MAL: Model Arab League: Iraq

Meet the people of Iraq--the Arabs, the Kurds, the Bedouins, and the Armenians--in this newly-revised book. Learn about the diversity of their religion, languages, customs, and cuisine. Trace the history of Iraq from ancient times to present through wars, invasions, and political unrest. Take a glimpse into the daily life of the Iraqi people. Know their cities, villages, homes, markets, and schools. Spend a day at school with a little Iraqi girl, and also learn to make an Iraqi dessert!

Combining elements of comparative politics with a country-by-country analysis, author David S. Sorenson provides a complete and accessible introduction to the modern Middle East. With an emphasis on the politics of the region, the text also dedicates chapters specifically to the history, religions, and economies of countries in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf, the Eastern Mediterranean, and North Africa. In each country chapter, a brief political history is followed by discussions of democratization, religious politics, women's issues, civil society, economic development, privatization, and foreign relations. In this updated and revised second edition, An Introduction to the Modern Middle East includes new material on the Arab Spring, the changes in Turkish politics, the Iranian nuclear issues, and the latest efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dilemma. Introductory chapters provide an important thematic overview for each of the book's individual country chapters and short vignettes throughout the book offer readers a chance for personal reflection.

Mosul, Iraq, in the 1940s is a teeming, multiethnic city where Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, Jews, Aramaeans, Turkmens, Yazidis, and Syriacs mingle in the ancient souks and alleyways. In these crowded streets, among rich and poor, educated and illiterate, pious and unbelieving, a boy is growing up. Burdened with chores from an early age, and afflicted with an older brother who persecutes him with mindless sadism, the child finds happiness only in stolen moments with his beloved older sister and with friends in the streets. Closest to his heart are three girls, encountered by chance: a Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew. After enriching the boy's life immensely, all three meet tragic fates, leaving a wound in his heart that will not heal. A richly textured portrayal of Iraqi society before the upheavals of the late twentieth century, Saeed's novel depicts a sensitive and loving child assailed by the cruelty of life. Sometimes defeated but never surrendering, he is sustained by his city and its people.

With the U.S.-led Operation Iraqi Freedom, we are reminded that almost 100years ago, a similar process of regime change and territorial reorganization in the same region of the world was undertaken by Great Britain. Yet unlike the Coalition forces that in 2003 proclaimed the territorial integrity of Iraq, the British had to begin from scratch: until 1921, the country of Iraq did not exist. How did this actually come about? And what were the reactions of the peoples living in that contested territory? This collection of essays by leading scholars provides a comprehensive yet accessible overview of Iraq's history and its strategic importance from three points of view: local residents, Iraq's neighbors (Iran, Turkey, and Kurdistan), and the Great Powers. The book captures the complexity of forces that contributed to the making of Iraq as a modern state, integrating short and long term policy, individual and group interests, and the impact of World War I.

This book focuses on rebuilding Iraq's oil sector which is crucial to rebuilding Iraq's economy. Oil export revenues account for over half of Iraq's gross domestic product and over 90 percent of government revenues. Despite 4 years of effort and $2.7 billion in U.S. reconstruction funds, Iraqi oil output has consistently fallen below U.S. program goals. This book addresses the U.S. goals for Iraq's oil sector and progress in achieving these goals, key challenges the U.S. government faces in helping Iraq restore its oil sector and efforts to enact and implement hydrocarbon legislation. This book also reviews the package of legislation currently under consideration, analyses the positions of various Iraqi political actors, and discusses potential implications for U.S. foreign policy goals in Iraq.

Regardless of its outcome, the Iraq War has had a transformative effect on the Middle East. to equip U.S. policymakers to better manage the war's long-term consequences, the authors analyzed its effects on the regional balance of power, local perceptions of U.S. credibility, the domestic stability of neighboring states, and trends in terrorism after conducting extensive interviews in the region and drawing from an array of local media sources.

Examines the deleterious effects of the U.S. failure to focus on protecting the Iraqi population for most of the military campaign in Iraq and analyzes the failure of a technologically driven counterinsurgency (COIN) approach. It outlines strategic considerations relative to COIN; presents an overview of the conflict in Iraq; describes implications for future operations; and offers recommendations to improve the U.S. capability to conduct COIN.

