations, which maintained its permanence despite the countless groups and sects of various languages, civilizations and religions that settled in it and mixed with its people and civilization so that it became part of it, for example, but not limited to, the Sumerians, the Akkadians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Persians, Kushites, Hurrians, Medes, Greeks, Romans, Turks, Mongols, Ottomans, and other groups and groups. Many religions, sects, nationalities, linguistic groups and ethnic groups coexist in Iraq, sometimes close and sometimes discordant, but their convergence or resentment did not reach the point of canceling the other, so everyone maintained their presence under an Iraqi national tent. Our choice is due to the study of the Iraqi identity crisis, after the military intervention of the United States of America in Iraq in 2003, when national, religious and sectarian conflicts began to erupt in Iraq in a violent manner that was not familiar before. The deterioration, because the US administration did not prepare well for the post-Saddam Hussein era, and this administration, through its military intervention in Iraq and taking ill-considered decisions, committed many mistakes, practices and lapses that contributed to the exacerbation of the conditions of the Iraqi national identity, as those who came Raising slogans of liberating Iraq, ridding the Iraqi people of the oppressive practices of Saddam Hussein's regime, and building a prosperous democracy in this country, they have contributed and engaged in practices that contradict the content of the slogans they raised, which in turn deepened the Iraqi identity crisis.

The Attitude of Shia Marjai in The Poltical Process of Iraq After 2014

The decision-making process is a complex process that passes through several stages and is influenced by many external and local factors. There are many factors that influence the decision-making process in Iraq, one of which is the Shiit supreme Marjah, which is superior to those parties and actors who have an important role in decision-making. This role is performed within the framework of counseling, and appears after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003. But after the emergence of ISIS and its threats and dangers, the political role of the Shiite supreme Marjah appeared more and more through the fatwa to counter ISIS.

Collective Memory in Post-Genocide Societies: Rethinking Enduring Trauma and Resilience in Halabja

AbstractThis article investigates the collective memory that occurred as a result of the chemical attack on Halabja, on March 16, 1988. In light of discussions that deal with memory and reconciliation in post-genocide societies, we look at how collective memory and “postmemory” are formed among the survivors and their descendants. The merit of the article is that it brings together the victim's accounts and creates a bottom-up perspective that challenges the official accounts created by Kurdish and non-Kurdish elites as part of top-down narratives on what happened that day in Halabja and how it should be commemorated. The interviewee narratives illustrate that people of Halabja consider the memory of the chemical attack as an enduring trauma that creates a shared rendering of the past and continues to shape their collective identity. While each generation transfers this collective memory to the next, they also seek justice via shared commemoration practices outside official discourses. In their narratives, reprobation is not directed solely toward the Saddam Hussein regime, but also toward the current rulers of the Kurdistan Region as well.

Refugee flows, foreign policy, and safe haven nexus in Turkey

While the relationship between refugees and foreign policy has been extensively studied, scarce attention has been paid to the linkages between refugee flows and safe haven policy as foreign policy. This article fills this gap in the literature by comparatively examining Turkey’s refugee and safe haven policies. Turkey witnessed two major influxes of refugees: after the Saddam Hussein regime oppressed the Kurdish uprising in 1991 and following the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011. Turkey closed its Iraqi border to the Kurdish refugees and labelled their mass movement as a threat to its national security. In sharp contrast, Turkey has generally adopted accommodative policies towards Syrian refugees with a strong emphasis placed on humanitarian values. During both crises, Turkey supported safe haven policies for the repatriation of refugees to their home countries on international platforms. While Turkey was immediately able to persuade the international community for the creation of a safe haven in northern Iraq, it was less successful with respect to northern Syria, as it could only put its safe haven project on the negotiation table after relying more heavily on brute force.

The Impact of U.S. and UN Sanctions on Iraqi Political Elite

The problem of sanctions effectiveness as a means of a regime change is one of the key issues for researchers in the field of sanctions policy. The case of U.S. and UN sanctions against Iraq is one of the most vivid examples of how sanctions can be effective in terms of limiting the undesirable international behavior of a country, while failing to instigate a regime change and severely hampering the social and economic conditions for general population. The article discusses the dynamics of restrictive measures against Iraq during Saddam Hussein regime, the problems of regimes adaptation to international sanctions as well as the evolution of U.S. and UN sanctions against the country. For this purpose the authors reviewed the key UN sanctions documents, as well as the evolution of the main aspects of Iraqi political regime with regards to the power distribution between different groups. The research shows that sanctions aimed at regime change failed to fulfill this task. Despite constantly degrading social and economic conditions, the Saddam Hussein regime demonstrated considerable resilience. This can be attributed primarily to the use of contradictions of complex tribal and religious composition of the country, as well as to oppression and a relatively effective re-distribution of the scarce resources between different power groups. Under these conditions, even the presence of intra-elite conflicts strengthened the regime, rather than weaken it. Another important factor was the very policy of external pressure on the elite and the country as a whole. The severity of restrictive measures was partially offset by the presence of programs such as “Oil-for-Food”, which, given the poor development of the programs themselves, as well as corruption schemes involving its executors, reduced pressure on the regime and, consequently, the effectiveness of sanctions. Thus these factors contributed to the ultimate failure of the sanctions policy towards Iraq in 1990-2003.

