Iraq: Governance, Past And Present

Iraq’s capital city of Baghdad is located on the Tigris River. With a population touching 7 million, it is the nation’s most important metropolis, and the one of the largest of its kind in southwest Asia. With its history dating back to the 8th century, when it was renowned as a hub of learning and knowledge, it was the home of the House of Wisdom created solely for Greek, Middle Persian, and Syriac works’ translations. With problems brewing with the ancient Caliphate rule of the region during the period between the 10th and 16th centuries, during which the Mongols destroyed a great part of the heart and body of the city, Baghdad fell to further despair under the Ottoman empire’s reign till the 19th century. Then with the formation of a British kingdom in Iraq in the early 20th century, the nation finally took over the reins of its own governance in 1958. A couple of decades on, Baghdad rose to enormous power and prosperity with the steep upward climb of the price of oil, which happens to be the nation’s largest export tem. Post the Gulf War and Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, the United States military’s bombing of Baghdad began in mid 2003, which is when a lot of looting and rioting took place all over the city, resulting in loss of invaluable human and national treasures. The political upheaval of the country lies intricately woven into every aspect of its existence. Various priceless artifacts of the National Museum of Iraq were stolen during random disturbances. A Similar fate was in store for the hundreds of ancient documents lying in the city’s National Library, when the entire building fell due to arson. This continued till the end of the war, when Hussein was deposed, and Baghdad was taken over by the United States military. A Green Zone was created in the heart of Baghdad, for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to govern the nation, while the people of the country formed their own government. The CPA began the procedure for creating new political functions for the city’s 89 official neighborhoods within nine districts. With neighborhood councils in place, the members voted for their own representatives to take a place on the city's nine district councils, which was followed by the district councils electing their people for representation at the 37 member Baghdad City Council. With various other areas just out of Baghdad but lying within its provincial jurisdiction, a similar method was employed to form local councils from a total of 20 neighborhoods, which in turn chose their representatives for the six district councils. These in turn sent their chosen few to represent them in the 35 member Baghdad Regional Council. The last step of creation of the Baghdad province local government was done by election of people from the lower councils by their peers, for representation in the new Baghdad Provincial Council. This happened in 2005. Though this complicated hierarchy of 127 distinct councils might seem bulky, one must always remember that even at the lowest level, the groups serve a population of close to a 100,000 people each. For more information on Baghdad, Iraq visit http://baghdadmicroblog.com and http://iraqmicroblog.com