Formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, Iraq was occupied by Britain during the course of World War I. In 1920, it was declared a League of Nations mandate under UK administration. In stages over the next dozen years, Iraq attained its independence as a kingdom in 1932. A "republic" was proclaimed in 1958, but in actuality a series of military strongmen ruled the country until 2003, the last was Saddam Hussein.

Territorial disputes with Iran led to an inconclusive and costly eight-year war (1980-88). In August 1990, Iraq seized Kuwait, but was expelled by US-led, UN coalition forces during the Gulf War of January-February 1991. Following Kuwait's liberation, the UN Security Council (UNSC) required Iraq to scrap all weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles and to allow UN verification inspections.

Continued Iraqi noncompliance with UNSC resolutions over a period of 12 years led to the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and the ouster of the Saddam Hussein regime. Coalition forces remain in Iraq under a UNSC mandate, helping to provide security and to support the freely elected government.

The Coalition Provisional Authority, which temporarily administered Iraq after the invasion, transferred full governmental authority on 28 June 2004 to the Iraqi Interim Government, which governed under the Transitional Administrative Law for Iraq (TAL). Under the TAL, elections for a 275-member Transitional National Assembly (TNA) were held in Iraq on 30 January 2005. Following these elections, the Iraqi Transitional Government (ITG) assumed office. The TNA was charged with drafting Iraq's permanent constitution, which was approved in a 15 October 2005 constitutional referendum.

An election under the constitution for a 275-member Council of Representatives (CoR) was held on 15 December 2005. The CoR approval in the selection of most of the cabinet ministers on 20 May 2006 marked the transition from the ITG to Iraq's first constitutional government in nearly a half-century.

Capital: Baghdad

Currency: New Iraqi dinar (NID) 

Iraq is located in the Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf. It sits between Turkey and Syria in the north, Iran in the east, Jordan to the west, and in the south Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

The country is comprised of 4,910 square kilometers of water and 432,162 square kilometers of land, for a total area of 437,072 square kilometers -- slightly more than double the size of Idaho.

The climate of Iraq is mostly desert, with mild to cool winters and dry, hot, cloudless summers. The northern mountainous regions along Iranian and Turkish borders experience cold winters with occasionally heavy snows that melt in early spring, sometimes causing extensive flooding in central and southern Iraq.

Iraq's natural resources include petroleum, natural gas, phosphates, and sulfur.

Iraq holds a strategic location on the Shatt al Arab waterway and at the head of the Persian Gulf.

The vast majority of Iraqis (75-80%) are Arab, with 15-20% Kurdish and the rest Turkoman, Assyrian, or some other ethnic group.

Iraqis are overwhelmingly Muslim, with Shi'a at 60-65% and Sunni at 32-37%.

The main languages in Iraq are Arabic, Kurdish (official language in the northern Kurdish regions), Assyrian, and Armenian.

The Iraqi flag has three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black with three green five-pointed stars in a horizontal line centered in the white band.

The phrase ALLAHU AKBAR (God is Great) in green Arabic script - Allahu to the right of the middle star and Akbar to the left of the middle star - was added in January 1991 during the Persian Gulf crisis. This is similar to the flag of Syria, which has two stars but no script, Yemen, which has a plain white band, and that of Egypt which has a gold Eagle of Saladin centered in the white band.

The overall design is based upon the Arab Liberation colors.