Guys, let's be honest - when I say 'Iraq', all you think of is:
*kaboom*
*le jet*
*'splosions*
*'nother jet*
*moar 'splosions*
But it's also:
*Iraqi music*
So, where do we go from there? Let's find out.
*le intro tune*
♫ It's time to learn Geography (NOW)! ♪
Hey everybody, I'm your host Barby.
We live in a generation that has almost never known a time
in which Iraq wasn't synonymous with war.
The funny thing is, it was like 'the Dubai of the '60s' -
tourists were flocking in, people had mansions, it was crazy.
So what happened?
Well first we have to explain where Iraq is.
Moving on -
*transitions*
One thing that makes in Iraq such a pivotal player in geopolitical strife
is its incredibly blessed yet cursed location. Let's explain:
Iraq is located in the Middle East, bordered by six other countries,
and don't forget they have a
*very very*
small narrow coast on the Persian Gulf
with their southernmost port, Um-Qasr on the Khawe az-Zubayr Waterway
(which by the way, they used to have an airport
but it literally got spliced in half by the Kuwaiti border).
This one guy: Uh, you said 'Persian Gulf'...isn't it 'Arabian Gulf'?
Barby: Didn't we literally just go over this in the last episode?
Okay I'm sorry, I'm sticking with history, and history says 'Persian'.
The country is divided into 19 governates or provinces
with the capital, Baghdad, the second largest city in the Arab world after Cairo
located in the heart of the historic Tigris River Valley
and with nearly 50,000 people per square kilometer,
the city makes the most dense country subdivision in the world.
After the obvious Baghdad, the next largest cities in the country are
Basra in the south
and Hillah in the fertile Euphrates region
and the largest airports are Baghdad, Basra and Erbil International.
And yes, you can still fly to Iraq and visit,
it's not like the whole country is completely closed off
They keep moving forward despite the war-
Guy again: Wait, really?
Barby: Yep! Although it's highly advised that you stay in the large cities
and don't make a spectacle of yourself, be respectful to the people
and you'll be fine, just like anywhere else-
Guy: But...there's terrorists...
Barby: We'll discuss that in a bit.
Now keep in mind these borders were pretty much a product of post-UK colonialism
from when Winston Churchill kind of helped establish what the Iraqis like to call an 'artificial monarchy'-
-we'll talk more about that later, too.
Guy: *rages* You keep making me wait for stuff!
Barby: I- I- I know! Ju- j- just just hold on.
Here's where things get a little confusing.
Taking the governates out of the picture,
there's kind of, technically, another way you could split up the regions of Iraq
based off of prevalent people groups.
After war times, ethno-linguistic and religious people groups started to kind of segregate themselves
into three distinct areas: The south, which is where the majority of the Shias live,
the middle, which is where most of the minority Sunnis live
and the north where most of the Kurds live amongst other groups
like Assyrians, Yazedis, Lurs and so on.
Now here's a strange part - these three governates in the north: Erbil, Dahūk and Sulaymānīyah
make up the region of Iraqi Kurdistan,
which is an incredibly autonomous zone from the rest of the country, where the majority of Kurds live.
They have their own government, prime minister and 'quasi-army',
which means the Iraqi army has no access to this area.
If you don't know anything about the Kurds,
basically they are one of the largest minority groups in the Middle East.
We'll talk about that another time, let's move on.
Now let's just get it over with and cover what you're all thinking.
Yes, there are some parts of Iraq that are kind of like no-go zones,
specifically in the west and central areas.
As of 2017, numerous international travel boards have advised 'strongly against travel' in the Red Zone,
which is located more or less over here
for most of the conflict between ISIS-
(there you go!)
-and various other groups are found.
Keep in mind this information is applicable to the time this video was uploaded
so I don't know what the future holds or if this video would be outdated soon...?
It looks like tension and conflict are dying down but for now we can't be completely sure.
Otherwise, some top notable sites in Iraq might include places like
Eridu and Uruk, two of the oldest cities in the world,
Ur, the home of Abraham and the Sumerian Ziggurat,
The Al Shaheed monument,
the Tree of Knowledge,
the Mudhif houses of the Marsh Arabs,
the ruins of former Babylon in Hillah,
Alexander the Great's tomb,
Ctesiphon, the ancient capital of Persia,
Lalesh, which is like the holiest site to the Yazidis,
Ninevah, the ancient capital of the Assyrian Empire,
the Al-Najaf cemeteries, the largest in the world,
Baghdad zoo-
(yes, they have a zoo)
-the victory arches of Qadis-yiah,
the shopping districts of Al Mansour and Al Karradda,
the tomb of the Unknown Soldier,
the Abbasid Mosque of Samarra,
the Iraqi National Museum
and if you can get access, you can see a 605-page Quran written entirely out of the blood of Saddam Hussein.
(yeah, that was an interesting time in their history)
It's a sad truth, but the fact is, Iraq is probably the most beautifully historic region on the planet
with the worst of circumstances.
