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Understanding Iraq

The Whole Sweep of Iraqi History, from Genghis Khan's Mongols to the Ottoman Turks to the British Mandate to the American Occupation

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Understanding Iraq

By: William R. Polk
Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
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About this listen

Iraq will continue to be a major issue and involvement for the United States into the foreseeable future says William R. Polk, former member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Council and professor of Middle Eastern history at the University of Chicago. Iraq sits on the world’s largest supply of oil, and with the world’s energy requirements continuously rising, Iraq will play an ongoing role in the global economy and the political environment throughout the Gulf region and the Middle East.

Polk’s concise, authoritative overview of Iraq’s history shows how the pattern of outside intervention was established first by the Ottoman Turks and the Persian Safavids and later by England, Russia, and Germany. After World War I came British rule, followed by a brief and uneasy period of independence that sparked Iraqi nationalism, leading Saddam Husain to power with American military and financial aid and covert CIA involvement. The Iraq-Iran War and the invasion of Kuwait was followed by the Gulf War, the sanctions period, and the Bush administration’s decision to invade. Finally, there is the American occupation and the challenges, opportunities, and options that Iraqis and Americans face now and in the future.

©2005 William R. Polk (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing Elections & Political Process Middle East
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Perfect, concise work.

If you are into Middle Eastern politics and history you will love it. I have been interested in Iraq for a long time but after reading about the Mongol Empire I wanted to hear more about their conquest of the Middle East. This book covers that very well, how Iraq became a country, British mandate Iraq, through to Saddam and all modern wars.

Answered a lot of questions I had previously asked about Iraq for example “why has democracy never succeeded?” and “Why is Iraq not prosperous as it should be?”, with much deeper answers other than the “obv cause saddam”.

Really loved it.

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