ПОЛІТИЧНІ ПАРТІЇ В ІРАКУ: ЕТАПИ СТАНОВЛЕННЯ ТА ІДЕОЛОГІЧНІ ВІДМІННОСТІ

В статті розглянуто процес виникнення багатопартійності на тлі вторгнення США і падіння режиму Саддама Хусейна. Порушено проблеми схвального ставлення окремих груп до іноземної окупації та сприйняття руйнації держави в якості звільнення країни. Автор також відзначає відсутність політичного досвіду та ідеології або відхилення від шляху для досягнення особистих амбіцій через лояльність до зовнішніх сил або спроби досягти своїх регіональних інтересів шляхом фрагментації іракського суспільства. Політичні сили, які нараховують більше 330 партій, загнали країну до хаосу протиріч в умовах того, що конституція Іраку забороняє формувати партії на етнічній і релігійній основі.

Iran's Shortsighted Policies in Iraq: Between Inflaming and Containing of Radical Sunni Islam: 2003–2015

AbstractThe main goal of the 2003 war with Iraq of the coalition forces led by the United States was to topple Saddam Hussein's regime and establish a new political system that would adopt democratic practices. Iran, a country that deemed Saddam's regime to be a threat, considered this war to be very helpful in many ways — first because it put an end to Clinton's “dual containment” approach and would thus help Iran to become a regional superpower at Iraq's expense. Second, a war with Iraq could put an end to the decades of oppression of the Shi'a community in Iraq.This article argues that Iran's involvement in Iraq's internal affairs created chaos in Iraq and contributed to the sectarian conflict against Sunni terror groups, notably the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known by the Arabic name Daesh, a terror group with the most extreme form of Sunni Radical Islam ever known. The sectarian conflict that resulted from the above is now taking place between the Sunnis and the Shi'a of both Persian and Arab backgrounds and this clash could not have become as radical as it is without Iran's aggressive foreign policy. It should, however, be noted that Iran is not the sole player in the country and therefore its part in inflaming sectarian conflicts should be viewed through a realistic prism that allows other forces — domestic and foreign — to be seen as having influenced the events for their benefit.

The Role of Female Poets in Modern Kurdish Literature

Abstract This paper focuses upon some of the female poets in Kurdish literature who have played a major role in establishing Kurdish women’s poetry and their poetic texts, and how their voices become deeper and more feminine. The study will encompass the earliest Kurdish female poet from the classic period -Masture-y Ardalani (1805–1848), one of the most prominent Kurdish poets - and four poets from the modern period, namely Diya Ciwan (b. 1953), Kazhal Ahmed (b. 1967), Nezend Begikhani (b. 1964), and Mahabad Qaradaghi (b. 1966). The existence of feminine poetry in Kurdish literature is considered new born, but in fact the real emergence of women’s poetry in Kurdish literature dates back to the early 1990s, aTher the liberation of southern Kurdistan from the Saddam Hussein regime. Additionally, it is important to note that the Kurdish political and creative history is not without women’s presence.

Korupsi Siemens Aktiengesellschaft dalam United Nations-Oil For Food Programme (Un-Offp) di Irak

Corruption, as a nontraditional form of crime, occurred when power is abused to gain certain favours for individuals or parties at the expense of the rest. Siemens Aktiengesellscahft (Siemens AG) bribery case is the biggest company corruption revealed in history, in which the company had been convicted guilty for giving bribes to governments in many countries, from developing to developed countries. In Iraq, Siemens AG was proved guilty for giving bribes to Saddam Hussein regime during its involvement in United Nation Oil for Food Programme (UN-OFFP) in 2000-2002. This research is conducted to understand causing factors of such action by employing qualitative data for further analysis. Research finding shows that corruption in UN-OFFP involving three institutions: Siemens AS, Saddam Hussein regime, and UN, was occurred due to pragmatism in pursuing economic motive which encouraged by accommodative culture and enabled by weak law enforcement.

