I ‧ raq /ɪˈrɑːk. -æk/ BrE AmE
an oil-producing country in southwest Asia, between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Population: 28,221,181 (2008). Capital: Baghdad. Under its leader Saddam Hussein, Iraq was at war with Iran from 1980 to 1988. In 1990 it ↑ invade d Kuwait and this led to the Gulf War. In 2003, military forces led by the US invaded Iraq to remove Hussein from power, and to find the ↑ weapons of mass destruction that they believed he was hiding. They caught Hussein but were not able to find any weapons of mass destruction. The military forces and a council of Iraqi leaders replaced Hussein’s government until an elected government could be established.
—Iraqi noun , adjective