Iraq

Iraq was a country in the Middle East.

History
In 1991, Iraq was subject to an invasion by the United States in an attempt to remove Saddam Hussein from power; which it ultimately did not.

Sometime in 1997, Iraq went to war with Iran.

Government
The politics of Iraq take place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic. It is a multi-party system whereby the executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers as the head of government, as well as the President of Iraq, and legislative power is vested in the Council of Representatives and the Federation Council.

Geography
The geography of Iraq is diverse and falls into five main regions: the desert (west of the Euphrates), Upper Mesopotamia (between the upper Tigris and Euphrates rivers), the northern highlands of Iraq, Lower Mesopotamia, and the alluvial plain extending from around Tikrit to the Persian Gulf.

Society
Iraq has one of the world's oldest cultural histories. Iraq is where the Ancient Mesopotamian civilizations were, whose legacy went on to influence and shape the civilizations of the Old World. Culturally, Iraq has a very long and rich heritage. The country is known for its poets and its painters and sculptors are among the best in the Arab world, some of them being world-class. Iraq is known for producing fine handicrafts, including rugs and carpets. The architecture of Iraq is seen in the sprawling metropolis of Baghdad, where the construction is mostly new, with some islands of exquisite old buildings and compounds, and elsewhere in thousands of ancient and modern sites across Iraq.

Unlike many Arab countries, Iraq embraces and celebrates the achievements of its past in pre-Islamic times. What is now Iraq was once the Cradle of Civilization in Ancient Mesopotamia and the culture of Sumer, where writing and the wheel were invented. In the 8th and 9th centuries, the Islamic Abbasid Caliph's presided over what was then one of the world's richest civilizations.

Baghdad - 9 Million
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world. Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century and became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate.

Basrah - 3.7 Million
Basra is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 2.5 million in 2012. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is handled at the port of Umm Qasr. The city is one of the ports from which the fictional Sinbad the Sailor journeyed.

Behind the scenes
Iraq is a real world country in the Middle East. The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 and removed Saddam Hussein from power. The U.S. also fought against Iraq in the 1990-91 Gulf War. The fact that released in 1990 makes it possible that the creators of the series took inspiration from the then-current Gulf War and incorporated it into the game's lore. The Iran-Iraq War was also a real conflict fought from 1980 to 1988.