Sectarian violence in Iraq
Sectarian violence in Iraq refers to the conflict that had developed in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq as a result of rising sectarian tensions between the different religious and ethnic groups of Iraq, most notably the conflict between extremist Shi'ite groups and extremist Sunni groups, which escalated into a full-scale civil war between 2006 until 2008, and had largely ceased following the defeat of ISIS in 2017 during the 2013–2017 war in Iraq.
According to most sources, including the CIA's World Factbook, the majority of Iraqis are Shi'i Arab Muslims amounting to around 64% to 69% of the population, whereas Sunni Muslims represent between 32% and 37% of the population. Furthermore, the Sunnis are split ethnically among Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen.
Historical background
Before the creation of the Iraqi state, Iraq's territory belonged to the Ottoman Empire as Ottoman Iraq and was divided up into three vilayets : Baghdad Vilayet, Basra Vilayet and Mosul Vilayet. Together, these three vilayets were home to a wide variety of different ethnic and religious groups which all lived in relative tolerance under Ottoman rule, although the Shi'i community was largely excluded from administrative positions and the army. After the First World War, the population of the three vilayets were unified into one nation-state under the British Mandate. In line with the ‘Sharifan Solution’, the British appointed a Sunni Arab as king: Faisal I of Iraq. Zoe Preston states that this decision to back Sunni Arab political leadership, despite being a minority in Iraq, created an exclusion of other religious and ethnic groups.With the state of Iraq granted independence in 1932, the struggle to create an Iraqi national identity became more apparent. Although Faisal I repeatedly tried to bring cultural values and practices of Shi'ites, Sunnis and other populations together within the context of Pan-Arabism, the outcome was a more visible distinction between the ethnic and religious groups of Iraq. Many Shi'i Arabs opposed Pan-Arabism because of their fear for marginalization while many Kurds opposed Pan-Arabism because of their demand for an independent Kurdish state. So on the one hand, Shi'ites, Kurds and other sects refused to give up their cultural values and practices. While on the other hand, the Sunnis in power tried to abolish these values and practices in cohesion with Pan-Arabism. Eventually, this led to a clearer consolidation of the different communities which resulted in the enhancement of division among Iraq's population. Kurds were wary of Arab domination from the central authority in Baghdad. Furthermore, Iraq's independence and the struggle to create a national identity resulted in different unsuccessful tribal uprisings and clashes in the 1930s. Yet, the government repeatedly managed to knock down the riots and maintain its hegemony.
The first official documented attempt to outline sectarian frustrations after the establishment of the Iraqi state came with the Najaf Charter document in 1935. In this 12-point manifesto, a group of Shi'i lawyers expressed their discontent about sectarian discrimination against the majority of the Shi'ite population and called for the appointment of Shi'i judges and courts in predominantly Shi'ite areas and development projects throughout the country, especially in the south. Although this manifesto was the first effort to present the sectarian elite with political frustrations, aspirations, and demands of the Shi'ites, they remained unheard.
After 1932, the Iraqi government kept expanding its bureaucracy, increasing Sunni control over the state's machinery. Although greater control of the government meant fewer uprisings and rioting, sectarian tensions among the Iraqi population kept growing. These sectarian tensions were supplemented with a very stark unequal wealth distribution between the urban elite and the rural population. These different tensions eventually resulted in the 14 July Revolution of 1958 in which the Hashemite monarchy was overthrown by a group of army officers under the leadership of General Abd al-Karim Qasim who then founded the Republic of Iraq. Having a mixed Sunni-Shi'i background, General Abd al-Karim Qasim abolished the practice of limiting Shi'ites and peoples with other ethnic backgrounds into the military. Although this measure made him partly popular, sectarian tensions with the Kurdish population of Iraq developed into a violent conflict which started in 1961 after Qassim was unable to fulfill his promise of Kurdish national rights. Furthermore, his implementation of land reforms and reforms regarding family law undermined the power of religious leaders and landlords, meaning that tension between his regime and religious leaders increased.
