About the Middle East

MIDDLE EAST

At one time, the Middle East, or "Near East" (as some historians like to call it), was the commercial and intellectual bridge between Europe and Asia. It was one of the most cosmopolitan places on Earth, and the birthplace of alphabets, law, commerce, and religions. The Babylonians and Egyptians were two of the earliest civilizations on Earth. The Persians (Iranians) came to power in the region around 500 BC until Alexander the Great conquered the area, and then the Roman Empire took control, calling the area its Byzantine (Eastern) Holy Roman Empire The rise of Islam in 510 AD brought Arab rule and two great dynasties of the Muslim Empire (the period of the Umayyads and Emayyads), which lasted until about 1520 while the area became a battlefield between the Ottoman Empire (Turks), European crusaders, and Arab Muslims, the Ottoman Empire lasting up to 1918. Britain and France fought colonial wars in the area from about 1880 until 1918, and after WWI, Britain and France divided up the region between themselves. Following WWII, colonialism by the world powers was less blatant and more a pattern of multinational or covert involvement. Israel was founded in 1948, for example, by a combination of U.N. approval for a partitioning of Palestine and Israeli militia (Haganah, Irgun, and Stern Gang) campaigns which induced Palestinians to leave the area that is now Israel.
Economically, the most important resource in the region has been oil. The Middle East lacked rivers, most transportation was by camel, and railways were not built until fairly late in the twentieth century. American and European investment companies (like Standard, Texaco, and Shell) exploited the region with monopolies. The foreign-owned monopolies came to a halt with OPEC in 1971 when several Arab states decided to take matters into their own hands and forced an oil crisis in the mid-1970s. By 1979, and centered in Iran, an Islamic revolution swept the land, and theocratic regimes as well as strict Islamic law became popular. Other states held onto their monarchies, and still others kept a military dictatorship form of government. Lack of effective political leadership has kept the area an isolated, backward region. Every year, the violence seems to get worse. Military operations regularly claim civilian lives, and dictatorship oppression seems to be the norm. Israeli occupation of Palestine tends to produce the most tension. There is enormous support worldwide for the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland.
Geographically, the Middle East includes the Asian portion of Turkey, the island of Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights. The area is not completely settled politically, and 15 nation-states co-exist in the geographic land bridge region, with 5 more in the northeastern Africa area. Palestine (named for an ancient coastal people called the Philistines) has never had any precisely defined borders, and in Biblical days was the site of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah; in Roman days was the westernmost province of Syria; in Ottoman days was the Gaza Strip and parts of Lebanon; in the WWI era was part of Jordan (the British Mandate referred to it as Trans-Jordan); and today refers to the PLO claim on the West Bank and Gaza Strip (occupied by Israel). Israel also occupies the Golan Heights, another area with a long, contested history and the only source of water in the area, which is contested by Syria and Lebanon. The Gaza Strip consists primarily of refugees and is one of the most densely populated areas in the world with +60% of the people living below the poverty line. Israel controls all electricity in the Gaza Strip, and the Palestine Authority controls telephone and TV.
IRAQ
This country shares a border with Turkey, which is populated by Kurdish minority groups and contains the Tigris River, which flows into Iraq and is the site of controversial Turkish hydro-electric projects. The border once served as the main pipeline route for delivering Iraqi oil to Europe, but NATO member Turkey shut the pipeline down after Iraq's Kuwait invasion, and remnants of the pipeline have been destroyed by bombing. Turkey has crossed into northern Iraq on several occasions to pursue Kurdish (PKK) rebels. Turkey fears the well-armed Kurds of northern Iraq. The Kurdish militias of northern Iraq receive guns and money from the United States, Iran, and others.
Iraq is a nation of tribes that exist on top of ethnic (Kurd/Arab) and religious (Sunni/Shiite/secular) divisions. There are about 150 major tribes, containing about 2,000 smaller clans. Most major tribes have kinsmen in Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the other Persian Gulf states and Turkey. Only about 30 tribes play any significant political role, particularly Saddam Hussein's tribe, the Tikritis. Saddam's Baath Party came to power in 1968 as a secular movement which considered the tribes outdated, but in the 1980s with the war against Iran, Saddam needed the tribes and courted their favors. After the Kuwait war in 1991, Saddam reached out again to tribal leaders, giving them cash, cars, arms, schools and other bounty to assure their loyalty. Although their loyalties can switch overnight, Iraqi tribal leaders are not impoverished, and their strength is great. The US has worked at every level, overt and covert, to infiltrate, isolate, impoverish and influence Iraq, to diminish or overthrow the regime, finally culminating in a U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. With ongoing re-building efforts, the U.S. hopes to make Iraq a shining example of democracy in the Middle East.
IRAN
From 1925-1979, Iran was predominantly Persian-oriented and Western friendly, being ruled by Shah Pahlavi, a close friend of the U.S. and U.K. (some would say a puppet dictator). The Shah modernized the country but crushed civil liberties. Khomeini's overthrow of him in 1979 and the Islamic revolution brought Twelver Shiism back into fashion, referring to the twelve descendents of Muhammad's cousin Ali, and the need for theocratic rule by Imans, who are descendants of Ali. The country plunged into extremism with the Shah's exile and American hostage crisis. It then fought a war with Iraq from 1980 to 1989 that ended in stalemate. Iraq regards Iran's Shiite Muslim regime as a threat because of its military might and its support for Kurdish militants and militant Shiites in Iraq. Their mutual distain for Israel never has prevented them from fighting each other. Iran is also not too fond of the Saudi Sunni Muslim regime. Iran stayed mute during the first Gulf War when Iraq was thrown out of Kuwait, and similarly raised few objections to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, but was suspected of supporting insurgency after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Within the countryside of both Iran and Iraq are plenty of places that provide safe havens for exiled opposition and terrorist groups.
Iran has for years provided clandestine arms support for numerous terrorist groups, particularly the Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere to the tune of $20-100 million per year, much of it through bogus religious charitable organizations. Islamic Jihad and Hamas are other groups supported, but well-trained Hezbollah units practically define the export of Islamic Shiite fanaticism. The Israeli interdiction of a ship loaded with a huge arms cargo in 2001 was most likely paid for by Iran and headed for Hezbollah groups in Palestine, since they are the only group capable of absorbing that large a shipment, and the captain of the ship said that he was under orders from the PLO. Hezbollah's most infamous operative, Imad Mugniyah, still ranks near the top of the world's most-wanted terrorists. Iran supports terrorism across the board, and has a special interest in weapons of mass destruction. They have the most sophisticated missiles of any Arab country (the Shahab-3), which have an 800-mile range. The conservative mullahs who run the country frequently make references to blowing Israel off the map with nuclear weapons. In 2004, Iran agreed to nuclear weapon inspections.

