The land occupied by the modern state of Iraq is among the most historic on Earth. Home to humanity's first civilization, Sumer, it has been the backdrop to thousands of years of momentous human events.

What is currently Iraq resulted from the break-up of the Ottoman Empire after World War One. When France and Britain divvied up the Middle East, Britain got the "Fertile Crescent," the arc of land including todays Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Egypt.

The borders of these nations had no roots in history but were simply agreed upon by France and Britain. Like the nations formed out of the defunct Austro-Hungarian Empire in the same period, or the crumbling of other colonial empires 40 years later, this was to cause many problems.

Initially the government of Iraq was a monarchy. Through the 1920s and 1930s, Iraq slowly gained more independence. There were many factions within the country competing for power and Iraq remained politically unstable. One thing generally agreed on, however, was dissatisfaction with the national borders that had been dictated by foreigners.

From the beginning Iraq wanted to have Kuwait included in its territory. In 1939, Iraq set out to conquer the tiny land, which was still a colony of Britain. At the last moment, however, the King of Iraq died in a car crash and the invasion was called off. In 1961, when Britain granted Kuwait its independence, Iraq began invasion preparations, only backing down when Britain sent troops back into the region.

In 1958, the Iraqi monarchy the same family that continues to rule neighbouring Jordan was overthrown and Iraq became an Islamic republic. The king and most of his family were slaughtered in the coup. The next year, there was another coup attempt, but it failed. One of the members of the hit squad was a young officer who would later become famous: Saddam Hussein.

In these postwar years Iraq, like many of its neighbours, continued to be politically unstable. During the Cold War, the United States needed an Islamic ally strong enough to counterbalance Gamal Abdel Nasser's Egypt, and by 1956 the U.S. began sending technical and military assistance to Iraq. Eventually, as the Shah's Iran emerged as a power, Iraq declined in importance.

By the 1970s, Iraq had been under military rule for 20 years. By then, no matter who was the official leader, the man behind the throne was Saddam Hussein. In 1979, he put an end to the charade and took sole power himself, purging his few remaining rivals.

That was the year of Iran's revolution. With the Shah replaced by a radically anti-American government, the U.S. suddenly focused its attention on Iraq. For the next decade, billions of dollars in aid poured in. As well as weapons, Iraq was also given the technology to establish a respectable communications network and industrial base.

A major American motivation for aid to Iraq during this period was the Iran-Iraq War started by Saddam in 1980. Though the border between the countries remained unchanged, the fighting cost some one million lives and shattered the economies of both nations.

By 1988, the U.S. could take comfort in the knowledge that its erstwhile client, Iran, had lost its impressive military capacity, and a strong and pliable regime had emerged in Baghdad.

Everything changed in 1990. It was in that year that Saddam Hussein renewed his nation's threat to Kuwait. This time it was not about territory, but money.

The Iran-Iraq war had been largely financed by the oil-rich gulf states, especially Kuwait. Now that the war was over, Kuwait demanded its loans be paid back. What's more, the price of oil, which had provided Iraq with most of its income, was low. Saddam accused Kuwait of deliberately flooding the market to pressure Iraq.

Apparently the United States told Iraq it was not officially interested in the issue. Saddam Hussein took this to mean he had a free hand in dealing with his grievances, so on August 2, 1990, he invaded Kuwait, his troops easily overrunning the little country. The United Nations condemned the action and, in a series of resolutions, not only imposed a complete blockade on Iraq but authorized member states to reverse the invasion by any means.

The U.S. took it from there, engaging in a military and diplomatic frenzy that resulted in a multinational force composed of several NATO countries including Britain, France and Canada, as well as neighbouring Arab states previously hostile to the U.S. Even former Warsaw Pact countries sent in units.

When the UN deadline for Iraq's withdrawal from Kuwait expired on January 15, 1991, the coalition launched a massive attack on Iraq. The American air forces employed their most advanced Cold War technologies to destroy Iraq's air defence network, and from then on owned the skies.

