The territorial integrity of Iraq, 2003-2007: Invocation, violation, viability

This paper considers the ways in which Iraq’s territorial integrity has been invoked by the international community, how it was violated by the US-led coalition between 2003 and 2007, and how these acts have called into question the future viability of the Iraqi state. The paper contends that Iraq provides an instructive illustration of how the international legal term of territorial integrity is being pulled apart; where the spatial extent of the state must be preserved at all costs, yet the sovereignty of the state is rendered entirely contingent. Using interviews with key actors within the British context and documentary analysis, this paper examines the political situation in Iraq and the content of the new Iraqi constitution, the rise of factionalism within Iraq, and the report of the Iraq Study Group. In doing so it considers the impact of key decisions concerning Iraq’s sovereignty upon the future viability of the state.     

GEOGRAPHIC PUBLICATION IN GERMANY

Abstract

Feminist geography and political geography still represent two solitudes within the discipline. While increased traffic between these different parts of the discipline points to a degree of intellectual engagement, there remains a paucity of feminist thought in political geography. This article examines recent scholarship on feminist political geography, with a view to applying its insights to the struggles to protest and end political violence. The concept of feminist geopolitics is employed and recast, both as a bridging concept between feminist and political geography and as an analytical approach that has political valence in the context of the war in Iraq. Feminist geopolitics is revisited in this article, but remains a critical analytic in relation to body counts and other casualties in war zones.     

OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM: A MILITARY GEOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVE*

ABSTRACT. The war in Iraq has spanned the full spectrum of military operations: intense combat, stability‐and‐support operations, and peacetime activities. Regardless of their nature and relative intensity, military operations are shaped by the characteristics of the military operating environment. Consequently, the scale, tempo, and complexity of any type of military endeavor are linked to the physical and cultural landscapes of the region in which it is conducted. Military geographers use geographical information, tools, and techniques to examine those links. Iraq's operating environment is studied to identify the relevant components of its physical and human geography. This military geographical examination of Iraq tells us a great deal about how the physical and cultural environment have influenced the war, as well as how the complexity of its human landscape continues to affect the postwar rebuilding of the country.     

Compositions and sources of extractable organic matter in Mesopotamian marshland surface sediments of Iraq. I: aliphatic lipids

Shallow surface sediment samples from the Mesopotamian marshlands of Iraq were collected and analyzed to determine the distribution, concentrations and sources of aliphatic lipid compounds (n-alkanes, n-alkanols, n-alkanoic acids, and methyl n-alkanoates) and molecular markers of petroleum in these wetlands. The sediments were collected using a stainless steel sediment corer, dried, extracted with a dichloromethane/methanol mixture and then analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The aliphatic lipid compounds included n-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids, n-alkanols and methyl n-alkanoates with concentrations ranged from 6.8 to 31.1 μg/g, 4.1 to 5.0 μg/g, 5.9 to 7.7 μg/g and from 0.3 to 5.9 μg/g, respectively. The major sources of aliphatic lipids were natural from waxes of higher plants (24–30%) and microbial residues (42–30%), with a significant contribution from anthropogenic sources (27–30%, petroleum), based on the organic geochemical parameters and indices. Further studies are needed to characterize the rate, accumulation and transformation of various organic matter sources before and after re-flooding of these wetlands.     

Quantitative Method of Classification and Discrimination of a Porous Carbonate Reservoir Integrating K-means Clustering and Bayesian Theory

Reservoir classification is a key link in reservoir evaluation. However, traditional manual means are inefficient,subjective, and classification standards are not uniform. Therefore, taking the Mishrif Formation of the Western Iraq as an example, a new reservoir classification and discrimination method is established by using the K-means clustering method and the Bayesian discrimination method. These methods are applied to non-cored wells to calculate the discrimination accuracy of the reservoir...     

Petrogenesis and geochronology of Mishao peraluminous I-type granites,Shalair valley area,NE Iraq

