LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Iraq: Saddam Iraq
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Iraq's only outlet to the sea is a short stretch of coast on the northwestern end of the Persian Gulf, including the Shatt al Arab waterway. Basra and Umm Qasr are the main ports. Iraq is approximately coextensive with ancient Mesopotamia. The southwest, part of the Syrian Desert, supports a small population of nomadic shepherds. In the rest of the country, life centers on the great southeast-flowing rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, which come together in the Shatt al Arab at the head of the Persian Gulf. The marshy delta was largely drained in the early 1990s as part of a government program to control the Marsh Arabs, who had participated in the Shiite uprising against Saddam Hussein; marsh restoration efforts began in 2003, and by 2006 roughly half the area had been restored.
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[T]he ability of Saddam to continue to rule Iraq is in question. His style appears to have a limited future in the Middle East, despite what appear to be temporary surges of popularity but are really expressions of Arab sympathies towards the Iraqi people under sanctions and Saddam Husayn. Many Iraqis are aware of the price they are paying for the dictatorship, cult of personality, and ideologically guided leadership of Saddam Husayn. More than ever, they realize that as long as Saddam is in power they will live under repression and at war with the outside world. This realization means that although Saddam's regime appears to be strong, it is, in reality, weak and fractured; it appears stable, but its stability could be shattered overnight.
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With the fall of Saddam Hussein and the Ba'ath regime, Iraq has taken steps toward re-engagement on the international stage. Iraq currently has diplomatic representation in 54 countries around the world, including 3 permanent Missions to the United Nations in New York, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva and the Arab League in Cairo. 48 countries have diplomatic representation in Iraq,
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Iraq has the world’s second largest proven oil reserves. Oil industry observers predict a gold-rush of profits for the Anglo-American oil giants in the post Saddam setting. This section considers how oil has driven the US-UK plan for war, how it shapes the occupation, and how it has affected the modern history of Iraq.
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Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country located in southwestern Asia, bordered by Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. The area now known as modern Iraq, formerly Mesopotamia or the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, is thought to have been the cradle of civilization—the birthplace of some of the world’s greatest ancient civilizations, including Sumer, Assyria, and Babylonia. Despite the varied influences of these civilizations, and of later Mongol and Ottoman rule and the British mandate, the most significant influence on Iraqi social and cultural life comes from the conquest of the region by Muslim Arabs. Until recently, Saddam Hussein held power, relying heavily on elements of the Ba’ath Party and minority Sunni Arab tribal alliances to maintain a police state. After Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent Persian Gulf War, the international community placed economic sanctions on Iraq. The ousting of Hussein in 2003 opens a new chapter in Iraq’s history.
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Iraq began limited efforts in the civilian nuclear field in the late 1960s. By the early 1970s, then Vice-President Saddam Hussein issued direct orders for the creation of a nuclear weapons program. The Iraqi plans called for the initial development of a civilian fuel cycle and related expertise. A parallel weapons program was then to be built off the civilian efforts. Accordingly, Iraq acquired a French nuclear reactor in 1975. Israel laterdestroyed the reactorin a June 1981 air strike, leading Iraq to explore a number of clandestine uranium enrichment methods.
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