On May 5/6, 2003, RAND and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy held a two-day conference in Geneva that examined the impact of the Iraq war on the security of the Middle EastThis document summarizes the main issues and points of discussion at the conference.

'The noises were consistent with searching the rooms below - booby traps were a possibility - and then the sound of boots on the staircase. The men came up in sufficient numbers to burst open the doors of the rooms on our floor while some went on up to the top of the house. Jim called out to me to lie down but I was already on my feet and looking through the gap in the door. I saw heavily armed men in light khaki battle dress and assumed that they were from the Coalition forces - not another group of Mujahideen. They entered the room and asked, in a British voice, if I was Mr Kember.'A year after the dramatic release by a multinational military raid, Norman Kember revealed his story behind the controversy of his captivity in Baghdad.Written with honesty and emotion, Norman Kember describes in detail his four month ordeal, during which he was imprisoned in a small room and chained to the two Canadian peace activists, James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, and the American Tom Fox, who was later killed by his captors. Kember experiences fear, loneliness, boredom, and at one point, contemplated suicide. Yet his wry sense of humour never quite deserts him. And at the heart of the book is the extraordinary story of what it was that led a 74-year-old retired university professor from Pinner to decide to go to Iraq in the first place.The book includes previously unseen drawings and notes made by Norman Kember, who kept a journal during his captivity and invented games with his fellow captives. Moving, gripping, and surprising, Hostage in Iraq is a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit.

Discusses the religions of the world and their festivals, rituals, beliefs, ceremonial objects, and history.

Gerald Hawting's book has long been acknowledged as the standard introductory survey of this complex period in Arab and Islamic history. Now it is once more made available, with the addition of a new introduction by the author which examines recent significant contributions to scholarship in the field. It is certain to be welcomed by students and academics alike.

This is an eye-opening exploration of a troubling phenomenon: the fast-growing belief in Muslim countries that the end of the world is at hand--and with it the "Great Battle," prophesied by both Sunni and Shi`i tradition, which many believers expect will begin in the Afghan-Pakistani borderlands. Jean-Pierre Filiu uncovers the role of apocalypse in Islam over the centuries, and highlights its extraordinary resurgence in recent decades. Identifying 1979 as a decisive year in the rise of contemporary millenarian speculation, he stresses the ease with which subsequent events in the Middle East have been incorporated into the intellectual universe of apocalyptic propagandists. Filiu also shows how Christian and Jewish visions of the Final Judgment have stimulated alarmist reaction in Islamic lands, both in the past and today, and examines the widespread fear of Christian Zionist domination as an impetus to jihad. Though the overwhelming majority of Muslims remains unpersuaded, the mounting conviction in the imminence of apocalypse is a serious matter, especially for those who are preparing for it.

Why has the turn of the twenty-first century been rocked by a new religious rebellion? From al Qaeda to Christian militias to insurgents in Iraq, a strident new religious activism has seized the imaginations of political rebels around the world. Building on his groundbreaking book, The New Cold War?: Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State, Mark Juergensmeyer here provides an up-to-date road map through this complex new religious terrain. Basing his discussion on interviews with militant activists and case studies of rebellious movements, Juergensmeyer puts a human face on conflicts that have become increasingly abstract. He revises our notions of religious revolution and offers positive proposals for responding to religious activism in ways that will diminish the violence and lead to an accommodation between radical religion and the secular world.

Explores the tension within the Muslim world between modern reformers and Islamists, or Islamic fundamentalists, and examines the alarming rise of Islamism in recent years and its connection to terrorism and political violence.

