A NATION BY THE NUMBERS
Although Iraq’s population of 24 million is 97 percent Muslim, it’s divided by ethnic rivalries
Iraq’s standard of living has dropped steadily during Saddam’s regime. Per capita income–now about $2,500–is 15 to 20 percent lower than it was in 1979. Literacy rates have also been falling; only 58 percent of the total population–and 45 percent of women–can read and write. Graphic: (maps/text: Land use, Ethnicity, Largest Cities, Elevation; graphic omitted)
TARGETING BAGHDAD
Saddam’s capital is a sprawling city of palaces and poverty
About the size of Detroit, Baghdad is home to 5 million people. It is a chaotic mix of old and new, with modern highways ringing ancient sites. The densely populated capital is the nerve center of Saddam’s regime and essential to his control over the rest of the country. Baghdad already has battlefield scars. During the first gulf war in 1991, coalition forces hit 723 targets within the city in five weeks of intense bombing. Graphic: (map/text; street map of Baghdad showing key sites; graphic omitted)
BATTLEFIELD IRAQ
Twelve years after Desert Storm, thousands of American forces once again attacked Iraq. What they’re up against.
Most Americans think of Iraq as a land of rolling sand dunes. And while more than half of the country actually is desert, coalition forces were navigating a terrain that runs the gamut from snowy peaks in the north to the marshlands of the agriculture plains in the south. The list of strategic targets was long: power plants, airfields, palaces and military bunkers. With 10 percent of the world’s oil reserves in Iraq–a resource the coalition hopes will help pay to rebuild the country–forces tried to prevent Saddam from torching the fields.
