The modern state of Iraq is the site of the earliest human civilization (www.wikipedia.org). In 4000 B.C. the Sumerians built the world's first cities in the fertile crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Since that time the region has been the scene of nearly constant warfare, with successive empires controlled by Akkadia, Babylonia, Mittani, Assyria, Persia, Macedonia (under Alexander the Great), Muslim, Turkmen, Ottoman, British, and currently American forces contesting for dominance.
The appeal of the area has shifted over time from being based on its strategic location in relation to the Persian Gulf, as well as its rich farming soil and wealth, to its oil reserves. Modern Iraq is a colonial creation of the British, who occupied the area in starting in 1917. After World War I they were given a League of Nations Mandate controlling Iraq, where they put down opposition with military force, and drew arbitrary borders that had little relation to natural or ethnic boundaries.
They also took control of Iraqi oil, dividing up this increasingly strategically important resource with France, the Netherlands, and the United States, without leaving any for the Iraqis. The British installed puppet rulers from Trans-Jordan's Hashemite royal family, who ruled Iraq until they were overthrown in a coup by Brigadier Abdul Kareem Qassem in 1958. The brutal violence that has plagued the area from its earliest history was demonstrated when the new regime had the former rulers dragged through the streets and torn apart, even sending one of the deposed strongman's fingers to the hero of Arab nationalism, Gamal Abdal Nasser.
After many other violent changes of regime, the Baath Party seized a firm grip on power in 1968 and ruled with notorious brutality through the regime of Saddam Hussein, who came to power officially in 1979. Responding to provocations by forces loyal to the new theocratic ruler of neighboring Iran (the Ayatolla...