International isolation
The conditions for the lifting of the blockade were made very severe, due to the US will to bring about the downfall of Hussein. Furthermore, according to The New York Times and Sunday Telegraph newspapers, the United States smuggled huge amounts of counterfeit dinars across the borders of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran.
At the end of 1991, the Iraqi government authorized the supervision of the military centers by the UN. In 1992 the existence of the uranium enrichment program was confirmed, with German help. UN teams destroyed 460 122-millimeter rockets equipped with the poisonous sarin gas. They also dismantled the nuclear complex el-Athir and uranium enrichment facilities of Ash-Sharqat and Tarmiyah and chemical weapons factory Muthana.
In 1994 a border crossing with Turkey was opened to allow the arrival of certain foods and medicines authorized by the UN, as the only exceptions to the commercial blockade. However, in March 1995, Turkish troops entered Iraqi Kurdistan – under allied military tutelage – to repress members of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK).
Baghdad’s international isolation was exacerbated in 1996 when Jordan improved its relations with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, countries located in Middle East according to 800ZIPCODES.COM. However, the UN Security Council voted to partially lift the blockade, allowing the sale of crude oil under control, in order to buy food and medicine for the Iraqi population. In April of 1997 a report by the UN revealed that the number of deaths from starvation or lack of medicine because of the embargo exceeded one million people, of which 570,000 were children. For its part, UNICEF stated that “25% of children under five years of age suffered from severe clinical malnutrition.”
In October the Security Council threatened to apply new sanctions if a new inspection was not authorized to verify that the Iraqi government was not in a position to manufacture chemical and biological weapons. Iraq rejected the presence of US inspectors, hardening the position of President Clinton, who, with the lone support of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, launched a missile attack on several Iraqi cities. Starting on December 16, the so-called ” Operation Desert Fox ” killed hundreds of Iraqis, civilians and the military.
The Security Council approved, with the abstention of Russia, France, China and Malaysia in December of 1999 to resume inspections in Iraq and suspend economic sanctions if Baghdad cooperated. Iraq, arguing that it was an attempt by the United States to impose its “evil” will on the Security Council, refused and demanded the lifting of the sanctions.
XXI century
When George W. Bush took office as US president in January 2001, he announced that he would have a tough policy and would “reinvigorate” the sanctions against Iraq. After the attacks on Washington and New York in September of that year, Washington turned its sights on Baghdad. Bush did not get Allied support, not even from Britain. In turn, Saddam Hussein regained popularity in the Arab world by supporting the second Palestinian intifada and proposing that, through control of oil prices, Muslim countries uphold their common demands.
In his address to the nation in January of 2002, Bush put Iraq, Iran and Korea of the North in an “axis of evil” and announced the need to attack Iraq, linking deceptively with the terrorist network To the Qaeda and affirming that The dangerousness of Saddam Hussein’s regime lay in its willingness to develop weapons of mass destruction. In August, Blair convinced Bush to bring the US war case to the UN, while Hussein invited the UN chief weapons inspector to Baghdad to negotiate the weapons inspection.
In September, at the 57th to General Assembly of United Nations, convened a skeptical audience of world leaders to confront the serious and growing Iraqi danger, or leave it to the United States. The following month, Baghdad allowed the UN to inspect dozens of sensitive sites, but Britain and the US rejected the agreement, seeking a new resolution authorizing military strikes in case Iraq did not comply with the demands.
US occupation
Backed by a new UN resolution more in line with the wishes of the United States and Britain, the UN weapons inspectors returned to Iraq in November. The report, from January 2003, showed no evidence of the presence of weapons of mass destruction.
Even without such evidence or a new Security Council resolution explicitly authorizing the use of force, the United States, Britain, and coalition forces militarily attacked Iraq on March 20, 2003 [6] , entering from the south. In April, US troops entered Baghdad and continued north; They met strong resistance only in major cities like Kirkuk and Mosul. The looting became widespread as the allies searched for Saddam Hussein along with 54 other leaders.
On December 14, the capture of Saddam Hussein in an underground shelter was announced. The image of the ex-leader traveled the world along with the rumors that he was a doppelganger.
A series of photographs showing US soldiers physically abusing prisoners of war came to light between April and May 2004. Since then, the evidence of torture and ill-treatment has increased.
In June 2004, the Governing Council dissolved itself and an interim government took office. Ghazi Yawer – a US-educated civil engineer and tribal leader from Mosul, north of the country – took office as interim president. Iyad Allawi, with close ties to the CIA, was appointed prime minister. Despite the measures, the insurgency – through suicide attacks and kidnappings and, at times, executions of foreign officials – intensified and had its main focus in Falluja.
In the elections for the National Transitional Assembly in January 2005, around 8 million people voted with very questionable results. After nine weeks of negotiations, the parliament elected a tripartite presidency in early April. Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani would lead the Presidential Council on an interim basis, together with Ghazi Yawer –sunnita– and the hitherto finance minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi –chiíta–; also Shiite Ibrahim Jaafari, one of the country’s most popular political figures, was appointed prime minister.
Massoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, was sworn in in June 2005 as president of Iraqi Kurdistan. In July, an Iraqi NGO estimated 25,000 Iraqi civilians killed since the 2003 invasion. A draft constitution was approved in August by Kurdish and Shiite representatives, but not by Sunnis. In October, Saddam Hussein faced charges for crimes against humanity. The same month the new Constitution was approved, making Iraq a federal Islamic democracy.
