Iraq

I

Transport

Iraq has railway connections through Syria with Turkey and Europe. The Iraqi state railway system consists of about 2,000 km (1,243 mi) of track. The country has about 45,550 km (28,303 mi) of roads, of which 84 per cent are paved. In the mid-1980s about 491,800 passenger cars and 246,700 commercial vehicles were in use. In 1996 there were 368,000 buses and trucks and 672,000 passenger cars, with a ratio of 19 people per car. Most of the transport infrastructure is still seriously affected by war damage, although about 90 per cent of bridges had been rebuilt by 1995. International airports serve Baghdad and Basra. These were closed after the 1990-1991 Gulf War. Saddam International Airport, on the outskirts of Baghdad, was reopened on August 17, 2000, by the Minister of Transport and Communications, but this was largely a symbolic gesture since air travel into Iraq remained banned. Aircraft increasingly broke the flight embargo, however, and in November 2000 Iraq Airways resumed its domestic service between Baghdad and Basra. Iraq’s airports are currently used by coalition forces.

Basra, on the Shatt Al Arab, and Umm Qasr are the main ports for ocean-going vessels, although they have been closed since 1980. (The ferry service carrying passengers from Iraq’s Gulf neighbours to Umm Qasr was resumed as recently as November 1998.) River steamers are able to navigate the Tigris from Basra to Baghdad. Since the closure of the ports Iraq has been totally dependent on overland routes to export its oil. Until the Gulf War overland pipelines to the Mediterranean Sea via Turkey and Syria, and later via Saudi Arabia to the Persian Gulf, were used. Since 1990-1991 none of these routes has operated, and only export by road to Turkey and Jordan has been possible.

J

Communications

About 37 telephones per 1,000 people were in use in Iraq in 2000; radios numbered about 5 million and television receivers about 2 million. A government decree of 1967 closed all privately owned daily newspapers. The country had 4 dailies in 1996; including ath-Thawra, issued by the Baath political party.

V

Government

Iraq was formerly governed under a provisional constitution adopted in 1968 and subsequently amended. In 1980 the Kurds, who make up 15 to 20 per cent of Iraq’s inhabitants, were given some autonomy and elected an executive council and a 50-member legislature. Under UN and Allied protection the Kurds established a government in UN-controlled areas of northern Iraq, where a Kurdish parliament was established after a free general election. After the fall of Saddam Hussein the country was run by a US-appointed Governing Council. In March 2004 an interim constitution was drafted in anticipation of the handing over of sovereignty to an Iraqi caretaker government, which took place on June 28, 2004. The country’s interim prime minister was Iyad Allawi. A nationwide election to the 275-member National Assembly (Majlis Watani) was held on January 30, 2005, with Shiite groupings gaining most votes after Sunnis largely boycotted the election. The first task for the body was to create a constitution, which was approved in a referendum in October 2005. Elections to a new government were held in December 2005 but were boycotted by many Sunnis.

A

Executive and Legislature

Saddam Hussein was the unchallenged political authority until he was deposed in 2003. Under him was a principal executive organization, the Revolutionary Command Council, which was led by a chairman. In practice, political power was centralized in Saddam Hussein who served as the nation’s president, as its prime minister, and as chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council.

The 2005 National Assembly had 275 members. In April it chose a presidency council comprised of a president and two vice-presidents, they in turn elected a prime minister and a Cabinet. The election of December 2005 saw more than 41 per cent of votes (which translated as 128 seats) won by the United Iraqi Alliance in the 275-seat assembly. The failure to gain a majority led to political deadlock for more than four months before President Talabani asked Jawad al-Maliki to form a government; al-Maliki replaced the previous candidate Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who was turned down by Kurdish and Sunni groups.

B

Political Parties

The leading political organization in Iraq was the Arab Baath Socialist Party, which based its policies on pan-Arab and socialist principles. The Party was banned after the war of 2003. Many different parties and alliances, based on ethnic and religious lines, as well as a significant secular grouping, stood in the January and December 2005 elections, both of which were won by the United Iraqi Alliance.