It should be noted that, while the majority of  the Muslims follow the Shiite rites, the  wealthier and educated Muslims have tended to be of Sunni adherence.

 

Ethnically, the position is very complicated. The northern and eastern hill districts contain many racial elements-Turki,and proto-Nordic, with Armenoid strains predominating.

 

The pastoral nomadsof western Iraq are, as might be expected, of fairly unmixed Mediterranean ancestry; but the population of the riverine districts of Iraq displays a mixture of Armenoidand Mediterranean elements. North of the Baghdad district the Armenoid strain is dominant, but to the south, it is less important, though still present.

 

Arabic is the official and most widely used language, Kurdish and dialects of Turkish are current in the north. An estimate, probably over-generous to teh Arabic speakers, puts  the relative proportions at: Arabic 79%, Kurdish 16%, Russian 3%, turkish and Hebrew at 2%.

 

 

Among the people who invaded the fertile crescent  after 1200B.C were the Assyrians, the most feared and hated, they were settlers from Asia-Minor who settled in the Tigris valley.

 

When the Assyrians settled in the Tigris valley, where they built a city-state named after their chief God, Assur.

 

Beginning about 1100 B.C, the Assyrians conquered people after people until they had an empire that included the entire fertile crescent as well as Egypt.

 

Once a city was conquered, the Assyrians showed no mercy.

 

"I cut off their heads and like heaps of grain, I piled them up", boasted one Assyrian ruler.

 

Comment: this also may bring ones notice to the current aide to Al Zarqawi who happens to be an Assyrian posing as a Muslim Mufti who led the Terrorist attacks and decapitated Iraqi citizens in Mosul. The Interview was shown on Iraqi TV Station El Iraqiya recently (February 2005).

 

" I skinned alive all the Chief men. Their young men  and maidens I burned in the fire", wrote another.

 

When the Assyrians captured babylon, about 700 B.c, they tortured and beheaded prisoners, enslaved women and children, and reduced the city to rubble.

 

Medes (A Greek people) and Chaldeans, were among the settlers of Ancient Mesopotamia or Iraq ( meaning-River Bank),

 

The Arabs (A Semitic people) moved to Mesopotamia in the 6th centuryA.D and started a civilization of their own in Iraq.

 

Today Iraqis are made up of different Immigrant Communities who have come from:

 

1- Arabs; they came from the Arabian peninsula.

2- Kurds; Indo-Europeans who have settled in Iraq for about 500 years.

3- Yazidis; Also belong to the Indo-European community and they are a sector of

                the Kurds.

4- Assyrian Christians: Hittites from Asia Minor ( the present day Assyrians are

                                  non-Semitic people and are not related to the Assyrians

                                  who once settled Iraq).

 

5- Turkoman;  Immigrants from Turkey and came into Iraq during the Ottoman

                     rule of Iraq.

6- Hebrews; Jewish communities who have been in Iraq since 8,000 B.C

7- Persians; they are known as Shroogs who have come into Iraq from Persia.

8- Caucasians; Immigrants from the former Soviet Union and it's Republics.

9- Armenians; Immigrants from Armenia

10- Chaldeans; Semitic people who have lived in Iraq since the babylonian era.

11- Sabeans; Indo-Euroopeans and some are Arabs and they are a minority in

                    in Iraq who also follow the teachings of Yehya and have a Holy

                    Book called Al Zaboor.

12- Europeans; settlers who came in during the British Occupation of Iraq after

                       WWI.

12-; Ethiopians; came in as slaves and then were made legal citizens in the Mid

                        1950's.