Wikijunior:Asia/Iraq

Iraq

Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العـراق), is a country in the Middle East. Iraq gained independence from Britian on October 3, 1932. Iraq still had ties with the British (economic and military ties). In 1958, after the Hashemite Monarchy was overthrown due to the Iraq's support on Allied Efforts, Iraq was forced to be controlled by military and civilian governments.

20 years later, Saddam Hussein took control of Iraq. He ruled the country for 20 years, until he was captured in a US raid in 2003.

Today, Fuad Masum is the 7th and current president of Iraq (2014 - ), the second Non-Arab president (Jalal Talabani being the first Non-Arab president; he was the 6th president of Iraq, 2005 - 2014).

Where is Iraq?

Iraq's location in green

Located in the Middle East, Western Asia and compromising of 437,367 square kilometers of land and 950 square kilometers of water, making the country take position 59 on the list of large nations in the world (with a total area of 438,317 square kilometers), Iraq borders Turkey to the north, Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest, Syria to the west, and Iran to the east.

What is the most common religion in Iraq?

Islam is the national state religion

What are some important sights?

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