These tensions, along with disagreement within the government on whether to pursue an Iraqi nationalist or Pan-Arabist agenda, eventually resulted in the bloody overthrowing of the Qassim regime in February 1963, also known as the Ramadan Revolution. After various bloody street battles between primarily the Shi'i working class and Ba'athist militias, a variety of Arab Nationalist army officers, primarily Sunni-affiliated officers, took over power. Of them, the pan-Arabist Abdul Salam Arif became president. However, his power was constantly challenged by members of his cabinet who opted for a more sectarian and violent trajectory and were members of the Ba'ath Party. In order to appease these elements, loyalties of communalism and sectarianism were thus restored under Arif's presidency, as well as the political power of Sunni Arab nationalists. Sectarian policies thus remained in place and further enhanced sectarian and inter-communal tensions. Within this tense atmosphere, different officers and cliques planned military coups to overthrow Arif's rule and seize power. Eventually, in a bloodless coup in 1968, the Ba’ath Party seized power for the second time in a decade.
Anti-sectarian efforts under Ba'ath rule
With the resurrection of power to the Ba’ath Party, Iraq entered a new stage of nation-building. This included two main strategies of cultivating national identity under Ba’ath rule throughout the 1970s and 80s. The first strategy was to enhance social integration through the success of state-sponsored development programs, which were made possible by the growth of the Iraqi economy. In the 1970s, the government nationalized Iraq's oil industry and, with the revenues from the export of this oil, Iraq started a project of modernization and nation-building. In addition to investments in infrastructure and industry, the Iraqi government also launched a program to invest in basic public goods such as schools, universities, and hospitals. By doing this, Iraq developed into a welfare state: citizens throughout the country benefitted from economic advancement, rising incomes and social mobility, regardless of their ethnic, tribal or religious background.This links to the second strategy which was to de-emphasize sectarian identity. Ba'ath ideology can be categorized as a Pan-Arabist ideology with a clear socialist component. In line with this ideology, the Iraqi Ba'ath Party advocated a focus on an Iraqi nationalist identity with no room for sectarian affiliations. As a result, the party downplayed any religious affiliations and instead pursued a secular, nationalist Iraq. Later, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, this nationalist Iraq was to be based on a common Mesopotamian past in order to incorporate both the Shi'ite and Kurdish population into the project of nationalist state-building.
Sectarian violence at the beginning of Ba’ath rule
In line with its nationalist nature, the Ba’ath party managed to include different ethnic and religious groups in their governmental system after 1968. And while Shi'i Arabs and Kurds did not reach the highest levels of political power, they still managed to reach high levels of influence within the regime. However, with the rising influence of Saddam Hussein during the 1970s, he came to appoint tribal and regional allies to the most influential positions within the government. Whereas the Ba'ath party thus tried to emphasise a common national identity at the expense of communal sectarian identities, the policies of building on a small circle of trusted allies by both Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and his successor Saddam Hussein, caused a rift between the national emphasis of the Ba'ath party and their own communal interests.From the 1970s onwards, sectarian tensions brewed underneath the surface and sectarian opposition and violence began to occur and were at times highly vocal. Primarily a vast majority of the Shi'ites were discontent about their governmental exclusion. Although the Ba'ath propagated the abolishment of sectarian ideologies and the inclusion of different sects in the military and other governmental institutions, by 1977 only Sunni tribal figures close to Hussein maintained positions in the Revolutionary Command Council, the highest form of authority. Furthermore, the Kurdish population also felt marginalized by the Ba'ath. Towards the end of the 1960s, the Ba'ath Party started an Arabization campaign of Northern Iraq in order to secure the north's loyalty. This meant that many Kurdish families were displaced and replaced with Arab families. An example of clear violent sectarian opposition to such policies is the Second Iraqi-Kurdish War which took place in 1974 and 1975, when different Kurdish rebel groups unsuccessfully tried to gain independence in Northern Iraq by initiating riots. During the same period, the Shi'ite Da’wa party gained popularity in Iraq. After its establishment in 1970, party activists initiated different riots, most noteworthy the riots in 1974 and 1977.
Because of its military supremacy and resources, the Ba'ath regime was able to quickly crackdown on such riots with a sectarian character. From the start, the Ba'ath regime had established tight control over Iraq's population. All those considered unloyal, were manoeuvred away, and close allies, often selected on a sectarian basis, were brought in. While the Ba'ath thus propagated national identity and included different ethnic and religious groups in the government, the party was also involved in constructing a tense atmosphere where there was no room for disloyalty or opposition. Under the Ba'ath regime, instances of sectarian violence were quickly crushed.