Iraq

• 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

• mostly broad plains;
• reedy marshes along Iranian border in south with large flooded areas;
• mountains along borders with Iran and Turkey

• 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 Shi'a Muslims, who have 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 Tigris-Euphrates Rivers system contingent upon agreements with upstream riparian Turkey;
• air and water pollution;
• soil degradation (salinization) and erosion;
• desertification

party to:

Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban

signed, but not ratified:

Environmental Modification

0-14 years:

44% (male 4,865,820; female 4,711,791)

15-64 years:

53% (male 5,794,336; female 5,662,163)

65 years and over:

3% (male 320,672; female 367,505) (July 1998 est.)

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.03 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

1.02 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.87 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

noun:

Iraqi(s)

adjective:

Iraqi

conventional long form:

Republic of Iraq

conventional short form:

Iraq

local long form:

Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah

local short form:

Al Iraq

• 18 provinces (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

chief of state:

• President SADDAM Husayn (since 16 July 1979);
• Vice President Taha Muhyi al-Din MARUF (since 21 April 1974);
• Vice President Taha Yasin RAMADAN (since 23 March 1991)

head of government:

• Prime Minister SADDAM Husayn (since 29 May 1994);
• Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Mikhail AZIZ (since NA 1979);
• Deputy Prime Minister Taha Yasin RAMADAN (since NA May 1994);
• Deputy Prime Minister Muhammad Hamza al-ZUBAYDI (since NA May 1994)

cabinet:

Council of Ministers

note: there is also a Revolutionary Command Council; Chairman SADDAM Husayn, Vice Chairman Izzat IBRAHIM al-Duri

elections:

• president and vice presidents elected by a two-thirds majority of the Revolutionary Command Council;
• election last held 17 October 1995 (next to be held NA 2002)

election results:

• SADDAM Husayn reelected president;
• percent of vote-99%;
• Taha Muhyi al-Din MARUF and Taha Yasin RAMADAN elected vice presidents;
• percent of vote - NA

• political parties and activity severely restricted;
• opposition to regime from disaffected members of the Ba'th Party, Army officers, tribes, and Shi'a religious and ethnic Kurdish dissidents;
• the Green Party (government-controlled)

• none;
• note-the US has an Interests Section in the Polish Embassy in Baghdad, which is in the Masbah Quarter (opposite the Foreign Ministry Club);
• address: P. O. Box 2447 Alwiyah, Baghdad;
• telephone: [964] (1) 719-6138, 719-6139, 718-1840, 719-3791;
• FAX: [964] (1) 718-9297

• 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 that has two stars but no script and the flag of Yemen that has a plain white band;
• also similar to the flag of Egypt that has a symbolic eagle centered in the white band

agriculture:

NA%

industry:

NA%

services:

NA%

revenues:

$NA

expenditures:

$NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

• Iraqi dinars (ID) per US$1-0.3109 (fixed official rate since 1982);
• black market rate-Iraqi dinars (ID) per US$1-1,530 (December 1997), 3,000 (December 1995);
• subject to wide fluctuations

total:

2,032 km

standard gauge:

2,032 km 1.435-m gauge

total:

47,400 km

paved:

40,764 km

unpaved:

6,636 km (1996 est.)

• 1,015 km;
• Shatt al Arab is usually navigable by maritime traffic for about 130 km;
• channel has been dredged to 3 meters and is in use;
• Tigris and Euphrates Rivers have navigable sections for shallow-draft watercraft;
• Shatt al Basrah canal was navigable by shallow-draft craft before closing in 1991 because of the Persian Gulf war

• crude oil 4,350 km;
• petroleum products 725 km;
• natural gas 1,360 km

• Iran and Iraq restored diplomatic relations in 1990 but are still trying to work out written agreements settling outstanding disputes from their eight-year war concerning border demarcation, prisoners-of-war, and freedom of navigation and sovereignty over the Shatt al Arab waterway;
• in November 1994, Iraq formally accepted the UN-demarcated border with Kuwait which had been spelled out in Security Council Resolutions 687 (1991), 773 (1993), and 883 (1993);
• this formally ends earlier claims to Kuwait and to Bubiyan and Warbah islands;
• dispute over water development plans by Turkey for the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers IRELAND