Middle East Country test Flashcards
Saudi Arabia has no permanent _______.
Surface water
What is desalination?
Taking salt out of water.
All SA gov’t positions are held by ______.
members of the royal family.
Current king of Saudi Arabia.
King Abdullah
What is SA’s constitution?
Qur’an
Who is the world’s leading oil exporter?
SA
How much of the world’s oil is in SA?
24%
What is OPEC?
Organization of petroleum exporting countries. They control the supply of oil.
Oil $ belongs to who?
Royal family, and is used for civil projects. (Roads, airports.)
Name the strict Islamic laws in SA.
No pork, alcohol, dancing, public movie theaters. Modest clothing, women must cover body, women can’t drive cars or ride bikes. Men and women only speak in public if they are close relatives.
Name the 3 major cities in SA and their purpose.
Mecca: Holy city and pilgrimage site.
Medina: Second holy city
Riyadh: Capital
Where is the good Iraqi farmland?
Tigris and Euphrates river valley
Describe the climate in Iraq
Mild in the North, hot in the South
Capital of Iraq and pop. of both cap. and country.
Baghdad- 6 million
Iraq: 26 million
What % Muslim is Iraq? Which group of Muslims is dominant?
95%, slight Shi’ite majority
What % of the pop. is the Kurds? Where do they live?
19%, in the North
Iraq is the biggest in what out of all the Middle Eastern countries?
Farming
When was ancient Mesopotamia?
4000 BC
After the Monarchy in Iraq, what was the government?
One party dictatorships.
When did Saddam Hussein take power?
1979 with he support of the Bath party.
Saddam attacked ______.
Kurds, Iran, and later Kuwait in 1990.
Reasons for Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.
- Persian Gulf Access
- Could control 20% of the world’s oil.
- Owed Kuwait Billions from wars w/ Iran
- Kuwait had a lot of money in banks.
- Many Arabs hated Kuwait for being so rich.
Reasons why US should get involved with Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
- Loyalty to allies
- Stop further conquests.
- Could build new alliances
- We needed oil to keep running
- A strong Iraq poses a threat to SA and Israel
- Had to protect US citizens in the region
Reasons why US should not have become involved
- Risk lives
- The leaders we were helping were not elected democratically.
- Possible long term involvement
- Endanger citizens who could be terrorized
- Expensive
When was desert storm?
1991
2 main purposes of desert storm?
Protect SA and force Iraq out of Kuwait