Iraq is divided into 18 provinces, of which 3 are officially designated as a Kurdish autonomous region. The Kurdish autonomous region, first established in 1970, has an elected legislature. This region came under UN and coalition protection after the Persian Gulf War, to prevent Hussein from taking military action against rebellious Kurds. However, infighting among Kurdish groups rendered the government largely ineffective. In 1998 two rival Kurdish parties signed an agreement, brokered by the United States, that provided for a transitional power-sharing arrangement. However, the agreement has not been implemented, and each of the two parties governs its own slice of Kurdish territory. C. Political Parties The leading political organization in Iraq under Saddam Hussein was the Arab Baath Socialist Party (see Baath Party), which bases its policies on pan-Arab and socialist principles. Other political groups included the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP), the Kurdistān Democratic Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistān (PUK), and a few other Kurdish parties. The two most important Shia opposition parties were the Da‘wa Party and the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), which was subsequently renamed the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI). Until Hussein’s overthrow, all these opposition parties were illegal outside the Kurdish autonomous region. Following the U.S. invasion, the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), a coalition of Shia groups including the Da‘wa Party and SIIC, emerged as the dominant political force in Iraq. The Kurdistān Alliance, a coalition of the Kurdistān Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistān, emerged as the second most powerful political force and the most important political grouping among the Kurds. Among Sunnis, the Iraqi Accord Front, a fundamentalist religious coalition, was the leading electoral force. The Baath Party remained a legal and open party. D. Defense Under the Hussein government, military training in Iraq was compulsory for all males when they reached the age of 18; it consisted of about two years in active service and an additional period in the reserve. In 2004 the Iraqi army had about 79,000 members (including a large active reserves); the air force, 200 members; and the navy, 700 members. Following the U.S. invasion, the U.S. civil administrator for Iraq dissolved the Iraqi military and outlined plans for a new force that would be limited to about 40,000 members. While establishing and training this new Iraqi force, the United States continued to station more than 100,000 U.S. troops in Iraq following the transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis in June 2004. The 2004 interim constitution called for the dissolution of private militias, such as those maintained by Kurds and some Shia political parties, although it allowed the Kurds to maintain their militia for an interim period.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 18:51:28 +0000
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