The Shalair area, which is located in northeastern Iraq, is considered to be part of the northern Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone (SaSZ) and contains several granitoid bodies. One of these bodies, the Mishao porphyritic-granite (MG), was crystallized at 111.6?±?2.4 Ma, based on its zircon U-Pb age. Its geochemical characteristics suggest that the MG rocks are calc-alkaline, peraluminous, I-type granites with microgranular mafic enclaves. They are enriched in SiO₂, Na₂O, Al₂O₃ and Zr and depleted in MgO, Fe₂O₃, Nb and Ti; in contrast, the enclave sample records lower SiO₂ content and higher contents of MgO and Fe₂O₃. These rocks show an enrichment of LREE relative to HREE, and pronounced negative Eu anomalies implying feldspar fractionation. The isotopic and geochemical characteristics of the MG samples suggest that these rocks are evolved through fractional crystallization. In the La/Nb-Nb diagram and Sm/Nd ratios, the MG rocks and the enclave samples exhibit strong evidence for crustal contamination. The MG rocks record high initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (0.70625–0.70740) and low ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd(i) (0.51235–0.51274) ratios. These Sr-Nd isotopic data, combined with the presence of high Th/U and Rb/Sr ratios and significant depletions of Nb, Ta and Ti, show a relation of these bodies to an active continental margin regime. Based on the age and geochemical data of the MG, this study presents new information about the occurrence of Middle Cretaceous magmatic activities, which are related to the active continental margins in the SaSZ that run parallel to the Zagros Fold-Thrust Belt.     

基于升降轨Sentinel-1数据分析2017-11-12伊拉克MW7.3地震震源参数

利用Sentinel-1卫星提供的多个轨道SAR数据对2017-11-12伊拉克M_W 7.3地震进行研究,通过处理不同轨道数据并比较,获取震区可靠的同震形变场。利用降轨同震形变场,采用数据分辨率约束的四叉树方法降采样后作为约束条件,基于弹性半空间模型（Okada）反演断层几何参数及滑动分布。结果表明,本次地震位于扎格罗斯褶皱冲断带,产生的破裂带长度为44.5 km、宽度为16.1 km;发震机制为走滑逆冲断层,断层滑动角为140.68°,倾角为8°,最大滑动量为3.83 m,地震造成视线向最大抬升和最大下沉为50 cm和40 cm;此次地震震源深度为15.5 km,累计释放地震矩0.97×1020 Nm。     

Sediments in the estuarine environment of the tigris/euphrates delta; Iraq; Arabian Gulf

Studies on surface water characters of the estuarine environment of Iraq, northwestern Arabian Gulf, define three subdivisions of salinity: oligohaline, polyhaline, and euhaline. Textural analysis reveals that surface sediments covering the bottom are composed of six distinct classes: silty clay, clayey silt, sand-silt-clays, clayey sand, silty sand and sand. Five physiographic subdivisions are identified and described fluvial-estuarine, tidal mud flats (subtidal flat, lower intertidal flat, upper intertidal flat, supratidal flat), sand bars, Abdallah-Shetana channel and submerged estuarine distributary channel and bar systems. The content of organic matter in the sediments ranges from 0.24-3.69 per cent by weight. High values were recorded from the Abdallah-Shetana channel while lower values are confined to sand bars and submerged estuarine distributary channel and bar systems. Carbonates, quartz, feldspar, and halite are the main mineral constituents of the non-clay grade sediments; carbonates are present mainly as low-magnesium calcite followed by dolomite and high-magnesium calcite. Aragonite is present only in trace amounts. Both detrital and biogenic sources are suggested for low-magnesium calcite. A detrital source for dolomite and a biogenic source for high-magnesium calcite and aragonite are proposed.     

AMERICAN NATIONALISM,THE FLAG,AND THE INVASION OF IRAQ*

U.S. armed forces invaded Iraq in March 2003, claiming that the country had weapons of mass destruction (wmd ) which it intended to use against the United States Although evidence of the existence of these wmd was limited, President George W. Bush's administration faced little opposition in taking the United States to war. Using the concepts of “iconography” and “banal nationalism,” I argue that the events of 9/11 and the subsequent outpouring of nationalism dampened opposition to the invasion of Iraq. The increased display of the American flag in the aftermath of 9/11 was emblematic of this increase in nationalism and generated additional support for the Bush administration's decision to go to war. This nationalism further created a form of “collective amnesia” that limited the citizenry's receptivity to information contradicting the administration's narrative, which continues to linger.     

伊拉克艾哈代布油田AD205H井钻井液技术

AD205H井是伊拉克艾哈代布油田的首口简化三开水平井,上部水敏泥岩易分散造浆、缩径,中部存在高压盐水层、燧石结核地层,储层灰岩含量高,从而增加了施工周期,制约了该区水平井发展步伐。针对上述钻井难点,开展了钻井液抑制性、抗温性、抗盐性、抗污染评价试验,研制了混油聚磺钻井液体系。现场应用表明,聚磺钻井液体系抗污染能力强,施工过程中性能稳定。对于上部水敏性泥浆有很强的抑制作用,对于下部易渗漏的灰岩地层有很好的封堵作用,减少了井下复杂事故的出现。此井为该地区简化井身结构第一口井,低密度优质钻井液保证了该井的顺利施工,创造了该油田钻井施工的多项纪录。