From: http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/areas/middleeast.htm

About Iraq

Background: Formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, Iraq was occupied by Britain during the course of World War I; in 1920, it was declared a League of Nations mandate under UK administration. In stages over the next dozen years, Iraq attained its independence as a kingdom in 1932. A "republic" was proclaimed in 1958, but in actuality a series of military strongmen have ruled the country since then, the latest being SADDAM Husayn. Territorial disputes with Iran led to an inconclusive and costly eight-year war (1980-88). In August 1990, Iraq seized Kuwait, but was expelled by US-led, UN coalition forces during the Gulf War of January-February 1991. Following Kuwait's liberation, the UN Security Council (UNSC) required Iraq to scrap all weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles and to allow UN verification inspections. Continued Iraqi noncompliance with UNSC resolutions over a period of 12 years resulted in the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and the ouster of the SADDAM Husayn regime. Coalition forces remain in Iraq, helping to restore degraded infrastructure and facilitating the establishment of a freely elected government. The Coalition plans to return sovereignty to the Iraqi people by July 2004.
Geography Iraq
Location: Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iran and Kuwait
Geographic coordinates: 33 00 N, 44 00 E
Map references: Middle East
Area: total: 437,072 sq km
water: 4,910 sq km
land: 432,162 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly more than twice the size of Idaho
Land boundaries: total: 3,650 km
border countries: Iran 1,458 km, Jordan 181 km, Kuwait 240 km, Saudi Arabia 814 km, Syria 605 km, Turkey 352 km
Coastline: 58 km
Maritime claims - as described in UNCLOS 1982 (see Notes and Definitions): territorial sea: 12 NM
continental shelf: not specified
Climate: mostly desert; mild to cool winters with dry, hot, cloudless summers; northern mountainous regions along Iranian and Turkish borders experience cold winters with occasionally heavy snows that melt in early spring, sometimes causing extensive flooding in central and southern Iraq
Terrain: mostly broad plains; reedy marshes along Iranian border in south with large flooded areas; mountains along borders with Iran and Turkey
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Persian Gulf 0 m
highest point: unamed peak 3,611 m; note - this peak is not Gundah Zhur 3,607 m or Kuh-e Hajji-Ebrahim 3,595 m
Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, phosphates, sulfur
Land use: arable land: 11.89%
permanent crops: 0.78%
other: 87.33% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land: 35,250 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards: dust storms, sandstorms, floods
Environment - current issues: government water control projects have drained most of the inhabited marsh areas east of An Nasiriyah by drying up or diverting the feeder streams and rivers; a once sizable population of Marsh Arabs, who inhabited these areas for thousands of years, has been displaced; furthermore, the destruction of the natural habitat poses serious threats to the area's wildlife populations; inadequate supplies of potable water; development of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers system contingent upon agreements with upstream riparian Turkey; air and water pollution; soil degradation (salination) and erosion; desertification
Environment - international agreements: party to: Law of the Sea
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification
Geography - note: strategic location on Shatt al Arab waterway and at the head of the Persian Gulf
People Iraq
Population: 25,374,691 (July 2004 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 40.3% (male 5,198,966; female 5,039,173)
15-64 years: 56.7% (male 7,280,167; female 7,094,688)
65 years and over: 3% (male 357,651; female 404,046) (2004 est.)
Median age: total: 19.2 years
male: 19.1 years
female: 19.3 years (2004 est.)
Population growth rate: 2.74% (2004 est.)
Birth rate: 33.09 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Death rate: 5.66 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.89 male(s)/female
total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2004 est.)
Infant mortality rate: total: 52.71 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 46.55 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 58.58 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 68.26 years
male: 67.09 years
female: 69.48 years (2004 est.)
Total fertility rate: 4.4 children born/woman (2004 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: less than 1,000
HIV/AIDS - deaths: NA
Nationality: noun: Iraqi(s)
adjective: Iraqi
Ethnic groups: Arab 75%-80%, Kurdish 15%-20%, Turkoman, Assyrian or other 5%
Religions: Muslim 97% (Shi'a 60%-65%, Sunni 32%-37%), Christian or other 3%
Languages: Arabic, Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Assyrian, Armenian
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 40.4%
male: 55.9%
female: 24.4% (2003 est.)
Government Iraq
Country name: conventional long form: Republic of Iraq
conventional short form: Iraq
local short form: Al Iraq
local long form: Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah
Government type: in transition following April 2003 defeat of SADDAM Husayn regime by US-led coalition
Capital: Baghdad
Administrative divisions: 18 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah); Al Anbar, Al Basrah, Al Muthanna, Al Qadisiyah, An Najaf, Arbil, As Sulaymaniyah, At Ta'mim, Babil, Baghdad, Dahuk, Dhi Qar, Diyala, Karbala', Maysan, Ninawa, Salah ad Din, Wasit