Baghdad was the epicenter of science and mathematics for a period of time -
-they were rich, they were glorious, they were on fire!
but the the 20th century came along and hit them like a sack of bricks
and a lot of it had to do with what Iraq had hidden underneath its sand
which brings us to-
*transitions*
Now when you look at a satellite image of Iraq,
you'll notice that a lot of it is beige and sandy-colored
but then you get this big cluster of green and blue -
this whole area is like the lifeblood of Iraq.
You might have heard of Mesopotamia or the Fertile Crescent, right?
Yup, that's Iraq.
The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are the most important resources to the entire country,
converging into the Shatt Al-Arab River in the south, that eventually dumps into the Persian Gulf.
About 75% of the entire country lives in between these two rivers.
Composition-wise, Iraq is made up of four main geographical regions:
the dry deserts in the west and southwest,
the Fertile alluvial plains by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers,
the uplands to the North
and the highlands and the mountains in the far north and northeast.
The highest point in the country at 3,600 metres doesn't have an official name
But it's known locally as Cheekah Dar, which means 'black tent'.
Now Iraq's climate is pretty dry as they only get about
9.5 inches or 24 centimeters of rain every year.
However, the mountains can get lots of snow which melts rapidly and in the past
has caused a lot of flood problems.
So what did they do?
They've built a ton of dams which in return created a ton of
artificial lakes and reservoirs, the largest one being the Tharthar.
They got lucky with Tharthar because over time it developed an actual biosphere
containing animals, plants and fish whereas most of the other lakes weren't so lucky
because you know, when you try to make a lake in a desert...
...yeah, you're gonna get a lot of salt and silt that nothing can live off of.
Otherwise Lake Habbaniyah has a strange blood-red coast, mostly made up of algae.
ANNIE WHEY!
Due to the Mediterranean wind fronts that constantly push from the west
Iraq is subject to the 'shamal' or the 'northwest wind'
which creates some of the worst sand and dust storms imaginable.
If you survive, drink some water and brag on social media.
Otherwise, the fertile valleys do allow them to grow and provide their populace
with some of the typical middle Eastern crops like rice and lentils and dates and so on.
Some national dishes include things like
Baghdadi dolma,
Moslawi kubbah,
Bacha,
Masgoof,
Iraqi sambosas
and klecha.
Nonetheless, almost 100% of Iraq's entire export sector is made up of oil and petroleum
Iraq has the third largest oil reserves in the middle East after Saudi Arabia and Iran.
You would think this would make them incredibly rich and at one point it kind of did.
However, over time, things kinda changed
and in order to understand that, you kinda have to know some history
which brings us to the most controversial part of this entire episode...
*transition*
At this point, Iraqis have heard it all:
War,
Saddam,
Al-Qaeda,
ISIS,
they get it, and we will get to that.
I'm not going to sugarcoat this episode and avoid the drama,
but I also want you to learn that Iraq has a completely unnoticed vibrant culture and heritage
that still thrives despite all the chaos.
First of all,
Iraq has a population of about 38 million and is home to the oldest recorded civilizations on Earth.
About 75% of the country is made up of Arabs, about 15% are Kurds
and the remainder is made up of numerous smaller people groups like
Assyrians,
Turkmenis
and Yazidis and Shabaks.
They also use the Iraqi Dinar as their currency.
They use the Type-C, D, G plug outlets
and they drive on the right side of the road.
The interesting thing about Iraq is that outside of Iran it is one of the only few countries
that has a Shia majority population at about 65%.
Sunnis make up only about a quarter of the population and the rest are
mostly Christians and Yazidis.
In fact, two of the holiest sites in Shia Islam apart from Mecca and Medina
can be found in the city of Karbala.
The Imam Ali Mosque, believed to be the burial site of the Shia prophet, Ali
and the Imam Husayn Shrine, where the grandson martyr of Muhammad is buried.
Nonetheless, Iraq is deeply rooted in a historical foundation that pretty much topples most other countries.
They developed the first writing system that we know of-
- the wedgy Cuneiform script on clay tablets -
- after them, in the quickest way I can put it, the rest of the history kinda goes like this:
Akkadians, and then
oh hey
Abraham, the father of all Abrahamic religions comes out of the city of Ur,
Assyrians,
Canaanites
Babylonians,
Hammurabi,
Hittites,
Neo-Assyrian Empire,
Neo-Babylonian Empire,
King Nebuchadnezzar II,
Persians come in,
Cyrus the Great crushes them,
then Alexander the great crushes Persia,
Parthians take a quick shot,
but then quickly are crushed by the Romans,
Christianity comes in, mostly to the Assyrians,
Middle Ages,
Muslims come in and dominate by conquest,
Rashidun, Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates,
the Islamic Golden Age begins,
the Mongols come in and slaughter a ton of people,
Black Death spreads,
the Ottomans come in,
then the Brits come in during WW1,
they concoct an Iraqi monarchy,
then there was a war,
a coup,
July Revolution by the Baathist Party,
more coup d'états,
Saddam Hussein comes into power in 1979,
backed up by the US and Russia, he fights against Iran after the Islamic Revolution
He then attacked his own people and then tries to invade and attack Kuwait,
the US cuts ties and attack Saddam after the war sanctions were put on them,
then in 2003, the US and allies come in under the pretext
of weapons of mass destruction programs violation under UN Resolution 687-
-turns out there were no weapons of mass destruction, but they take out Saddam anyway
Then the weird years happen in which they're kind of like:
'yay let's take down the statue of Saddam and celebrate, but
ohh crap
the Americans are intervening',
eventually the US withdraws in 2011 under Obama
but then an Al-Qaeda affiliate breaks off and creates a new group
that pretty much hates everyone called ISIL (later ISIS)
they attack in occupy various cities across the two countries,
they get pretty big in 2015 and 16, but soon later
they realize they have literally no diplomatic ties or outside relations
which are kind of key in conflict,
after getting attacked from every side from every nation around them and the Western world,
they start to deteriorate
and that's kind of where we are today.