In explaining the decision to invade Iraq and oust Saddam Hussein from power, the Administration asserted, among other justifications, that the regime of Saddam Hussein had a working relationship with the Al Qaeda organisation. The Administration assessed that the relationship dated to the early 1990s, and was based on a common interest in confronting the United States. The Administration assertions were derived from U.S. intelligence showing a pattern of contacts with Al Qaeda when its key founder, Osama bin Laden, was based in Sudan in the early to mid-1990s and continuing after he relocated to Afghanistan in 1996. Critics maintain that subsequent research demonstrates that the relationship, if it existed, was not "operational", and that no hard data has come to light indicating the two entities conducted any joint terrorist attacks. Some major hallmarks of an operational relationship were absent, and several experts outside and within the U.S. government believe that contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda were sporadic, unclear, or subject to alternate explanations. Another pillar of the Administration argument, which has applications for the current U.S. effort to stabilize Iraq, rested on reports of contacts between Baghdad and an Islamist Al Qaeda affiliate group, called Ansar al-Islam, based in northern Iraq in the late 1990s. Although the connections between Ansar al-Islam and Saddam Hussein's regime were subject to debate, the organisation evolved into what is now known as Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQ-I). AQ-I has been a numerically small but operationally major component of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency that frustrated U.S. efforts to stabilise Iraq. Since mid-2007, in part facilitated by combat conducted by additional U.S. forces sent to Iraq as part of a "troop surge", the U.S. military has exploited differences between AQ-I and Iraqi Sunni political, tribal, and insurgent leaders to virtually expel AQ-I from many of its sanctuaries particularly in Baghdad and in Anbar Province. U.S. officials assess AQ-I to be weakened almost to the point of outright defeat in Iraq, although they say it remains lethal and has the potential to revive in Iraq. Attacks continue, primarily in north-central Iraq, that bear the hallmarks of AQ-I tactics, and U.S. and Iraqi forces continue to conduct offensives targeting suspected AQ-I leaders and hideouts. As of mid-2008, there are indications that AQ-I leaders are relocating from Iraq to join Al Qaeda leaders believed to be in remote areas of Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border. That perception, if accurate, could suggest that AQ-I now perceives Afghanistan as more fertile ground than is Iraq to attack U.S. forces. The relocation of AQ-I leaders to Pakistan could also accelerate the perceived strengthening of the central Al Qaeda organisation.

This book controversially argues that Al Qaeda has clear aims, and that the only way to defeat it is to engage with its arguments in a serious way.Since the publication of the first edition in 2006, Mohamedou has brought the text right up-to-date. Starting with Al Qaeda's creation almost twenty years ago, and sketching its global mutation, Mohamedou explains that there is a cogent strategy to Al Qaeda's actions. He shows that the 'war on terror' is failing, only serving to recruit more terrorists to Al Qaeda's cause. He also puts forward a case for how the international community can best respond.Arguing that it is dangerous to dismiss Al Qaeda as illogical and irrational, this incisive and original book is important for policy-makers and ideal for undergraduates in international relations, Middle East studies and peace/conflict studies.

Consulting the work of well-known and obscure al-Qaeda theoreticians, Michael W. S. Ryan finds Jihadist terrorism has more in common with the principles of Maoist guerrilla warfare than mainstream Islam. Encouraging strategists and researchers to devote greater attention to Jihadi ideas rather than Jihadist military operations, Ryan builds a more effective framework for analyzing al-Qaeda’s plans against America and constructs a more compelling counternarrative to the West’s supposed "war on Islam.” Ryan uniquely examines the Salafist Jihadist roots of al-Qaeda ideology and the contributions of its most famous founders, Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a political-military context. He also reads the Arabic-language works of lesser known theoreticians who have played an instrumental role in framing al-Qaeda’s so-called "war of the oppressed.” These authors readily cite the guerrilla strategies of Mao, Che Guevara, and the mastermind of the Vietnam War, General Giap. They also incorporate the arguments of American theorists writing on "fourth generation warfare.” By examining these texts, readers experience events as insiders see them, and by concentrating on the activities and pronouncements of al-Qaeda’s thought leaders, especially in Yemen, they discern the direct link between al-Qaeda’s tactics and trends in anti-U.S. terrorism. Ryan shows al-Qaeda’s political-military strategy to be a revolutionary and largely secular departure from a classic Muslim conception of jihad, adding an invaluable dimension to the operational, psychological, and informational strategies already deployed by America’s military in the region.