Independence: 3 October 1932 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration)
National holiday: Revolution Day, 17 July (1968)
Constitution: in transition following April 2003 defeat of SADDAM Husayn regime by US-led coalition
Legal system: in transition following April 2003 defeat of SADDAM Husayn regime by US-led coalition
Suffrage: formerly 18 years of age; universal; note - in transition following April 2003 defeat of SADDAM Husayn regime by US-led coalition
Executive branch: chief of state: in transition following April 2003 defeat of SADDAM Husayn regime by US-led coalition
Legislative branch: in transition following April 2003 defeat of SADDAM Husayn regime by US-led coalition
Judicial branch: in transition following April 2003 defeat of SADDAM Husayn regime by US-led coalition
Political parties and leaders: in transition following April 2003 defeat of SADDAM Husayn regime by US-led coalition
Political pressure groups and leaders: in transition following April 2003 defeat of SADDAM Husayn regime by US-led coalition
International organization participation: ABEDA, ACC, AFESD, AMF, CAEU, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, ISO, ITU, LAS, NAM, OAPEC, OIC, OPEC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO
Diplomatic representation in the US: in transition following April 2003 defeat of SADDAM Husayn regime by US-led coalition
Diplomatic representation from the US: in transition following April 2003 defeat of SADDAM Husayn regime by US-led coalition
Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black with three green five-pointed stars in a horizontal line centered in the white band; the phrase ALLAHU AKBAR (God is Great) in green Arabic script - Allahu to the right of the middle star and Akbar to the left of the middle star - was added in January 1991 during the Persian Gulf crisis; similar to the flag of Syria which has two stars but no script and the flag of Yemen, which has a plain white band; also similar to the flag of Egypt which has a symbolic eagle centered in the white band
note: the current Iraqi Governing Council has formed a committee to design a new flag for Iraq that is broadly acceptable to all parties and ethnic/sectarian groups
Economy Iraq
Economy - overview: Iraq's economy is dominated by the oil sector, which has traditionally provided about 95% of foreign exchange earnings. In the 1980s financial problems caused by massive expenditures in the eight-year war with Iran and damage to oil export facilities by Iran led the government to implement austerity measures, borrow heavily, and later reschedule foreign debt payments; Iraq suffered economic losses from that war of at least $100 billion. After hostilities ended in 1988, oil exports gradually increased with the construction of new pipelines and restoration of damaged facilities. Iraq's seizure of Kuwait in August 1990, subsequent international economic sanctions, and damage from military action by an international coalition beginning in January 1991 drastically reduced economic activity. Although government policies supporting large military and internal security forces and allocating resources to key supporters of the regime have hurt the economy, implementation of the UN's oil-for-food program beginning in December 1996 helped improve conditions for the average Iraqi citizen. Iraq was allowed to export limited amounts of oil in exchange for food, medicine, and some infrastructure spare parts. In December 1999, the UN Security Council authorized Iraq to export under the program as much oil as required to meet humanitarian needs. The drop in GDP in 2001-02 was largely the result of the global economic slowdown and lower oil prices. Per capita food imports increased significantly, while medical supplies and health care services steadily improved. Per capita output and living standards were still well below the pre-1991 level, but any estimates have a wide range of error. The military victory of the US-led coalition in March-April 2003 resulted in the shutdown of much of the central economic administrative structure, but with the loss of a comparatively small amount of capital plant. The rebuilding of oil, electricity, and other production is proceeding steadily at the start of 2004 with foreign support and despite the continuation of severe internal strife. A joint UN and World Bank report released in the fall of 2003 estimated that Iraq's key reconstruction needs through 2007 would cost $55 billion. In October 2003, international donors pledged assistance worth more than $33 billion toward this rebuilding effort.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $38.79 billion (2003 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: -20% (2003 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,600 (2003 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 6%
industry: 13%
services: 81% (1993 est.)
Population below poverty line: NA
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 27.5% (2003 est.)
Labor force: 7.8 million (2004 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA%
Unemployment rate: NA% (2003 est.)
Budget: revenues: $12.8 billion $NA
expenditures: $13.4 billion $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA (2004 budget)
Industries: petroleum, chemicals, textiles, construction materials, food processing
Industrial production growth rate: NA%
Electricity - production: 36.01 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 98.4%
hydro: 1.6%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption: 33.49 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2001)