*phews*
Once again, keep in mind this video might be outdated soon
so until then all we can do is observe and hope things get resolved.
It's so complex, and if you want a full perspective
I'm not your best source - an Iraqi person directly affected by current events would be -
-talk to them, listen to them.
Furthermore, what it comes down to is,
Iraq is sandwiched right between two of the biggest influencers in the Middle East:
Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Some sociologists would argue that it was inevitable that Iraq
would become a tension ground one way or another solely based off of its precarious location,
now it's kind of stuck in a weird limbo zone of
'okay, Saddam is gone,
but insurgents are up and the western world is getting involved
and the whole western part of the country is off limits-
whut da-
can I just-
can errybody just get out
I just want to go home and eat dinner and watch a movie!'
Granted, daily life does come with a tincher of constant alertness since you never know something could happen
and yes many people have died at the hands of conflict,
many historical sites have been destroyed.
But overall, Baghdad, Basra, Erbil and most of the main metropolitan areas in the east
still functions somewhat normally.
They have Internet, they have operating hospitals and schools,
they even have quite a few amusement parks with
rollercoasters and
McDonald's and
Pizza Hut joints.
However, they also like to open up their own knockoff joints like
'Burger Friends' and
'KFCK'.
Iraqis have gone through a lot but even then they still know how to laugh
and have fun like mentioned before there are quite a few different people groups in Iraq-
We mentioned the Kurds which by the way, Kurdish is an official language in addition to Arabic
but there's also the Assyrians, who claim to be descended from the ancient Assyrians
who make up the largest Christian population as Jesus' apostles came in and
preached the gospel to the area in the first century.
They have their own writing system and traditions-
there used to be a bunch of ancient Assyrian artifacts and sites until ISIS destroyed them in Mosul,
then you also have the Yazidis who are kind of related to the Kurds
but they have their own secretive religion and customs as well.
Handicrafts, rugs and tea culture is huge. They love dancing whenever there's a break from all the drama.
Some notable people from Iraq or of Iraqi descent might include people like
Hammurabi,
Abraham,
Sargon of Akkad,
Nebuchadnezzar II,
Ashurnasirpal II,
Salah Al Din Al Ayyubi,
Saddam Hussein
(although they might not be too proud of that),
Kathem Al Saher,
Mohammed Ghani Hikmat,
the most accomplished female architect in the world, Zaha Hadid
Ammo Baba,
Layla Al-Attar,
Seta Hagopian,
Maruf al Rusafi.
So that should give you a little insight on the people of Iraq
and boy have they made a name for themselves on the international stage.
Let's see how that works out for them
*transition*
First of all, you have to understand that Iraq is kind of like another Bosnia-Herzegovina-scenario
in which different people groups in the country have different relations with different countries within Iraq
and it kind of depends on who you ask.
If you ask the Kurds and Assyrians in the north, they might say Western countries like the US and UK.
(they even have a representative office in London)
and the Assyrians love Armenia.
They might also say that other regions that have high Kurdish populations
like East turkey and western Iran might be friends
but not collectively Turkey and Iran as nations altogether.
If you ask the Shias they might say kind of Iran even though there was a war back in the '80s
but it was more of like a Saddam thing, and they're both Shia, they both moved on,
plus you know the pilgrimage in Karbala.
If you ask the Sunnis,
It's tricky - it had some issues with Jordan and Saudi Arabia in the past
however they really seem to like Egyptian and Yemeni people, but not their governments.
Plus, they kind of support Turkey which pisses off the Kurds...
Now every Iraqi person I've talked to has said that one country would most likely be their best friend-
-Syria.
But again the Syrian people, not the government
One thing that binds these two is that not only in modern times do they both
hate struggling with conflict against radical Islamic terrorists,
But historically they've been linked for millennia
Diplomacy has been existent between these two through all variants of their countries throughout history,
even before the rise of the caliphates.
Persian, Babylonian, Assyrian Empires, Syrians are seen as like their own people that
they love and hold hands with in the midst of the storm.
In conclusion, Iraq is home to so much of the beginning that is being crushed by the present
but is still alive and crawling -
*crawling*
- into the future.
Stay tuned!
Ireland is coming up and I am literally flying out our favorite Irish guy, 'Potter' to be here in the episode!
(That's not the correct pronunciation of his name, but I don't care - you're still named 'Potter' to me.)
*le outro music*