Iraq’s economy is dominated by the oil sector, which has provided about 99.7% of foreign exchange earnings in modern times. 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 of at least $80 billion from the war. After the end of hostilities, in 1988, oil exports gradually increased with the construction of new pipelines and restoration of damaged facilities.
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq, beginning on 22 September 1980, when Iraq invaded Iran, and ending on 20 August 1988, when Iran accepted the UN-brokered ceasefire. Iraq wanted to replace Iran as the dominant Persian Gulf state, and was worried that the 1979 Iranian Revolution would lead Iraq's Shi'ite majority to rebel against the Ba'athist government. The war also followed a long history of border disputes, and Iraq planned to annex the oil-rich Khuzestan Province and the east bank of the Arvand Rud.
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and later, the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organization the Iraqi Ba'ath Party—which espoused Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and socialism—Saddam played a key role in the 1968 coup that brought the party to power in Iraq.
The Gulf War, codenamed Operation Desert Shield for operations leading to the buildup of troops and defense of Saudi Arabia and Operation Desert Storm in its combat phase, was a war waged by coalition forces from 35 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait arising from oil pricing and production disputes. The war is also known under other names, such as the Persian Gulf War, First Gulf War, Gulf War I, Kuwait War, First Iraq War or Iraq War, before the term "Iraq War" became identified instead with the post-2003 Iraq War.
Paul Dundes Wolfowitz is an American political scientist and diplomat who served as the 10th President of the World Bank, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, and former dean of Johns Hopkins SAIS. He is currently a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, working on issues of international economic development, Africa and public-private partnerships, and chairman of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council.
Al-Kūt, also spelled Kut al-Imara or Kut El Amara, is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about 160 kilometres south east of Baghdad. As of 2003 the estimated population is about 374,000 people. It is the capital of the province long known as Al Kut, but since the 1960s renamed Wasit.
Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi was an Iraqi politician, a founder of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) and the President of the Governing Council of Iraq
Ramadi is a city in central Iraq, about 110 kilometers (68 mi) west of Baghdad and 50 kilometers (31 mi) west of Fallujah. It is the capital of Al Anbar Governorate. The city extends along the Euphrates and is the largest city in Al-Anbar. Founded by the Ottoman Empire in 1879, by 2011 it had a population of about 375,000 people, the vast majority of whom are Sunni Arabs from the Dulaim tribal confederation. It lies within the Sunni Triangle of western Iraq.
The Dinar (Arabic: دينار, is the currency of Iraq. It is issued by the Central Bank of Iraq and is subdivided into 1,000 fils, although inflation has rendered the fils obsolete since 1990.
Erbil Governorate, sometimes referred to by the alternative spelling Arbil Governorate, is a governorate in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Investment in post-2003 Iraq refers to international efforts to rebuild the infrastructure of Iraq since the Iraq War in 2003.
Zakho is a city in Iraq, at the centre of the eponymous Zakho District of the Dohuk Governorate of Iraqi Kurdistan, located a few kilometers from the Iraqi–Turkish border. The city has a population of 190,000.
The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) is the central bank of Iraq.
Arab Liberation Front is a minor Palestinian political party, previously controlled by the Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party, formed in 1969 by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and then headed by Saddam Hussein. ALF is a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first three to four years of conflict. In 2009, official US troops were withdrawn, but American soldiers continued to remain on the ground fighting in Iraq, hired by defence contractors and private military companies. The U.S. became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition; the insurgency and many dimensions of the civil armed conflict continue. The invasion occurred as part of a declared war against international terrorism and its sponsors under the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush following the unrelated September 11 terrorist attacks.
Banca Nazionale del Lavoro S.p.A. (BNL) is an Italian bank headquartered in Rome. It is Italy's sixth largest bank and has been a subsidiary of BNP Paribas since 2006.
Operation Samen-ol-A'emeh was an offensive of the Iran–Iraq War between 27–29 September 1981 where Iran broke the Iraqi Siege of Abadan.
The finances of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have come into focus as many countries wage war against the militant group.