Due to American military control of information, people outside Iraq saw only pinpoint, surgical strikes from "smart" bombs and missiles. However, the reality was quite different; the vast majority of air strikes were carried out using old-fashioned unguided bombs. In total, the equivalent of seven Hiroshima bombs hit Iraq, killing some 100,000 people, mostly members of the military.

When the ground war began Iraqi forces crumpled in the face of American hammer-blows. By the time the fighting stopped on February 28, 1991, not only had Iraqi forces been thrown from Kuwait, they had been nearly annihilated. And Iraq itself was starving and in ruins.

After the war, UN weapons inspectors were dispatched to Iraq. Their mission was to locate all stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, and the means of producing them.

Soon after the shooting had stopped, it emerged that Iraq had spent years secretly trying to produce atomic, biological and chemical (ABC) weapons. It had used chemical weapons, the cheapest of the three, in 1988 against a Kurdish uprising. But nuclear and biological weapons are much more expensive and difficult to develop, and were not yet complete.

It also emerged that Iraq had not worked on these weapons in a vacuum. Many Western companies had provided technology not only for these programs, but for ballistic missile development as well.

The extent of the weapons programs, and the secrecy surrounding them, left the inspectors with a difficult job. The inspections dragged on while devastating political and economic sanctions continued. Trade with Iraq was forbidden until the country was certified as being free of ABC weapons.

The inspectors met resistance from Iraqi authorities. On one hand, the inspection teams acted rather like spies, scouring the country and making surprise visits to factories, warehouses and laboratories. On the other hand, there seemed no end to the investigations, and after a time it began to appear as if it were an elaborate act, the real goal being to keep the sanctions in place.

From the UN particularly the U.S. perspective, Iraqi resistance to the inspections was proof of hidden weapons of mass destruction. The sooner the weapons were found the sooner they would be destroyed and the sanctions lifted. But until Iraq was certified as being without ABC weapons, the blockade would continue.

Iraq is a poor country. It is also a part of a region whose main wealth lies in its oil, rather than in agriculture. The sanctions have left Iraq starving. Everything is in short supply, especially food and medicine. It has been estimated that more than a million people have died as a result of the privations. Many of those who died have been women and children.

As the suffering became clear to the UN, the Security Council offered a special arrangement to Iraq, whereby it could sell its oil on the market and would receive, instead of money, food and medicine. Saddam Hussein, however, refused to accept the deal. The sanctions are a potent political weapon for him. As long as the suffering continues, he can play the part of the champion of the Iraqi people.

Saddam and the U.S. government now existed in two solitudes. Saddam bemoaned the suffering caused by the sanctions, while refusing the oil-for-food deal, and demanded an end to inspections while hindering their progress.

On June 27, 1993, when former American president George Bush was visiting Kuwait, there was an alleged attempt on his life. President Clinton retaliated with a cruise missile attack on Iraq. This was the first wave of what would become another cycle of tension between Iraq and the United States. In 1994, elite Iraqi Republican Guard units moved near the Kuwaiti border and U.S. troops were deployed to the Persian Gulf once again. When it became clear the Americans meant business, Saddam backed down.

From then on the tension revolved solely around the UN weapons inspections. It became a dreary rhythm: Saddam blusters, the inspectors are hindered, the American military flexes its muscle, and Saddam backs down. In early 1998, it happened once again, but a diplomatic mission by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan secured an agreement that was supposed to solve the problem once and for all.

By August 1998, the tension resurfaced. On November 14, U.S. planes were said to be on their way to bombard Iraq when Saddam sent a letter promising full access. The attack was halted.

Saddam Hussein is the conductor of this symphony. The tension would escalate when he restricted the access of the inspectors. Most likely, his policies were directed at a domestic audience: he is still playing the part of the Defender of the Iraqi People. Saddam's regime is shaky. There have been repeated purges in the years since the Gulf War, and some of them have been very bloody.