Understanding the Characteristics of the Iraqi Culture Culture refers to a set of shared behavioral patterns and interactions, effective understanding as well as cognitive construct among a group of people passed on from one member of the group to the other through socialization. Such cultural patterns are unique to each cultural group and serve to distinguish them because of their uniqueness.

Cultures are made up of various characteristics chief among them being the concept of sharing. In such a case, members of a given culture share the beliefs and practices that unite them. Moreover, culture is socially constructed and hence shared among the people. Secondly, culture is learned. People learn their culture through social interactions among the members of the culture as well as through formal teaching and the media. Thirdly, culture is symbolic. Different cultures use different symbols to communicate different messages that are understood within the confines of that culture. Language is a set of symbols where people belonging to a particular culture have agreed to use as a form of communication. Moreover, culture is dynamic because the beliefs and practices keep changing with time. Lastly, the concepts of globalization and immigration in the contemporary world have contributed in modifying cultures because people across the globe are interacting every day (Apel, 2009).

Iraq is a country located in the western part of the Asia bordering Turkey, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria. The...

River Euphrates and River Tigris are the major rivers in Iraq that flow towards the south (Gibson, Campbell & Zipper, 2015). Apart from the alluvial plains, the rest of the country is mainly a desert.
A coalition organized by the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 because it had allegedly refused to abandon the project of creating weapons of mass destruction as had been agreed upon by the UN Resolution 687 (Al-Rawi & Jiwani, 2017). Consequently, the United States successfully replaced the ruling regime in Iraq with a Coalition Provisional Authority under the leadership of Paul Bremer. The coalition’s provisional authority disbanded the existing Iraq army and prohibited former government officials from taking part in the governance of the country. In 2003, the members of the former Iraq military regrouped to rebel against the rule of the Coalition Provisional Authority that was primarily guided by the United States. The period witnessed the great development of Jihadist groups such as Jama’at al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad among other Sunni militia. It led to a great ethnic conflict between the Shias and the Sunni. The Jama’at al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad grew a renowned jihadist and terrorist group that came to be known as Al-Qaeda in 2004 (Al-Rawi & Jiwani, 2017).

In 2006, the interethnic clashes, terrorist activities and violence greatly increased. During that year, Saddam Hussein…