Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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Issue 306

Articles from Spring 2023

Perspective—Recognizing and Repairing the Harm to Iraq’s Minority Communities
Displaced Iraqis from the Yezidi community at a camp for internally displaced persons in Khanke, in Dohuk province, January 20, 2023. Safin Hamed/AFP/via Getty Images
MER Article

Perspective—Recognizing and Repairing the Harm to Iraq’s Minority Communities

As the Costs of War project has documented, the US invasion of Iraq and its aftermath (including interventions, the rise of militant groups and terror attacks) resulted in more than three hundred thousand deaths due to direct violence. Twenty years later, the knock-on effects of war on Iraq’s environmental
Hannibal Travis • 6 min read
The Political Logic Behind Iraq’s Fragmented Armed Forces
Iraqi Security forces are heavily deployed on the Jumhuriya (Republic) bridge leading to Baghdad’s Green Zone, during a demonstration by supporters of Iraq’s influential Shi’i cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on September 28, 2022, in conjunction with the parliament’s first session in two months. Ameer Al-Mohammedawi/dpa via Getty Images
MER Article

The Political Logic Behind Iraq’s Fragmented Armed Forces

On the cusp of losing power following a poor performance in the October 2021 election, Iraq’s Fateh Alliance and its Popular Mobilization Forces—a coalition of armed factions under the umbrella of the Iraqi state—sent protesters to occupy parts of Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone. The winner
Renad Mansour • 7 min read
The Rise and Fall of Kurdish Power in Iraq
Security forces intervene in a demonstration by university students as they protest the failure of the Kurdistan Regional Government to increase the financial allowances allocated to complete their education. (Later photos show they set fire to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan building in the background.) Sulaymaniyah, November 23, 2021. Fariq Faraj Mahmood/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
MER Article

The Rise and Fall of Kurdish Power in Iraq

More than thirty years after its founding, the KRG faces an uncertain future.
Bilal Wahab • 11 min read
Two Decades of Uneven Federalism in Iraq
A bridge over the Shatt al-Arab river, formed by the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. (Hussein Faleh/AFP via Getty Images)Iraq with governorate boundaries. Map by the United Nations.
MER Article

Two Decades of Uneven Federalism in Iraq

Transforming the centralized Iraqi state into a federal state was one of the most pressing political goals for the engineers and so-called nation builders behind the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Proponents of federalism, like the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), saw it
Hamzeh Hadad • 8 min read
Perpetual Protest and the Failure of the post-2003 Iraqi State
Image of a protester and the Turkish restaurant building in Tahrir Square, Baghdad, designed by Atef Al-Jaffal/Jummar.A Tishreeni mural from Tahrir Square, Baghdad. Photograph by author.A Tishreeni mural from Tahrir Square, Baghdad. Photograph by author.The November 2020 Sadrist demonstration at the Turkish restaurant. Photograph by the author.Safaa Al SarayThe Turkish restaurant during Tishreen. Photograph by the author.Hashd commemoration in Tahrir Square of the first anniversary of the assassination of Abu Mahdi al Muhandis and Qasim Suleimani. January 2021. Khalid Al-Mousily/ReutersBanner on the Turkish restaurant announcing the forthcoming Tishreen Museum. Photograph by the author.
MER Article

Perpetual Protest and the Failure of the post-2003 Iraqi State

Tishreen transformed Iraq's protest culture. Can protest transform the post-2003 state?
Fanar Haddad • 14 min read
Interview—The Past, Present and Future of Iraq’s Cultural Heritage
In the complex of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri and al-Habda Minaret, destroyed by ISIS in 2017. An earlier prayer hall and ablution rooms, dating to the 12th century, were discovered during the preparations for reconstruction. Mosul, Iraq, 2022. Ismael Adnan Yaqoob/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
MER Article

Interview—The Past, Present and Future of Iraq’s Cultural Heritage

A conversation with archaeologists Mark Altaweel and Jaafar Jotheri.
Mark Altaweel, Jaafar Jotheri, Hannah Parsons-Morgan • 14 min read