SUMMARY
The state of Iraq was created in 1921 under a British-held mandate from the League of Nations. The British appointed a king to head the local administration and the monarchy continued after formal independence in 1932. The monarchy was abolished after a coup in 1958, as the military became increasingly involved in politics. Within the military, the faction that sympathized with the Ba’ath party grew in influence as they participated in another successful coup in 1963, and the Ba’ath took power in 1968 and established a socialist one-party state. Under the Ba’ath era, the government expanded the security services as well as the military in the country in order to detect and suppress opposition to the government. Furthermore, several established agencies, such as the general Security Service (al-Amn al-‘Amm) were brought under the jurisdiction of the President. This development accelerated after Saddam Hussein in 1979 assumed the leadership of the country and purged the Ba’ath party leadership.
Saddam staffed the leading positions of all security agencies with relatives, members of his al-Bu Nasser tribe, or from his birth region around Tikrit, in order to assure the loyalty of the forces. It was reported that the Iraqi security apparatus (Mukhabarat) under Saddam Hussein was organised into five primary agencies as well as numerous more or less official police and paramilitary agencies. Among the responsibilities of these agencies was to direct intrastate military campaigns, while the actual armed forces primarily focused on external threats. There were, however, also several intelligence agencies concerned with detecting dissent within the armed forces to prevent revolts against Saddam.
Following the defeat of Iraq in the interstate conflict against Australia, UK, and the USA in 2003, Iraq temporarily became occupied by the UK and the USA. The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) dissolved the state apparatus of the former regime. The CPA was advised by an Interim Governing Council consisting of Iraqis, until both were replaced by an Iraqi Interim Government in June 2004. Following elections of a transitional assembly and the drafting of a new constitution in 2005, a new Iraqi democratic government was elected in December 2005. At the same time, there were concerted efforts of setting up new Iraqi military and police forces even though the government remained largely dependent on foreign help in upholding security.
Several of the opposition organisations that had fought against Saddam Hussein transformed into political parties and members of their armed wings joined the new Iraqi government forces. This included older forces such as the Badr Brigades of the SCIRI (Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq) and the so-called peshmerga forces of the KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party) and PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan), but also elements of recently formed militias such as the al-Mahdi army or the Fadhila. It was reported that these joined different parts of the security apparatus, in effect creating a mosaic of largely independent local government militias. Furthermore, as part of the counterinsurgency from 2007 onwards, the government started encouraging the formation of local paramilitary groups with announced plans of eventually transforming these into paid members of the Iraqi police force.
The Government of Iraq has been involved in the interstate, intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