Oil - production: 2.2 million bbl/day; note - prewar production was 2.8 million bbl/day (January 2004 est.)
Oil - consumption: 460,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports: 1.7 million bbl/day (January 2004)
Oil - imports: NA
Oil - proved reserves: 113.8 billion bbl (1 January 2002)
Natural gas - production: 2.76 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - consumption: 2.76 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports: 0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves: 3.149 trillion cu m (1 January 2002)
Agriculture - products: wheat, barley, rice, vegetables, dates, cotton; cattle, sheep
Exports: $7.542 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Exports - commodities: crude oil
Exports - partners: US 37.4%, Taiwan 7.7%, Canada 7.5%, France 7.5%, Jordan 6.9%, Netherlands 5.8%, Italy 4.9%, Morocco 4.3%, Spain 4.1% (2002)
Imports: $6.521 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Imports - commodities: food, medicine, manufactures
Imports - partners: Jordan 10.4%, France 8.4%, China 7.9%, Vietnam 7.9%, Germany 7.2%, Russia 6.9%, Australia 6.8%, Italy 6.1%, Japan 5.3% (2002)
Debt - external: $120 billion (2003 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: more than $33 billion in foreign aid pledged for 2004-07 (2004)
Currency: New Iraqi dinar (NID) as of 22 January 2004
Currency code: NID, IQD prior to 22 January 2004
Exchange rates: New Iraqi dinars per US dollar - 1,890 (second half, 2003)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications Iraq
Telephones - main lines in use: 675,000; note - an unknown number of telephone lines were damaged or destroyed during the March-April 2003 war (2003)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 20,000 (2002)
Telephone system: general assessment: the 2003 war severely disrupted telecommunications throughout Iraq including international connections; USAID is overseeing the repair of switching capability and the contruction of mobile and satellite communications facilities
domestic: repairs to switches and lines destroyed in the recent fighting continue but sabotage remains a problem; cellular service is expected to be in place within two years
international: country code - 964; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region), and 1 Arabsat (inoperative); coaxial cable and microwave radio relay to Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, and Turkey; Kuwait line is probably nonoperational
Radio broadcast stations: AM 19 (5 are inactive), FM 51, shortwave 4 (1998)
Radios: 4.85 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 13 (1997); note - unknown number were destroyed during the March-April 2003 war
Televisions: 1.75 million (1997)
Internet country code: .iq
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1 (2000)
Internet users: 25,000 (2002)
Transportation Iraq
Railways: total: 1,963 km
standard gauge: 1,963 km 1.435-m gauge (2003)
Highways: total: 45,550 km
paved: 38,399 km
unpaved: 7,151 km (2000 est.)
Waterways: 1,015 km
note: Shatt al Arab is usually navigable by maritime traffic for about 130 km; channel has been dredged to 3 m and is in use; Tigris and Euphrates Rivers have navigable sections for shallow-draft boats; Shatt al Basrah canal was navigable by shallow-draft craft before closing in 1991 because of the Gulf war
Pipelines: gas 1,739 km; oil 5,418 km; refined products 1,343 km (2003)
Ports and harbors: Umm Qasr, Khawr az Zubayr, and Al Basrah have limited functionality
Merchant marine: total: 13 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 83,221 GRT/125,255 DWT
by type: cargo 6, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 5, roll on/roll off 1
registered in other countries: 3 (2003 est.)
Airports: 111; note - unknown number were damaged during the March-April 2003 war (2003 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 79
over 3,047 m: 21
2,438 to 3,047 m: 36
914 to 1,523 m: 7
under 914 m: 10 (2003 est.)
1,524 to 2,437 m: 5
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 32
under 914 m: 9 (2003 est.)
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 4
914 to 1,523 m: 12
1,524 to 2,437 m: 5
Heliports: 6 (2003 est.)
Military Iraq
Military branches: note: the US and UK Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) dissolved the former Iraqi Armed Forces, together with the Ministry of Defense and other security institutions, and is implementing plans to create a new Iraqi Army with a purely defensive mission and capability; recruiting and training began in July 2003, with strength projected to be 3 divisions comprising approximately 36,000 personnel by July 2004; there are also plans to reconstitute an Iraqi Army Aviation Corps and Navy in the future but, as of early 2004, there are no plans to reconstitute an Iraqi Air Force (January 2004)
Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age; note - US-led coalition is planning to create a new Iraqi military force of men aged 18 to 40 to defend Iraqi territory from external threats (2004 est.)
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 6,547,762 (2004 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 3,654,947 (2004 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 304,527 (2004 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $1.3 billion (FY00)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: NA%
Transnational Issues Iraq
Disputes - international: coalition forces assist Iraqis in monitoring boundary security, but resolution of disputes and creation of maritime boundaries with neighboring states will remain in hiatus until full sovereignty is restored in Iraq; Turkey has expressed concern over the status of Kurds in Iraq
This page was last updated on 11 May, 2004

