Ba'athist Iraq | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 2018-12-03

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Ba'athist Iraq


00:03:34 1 History
00:03:43 1.1 1968 coup
00:07:58 1.2 Al-Bakr's rule and Saddam's rise to power (1968–1979)
00:12:42 1.3 Early years, Iran–Iraq War and aftermath (1979–1990)
00:17:41 1.4 Persian Gulf War, the 1990s, and the Iraq War (1990–2003)
00:21:42 2 Politics
00:21:50 2.1 Political system
00:24:02 2.1.1 Ba'ath Party
00:25:33 2.1.1.1 National Progressive Front
00:26:38 2.2 Opposition
00:28:29 2.3 State ideology
00:28:38 2.3.1 Party ideology
00:30:44 2.3.2 Saddamism
00:33:15 2.3.3 The Return to Faith Campaign
00:36:05 3 Foreign policy
00:36:14 3.1 Relations with the Soviet Union
00:39:35 3.2 Relations with the United States
00:41:06 4 Economy
00:41:15 4.1 Planning system
00:42:25 4.2 Economic growth
00:45:36 4.3 Demise of development
00:49:34 4.4 UN sanctions
00:53:36 4.5 Modest growth
00:54:45 5 Military
00:54:54 5.1 Expenditure
00:56:21 5.2 Size
00:58:41 6 Culture



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SUMMARY
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Ba'athist Iraq, formally the Iraqi Republic, covers the history of Iraq between 1968 and 2003, during the period of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party's rule. This period began with high economic growth and soaring prosperity, but ended with Iraq facing social, political, and economic stagnation. The average annual income decreased because of several external factors, and several internal policies of the government.
Iraqi President Abdul Rahman Arif, and Iraqi Prime Minister Tahir Yahya, were ousted during the 17 July coup d'état led by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr of the Ba'ath Party, which had previously held power in 1963 and was led primarily by al-Bakr, its leader, and Saddam Hussein. Saddam through his post as de facto chief of the party's intelligence services, became the country's de facto leader by the mid-1970s, and became de jure leader in 1979 when he succeeded al-Bakr in office as President. During al-Bakr's de jure rule, the country's economy grew, and Iraq's standing within the Arab world increased. However, several internal factors were threatening the country's stability, among them the country's conflict with Iran and factions within Iraq's own Shia Muslim community. An external problem was the border conflict with Iran, which would contribute to the Iran–Iraq War.
Saddam became the President of Iraq, Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, Prime Minister and General Secretary of the Regional Command of the Ba'ath Party in 1979, during a wave of anti-government protests in Iraq led by Shias. The Ba'ath Party, which was officially secular in nature, harshly repressed the protests. Another policy change was Iraq's foreign policy towards Iran, a Shia Muslim country. Deteriorating relations eventually led to the Iran–Iraq War, which started in 1980 when Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran. Following the 1979 Iranian revolution, the Iraqis believed the Iranians to be weak, and thus an easy target for their military. This notion proved to be incorrect, and the war lasted for eight years. Iraq's economy deteriorated during the war, and the country became dependent on foreign donations to fund their war effort. The war ended in a stalemate when a ceasefire was reached in 1988, which resulted in a status quo ante bellum.
When the war ended, Iraq found itself in the midst of an economic depression, owed millions of dollars to foreign countries, and was unable to repay its creditors. Kuwait, which had deliberately increased oil output following the war, reducing international oil prices, further weakened the Iraqi economy. In response to this, Saddam threatened Kuwait that, unless it reduced its oil output, Iraq would invade. Negotiations broke down, and on 2 August 1990, Iraq launched an invasion of Kuwait. The resulting international response led to the Persian Gulf War, which Iraq lost. The United Nations (UN) initiated economic sanctions in the war's aftermath to weaken the Ba'athist Iraqi regime. The country's economic conditions worsened during the 1990s, and at  ...