Iran and Iraq Master 2015(1)

Iran and Iraq

Lectures for 45-372By Dr. Amore

Issue 1: Sunni-Shi’i Tensions

• Historically, political power in the region has usually been held by Sunni’s rather than Shi’is.

The Shi’i population varies from around -93% in Iran-50% in Iraq

Tensions have arisen as political power has shifted from Sunni to Shi’i Iraq.

Sunni Shi’i Tensions

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/27/sunni-shiite-violence_n_5617767.html

•The link above goes to a video on the Sunni-Shi’i conflicts.

Issue 2. Political Rise of Clerics in Iran

• Photo fromby Seyed Shahaboddin Vajedi [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Ayatollah KhomeiniBefore his successful Iranian Revolution, Khomeini• Made the hajj• Met with Islamic Brotherhood– Favoured a religious based social order

• Became important in the hierarchy• Became a businessman too• Went on a long retreat – Returned focused on cleansing the world of corruption

Ayatollah Khomeini

Khomeini strongly denounced the Shah’s reform agenda, the ‘white revolution.’ Kh. was

• anti-Western– Wanted US soldiers tried in Iranian courts

• anti-shah– Called him an enemy of Islam

• anti-Jewish

Ayatollah Khomeini

Khomeini was sent into exile• Spent a year in Turkey• Then lived in Paris• Wrote tracts and gave lectures– Tracts and cassettes were smuggled into Iran

• A large following developed, around a lot of issues– Anti-West, anti-Shah, anti-poverty

Islamic Revolution

• 1979 With the Shah’s regime in shambles and the Shah out of the country, a struggle occurred between two styles of government in a ‘post-Shah’ Iran.– Democratic Republic– Islamic Republic

• With the army staying neutral, Khomeini gained power and an Islamic Revolution led to a Islamic Republic

Islamic Revolution

• 1979 With the Shah’s regime in shambles and the Shah out of the country, a struggle occurred between two styles of government in a ‘post-Shah’ Iran.– Democratic Republic– Islamic Republic

• With the army staying neutral, Khomeini gained power and an Islamic Revolution led to a Islamic Republic

Islamic Revolution

• The Islamic Republic had– Khomeini as the Guardian (or Supreme Leader)– A Parliament, with limited power

• A dual form of government was created– Elected and appointed government officials– With committees of clerics, at all levels,

overseeing their actions.• A ‘democratic’ façade over a theocratic

power.

Hostage Crisis

• Students marched to the US embassy to protest the US allowing the Shah to come to the US for medical treatment.

• The protesters were able to take over the embassy and hold the staff hostage.

• April 1980. Pres. Carter’s ‘Operation Eagle Claw’ failed miserably in its attempt to rescue the hostages.

• Hostages were released during Reagan’s inauguration.

Iran Iraq War

• 1980. Saddam Hussain reacted to the rise of Shi’i power in Iran by launching a war against Iran. He hoped to – gain oil fields and – limit the rising influence of Iranian Shi’is among

Iraq’s Shi’i majority population • Iraq gained territory at first, but slowly lost

that and more over the long war.• The long war ended in a stalemate.

Iran Today

• Iran remains tightly controlled by Islamicist clerics, who – Determine who may run for office– Have veto power over all decisions– Enforce conservative (or fundamentalist) norms on

society.• But Iran’s young population, mostly born after

1979, is increasingly unhappy with their Islamicist regime. Pro-democracy demonstrations are common now, but meet with brutal suppression.

Issue 3: Political Role of Clerics in Iraqphoto from WikiCommons

1920 Revolt and Sunni Dominance

• After the unsuccessful 1920 revolt against British rule, the British set up and backed an Iraqi monarchy.

• The army leadership was dominated by men from elite Sunni families.

• After independence, power lay in the hands of Sunni military, Sunni politicians and businessmen, and behind the scenes, Sunni clerics.

Al-Sistani and the Quietist School

• Ali al-Sistani, born in an Iranian family, emerged as a leading Ayatollah among Iraqi Shi’is.

• He favours the ‘Quietist School’ of religion and politics– Meaning, clerics should not be directly involved in

governing, but should lay down religious principles.

The Sadr Activist School

• Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr favoured a socially engaged form of cleric leadership. He championed ways to meet the needs of the poor in impoverished areas of Iraq’s cities.

• He was killed, most likely by the Baath Party elite, in 1980– Making him a martyr and champion of the poor.


• Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, known as Sadr II, was a cousin of the earlier Sadr.

• Sadr II gave Friday sermons calling for improvements for the poor.

• He is killed in 1999, along with his two sons.• Saddam’s regime was the suspected killer.• Saddam banned all public funeral celebrations

for him, or related demonstrations.


• 2003 Saddam’s Baath regime falls.• Muqtada al-Sadr, son of Sadr II, emerged

after the fall of Saddam as a popular critic of the US and the post-Saddam regime.

• Based in a poor Baghdad neighborhood, Sadr City, he commanded a private militia, the Mahdi Army, that made him the de facto ruler of the area.

Issue 4: The New Caliphate and the Islamic State

• From 2006, a group of Islamists broke away from Al-Qaeda and other Sunni militant groups to form the Islamic State in Iraq.

• As the territory claimed grew, the name changed:– Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL)– Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham [Greater Syria]

(ISIS)– And now just Islamic State (IS)


• The goal is to have an Islamic State stretching across the Middle East (and parts of Africa)

• To unite Sunni Muslims• Under a new Caliphate• Led by the self-proclaimed Caliph:– Abu Bakr al-Bhagdadi


• Oil plays a big role for and against the new Caliphate.– IS funds itself through • looted valuables• Taxes• Oil sales from captured oil wells


• Oil plays a big role for and against the new Caliphate.

• And the opponents of IS are fighting back by– making it difficult to buy IS oil– Lowering the price of oil to reduce IS inflow

Overview

• From 1921 (Sunni dominated Monarchy begins) to 2003 (fall of Saddam), Iraq’s majority Shi’is were a disempowered underclass.

• After 2003, Iraq’s Shi’i population has seen– Increasing political power– Increasing links to Iranian Shi’is– A more toward the religious right • Toward an Iranian style theocracy ideal.

Overview

• Shi’i regional power is growing• A form of Shi’i Islam that favours theocracy

and strict government enforcement of conservative beliefs– Fostered and led the Iranian Revolution– Has spread into Iraq– Has spread among the Shi’i in Syria and Lebanon• The Sadr family has strong Lebanese ties

Documents

Iran and Iraq Master 2015(1)