Exam 21: The Consolidation of the Authoritarian Rule in Syria and Iraq: the Regimes of Hafiz Al-Asad and Saddam Husayn

Which of the following most accurately describes what occurred in Halabja in northern Iraq in spring 1988?

What did the establishment of al-Asad's cult of personality in the 1980s reveal?

Saddam Husayn did not attain significant power in ruling Iraq until he became president in 1979.

Hafiz al-Asad belonged to the __________________ religion.

Which of the following best characterizes how Iraq's Shi‛a responded to the Iran-Iraq war?

How did the nationalization of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) lead to the acceptance of the Ba‛thist regime?

The original version of the Syrian constitution considered in 1973 required the president of the republic to be a Muslim.

Which of the following best captures the sectarian similarities between the regimes in Iraq and Syria?

In what ways did Iraq seek to address the Kurdish question in the early 1970s?

Which of the following supported Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war?

Which of the following is true of the Algiers Agreement?

The power seized by Hafiz al-Asad of Syria and Saddam Husayn of Iraq in the 1970s represented the rise of a new elite from rural origins.

In what ways was the Ba‛th Party used as an instrument of control by Husayn and al-Asad?

The rhetoric of ______________ inspired a popular revolution in Iran, which led to the shah being deposed.

In what ways was the Iran-Iraq War a war of attrition?

Which of the following was NOT a reason Iraq went to war with Iran?

Briefly explain the difference between sectarian tensions of the Iraqi Shi‛a with those of the Kurds during Saddam Husayn's regime. What role did geography play in these differences?

Compare and contrast the degree to which the regimes of al-Asad and Saddam Husayn fulfilled the Ba‛thist ideology-did one of the two come closer to resembling Aflaq's ideal Ba‛th Party? If yes, how so, and if not, were the two regimes more similar to one another than they were with the Ba‛th ideology?

Why did the United States aid Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War?

Iraq is enormously diverse; the majority Shi'a live mainly in the south and a large __________________ minority inhabits the oil-rich north.