Courtesy of: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/iz.html

More on Iraq.

Ethnic Groups
About 75 percent of the population of Iraq is Arab. Kurds, dwelling in the highlands of northern Iraq, constitute 15 to 20 percent of the population. Smaller groups include Turkmens, Jews, Armenians, and Assyrians.
C Language
Arabic is the official language of Iraq and is spoken by the majority of the population. The Kurds speak Kurdish. Armenian and Assyrian are spoken in rural areas in the north and west.
D Religion
Muslims make up 96 percent of Iraq's population. About 60 to 65 percent of the Muslims adhere to the Shia branch, and the rest adhere to the Sunni branch. The Shias live mostly in central and southern Iraq, and the Sunnis live principally in the north. Most of the Kurds are Sunnis. Several of the holy cities of the Shias, notably An Najaf and Karbala', are situated in Iraq. Among the few Christian sects in Iraq are the Nestorians (see Nestorianism), the Jacobite Christians, and offshoots of these two sects, respectively known as Chaldean and Syrian Catholics. In addition, smaller religious groups include the Yazidis, who live in the hill country north of Mosul, and a Gnostic group (see Gnosticism) known as the Mandaean Baptists living in Baghdad and Al 'Amarah. The Yazidis are a syncretic sect, which combines the beliefs of different religions. A small community of Jews lives in Baghdad.
E Education
Education in Iraq is free. Six years of primary education are compulsory, but many children do not attend school as they must work to help support their families. Instruction is in Arabic, although in much of the Kurdish-inhabited northern region, which has been autonomous since 1991, Kurdish is used in all levels of education alongside Arabic. Only 41 percent of Iraqis aged 15 or older are literate. In the 1998-1999 academic year 3.1 million pupils attended elementary schools, and 619,114 students were enrolled in secondary schools. More students attended vocational or teacher-training institutions. Iraq has eight universities, four in Baghdad and one each in Al Basrah, Irbil, Mosul, and Tikrit. The country also has about 20 technical institutes.

Courtesy of: http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761567303_2/Iraq.html