“… yes, it's difficult, because we have to satisfy her heart” – Exploring Transgenerational Effects of Collective Persecution and Genocide in Kurdistan‐Iraq

AbstractAlmost every child in Kurdistan‐Iraq is currently growing up as the son or daughter of survivors of collective persecution and genocidal activity carried out during Saddam Hussein's regime. The aim of this study is to communicate first impressions of the second generation's situation and to examine possible effects of transgenerational transmission of unprocessed trauma. Based on fieldwork and interviews with parents who experienced torture and chemical attacks and their adolescent children, strong indications of unprocessed traumatizations were found on the parents' side. They are irritable and show dysfunctional parenting behavior in the form of physical abuse. Indications for boundary blurring and parentification as well as psychological burden – including problems with studying and dysphoric mood – were found among the children. Politicians and professionals in Kurdistan‐Iraq need to be aware of possible transmission of parents' traumatic experiences to their children and should provide adequate services.

Corporate Culture and Greed — The Case of the Australian Wheat Board

Between 1999 and 2002, the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) was involved in an elaborate bribery, or ‘kickback’, scheme involving the illicit payment of A$300 million to the Iraq government for supposed ‘transportation fees’ that were funnelled to the Saddam Hussein regime. This was clearly in breach of the United Nations trade sanctions and was apparently perpetrated by the AWB to secure continued sales with the lucrative Iraqi market. This paper aims to gain further insight into how a corporate culture can lead to greed, corruption and deception. Specifically, this study aims to add to the literature by analysing, using Schein's (1997, 2004) theoretical framework, a case on the development of a corrupt corporate culture. Content analysis of official investigative reports and other published documents is used to determine the extent to which the AWB's corporate culture and leadership may have influenced the behaviour of senior managers. The findings indicate that the culture within the AWB fostered an environment in which senior managers placed sales and profits above the sanctions clearly enunciated by the United Nations.

A Murky Business

Abstract Corruption in Iraq's Oil-for-Food Programme was exposed a decade ago. But key information remains unpublished – information that could shed further light on the impact of bribes paid to Saddam Hussein's regime. By Yujin Jeong and Joseph L. Gastwirth

Kurdistan on the global stage: kinship, land, and community in Iraq

Anthropologist Diane E. King has written about everyday life in the Region of Iraq, which covers much of the area long known as Iraqi Kurdistan. Following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein s Ba thist Iraqi government by the United States and its allies in 2003, became a recognized part of the federal Iraqi system. The Region is now integrated through technology, media, and migration to the rest of the world.Focusing on household life in s towns and villages, King explores the ways that residents connect socially, particularly through patron-client relationships and as people belonging to gendered categories. She emphasizes that patrilineages (male ancestral lines) seem well adapted to the Middle Eastern modern stage and viceversa. The idea of patrilineal descent influences the meaning of refuge-seeking and migration as well as how identity and place are understood, how women and men interact, and how politicking is conducted.In the new Kurdistan, old values may be maintained, reformulated, or questioned. King offers a sensitive interpretation of the challenges resulting from the intersection of tradition with modernity. Honor killings still occur when males believe their female relatives have dishonored their families, and female genital cutting endures. Yet, this is a region where modern technology has spread and seemingly everyone has a mobile phone. Households may have a startling combination of illiterate older women and educated young women. New ideas about citizenship coexist with older forms of patronage.King is one of the very few scholars who conducted research in Iraq under extremely difficult conditions during the Saddam Hussein regime. How she was able to work in the midst of danger and in the wake of genocide is woven throughout the stories she tells. Kurdistan on the Global Stage serves as a lesson in field research as well as a valuable ethnography.

Character and Critique in the Ethics of War

As its title suggests, Nigel Biggar’s In Defence of War offers a strong response to pacifists who argue that the use of armed force can never be morally justified. However, though it is cogently and convincingly made, this argument is not really the heart of In Defence of War. Indeed, it constitutes only one chapter of the book, which is primarily dedicated to the defense of a particular kind of extremely pleased that several soldiers with battlefield experience have found empirically plausible my claim in chapter 2 that the use of lethal violence can be motivated, not at all by hatred, but by love—even for the enemy. So, there you have what the author thinks that In Defence of War is about. But as with life, so with books: authors are not always the best judges of what they are doing.

Tough Reading:

Tough Reading:

Religious Discrimination against Religious Minorities in Middle Eastern Muslim States

This study examines religious discrimination between 1990 and 2008 against 47 religious minorities in 17 Middle Eastern Muslim majority states using data from the Religion and State-Minorities data-set. The study uses a 29-category variable which measures restrictions on the religious practices or institutions of minority religions which are not placed on the majority religion. Forty-five of the 47 minorities, including all non-Muslim minorities, experience religious discrimination. Discrimination is lowest but still substantial against Muslim minorities (e.g. Shi'i Muslims in a Sunni Muslim state), higher against Christians, but highest against Hindus, Buddhists, Druze, and Bahai. Twenty-eight of the 29 types of religious discrimination included in the data-set are present in the region. Finally, when discounting the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime from Iraq, religious discrimination in the region remains stable.