Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

294 results found

Zarqawi, Abu Musab al-

(Encyclopedia)Zarqawi, Abu Musab al- äˈbo͞o mo͞osäb äl-zärkäˈwē [key], nom de guerre of Ahmad Fadhil Nazzar al-Khalaylah, 1966–2006, Islamic terrorist leader, b. Jordan. Becoming a militant Islamist in ...

Eagleburger, Lawrence Sidney

(Encyclopedia)Eagleburger, Lawrence Sidney, 1930–2011, U.S. government official, b. Milwaukee. A career diplomat, he joined the Foreign Service in 1957 and held a series of embassy, State Dept., national security...

Abdul-Mahdi, Adel

(Encyclopedia)Abdul-Mahdi, Adel, 1942–, Iraqi political leader. Born into a prominent Shiite family, he joined the Ba'ath party in the early 1960s, then left the party and went into self-exile in France in 1969. ...

Baghdad Railway

(Encyclopedia)Baghdad Railway, railroad of international importance linking Europe with Asia Minor and the Middle East. The line runs from İstanbul, Turkey, to Basra, Iraq; it connected what were distant regions o...

Blair, Tony

(Encyclopedia)Blair, Tony (Anthony Charles Lynton Blair), 1953–, British politician, b. Edinburgh. An Oxford-educated lawyer, he was first elected to Parliament in 1983 as the Labour party candidate from a distri...

Gulf War

(Encyclopedia)Gulf War: see Persian Gulf War; Iran-Iraq War. ...

Ad Diwaniyah

(Encyclopedia)Ad Diwaniyah äd dēwänˈēyä [key], city, S central Iraq, on a branch of the Euphrates River and on the Baghdad-Basra railroad. It is a marketplace for dates and grains. ...

Amara

(Encyclopedia)Amara ämäˈrä [key], town (1987 pop. 208,797), SE Iraq, on the Tigris River. It is a river port and a marketplace for rice, dates, grains, produce, wool, hides, and livestock. ...

Hatra

(Encyclopedia)Hatra hăˈtrə [key], Arab. Al Hadr, ancient city and fortress, in modern-day Iraq, 68 mi (110 km) SW of Mosul. It flourished from the 1st cent. b.c. to the 2nd cent. a.d. under the Parthian Empire (...

Erbil

(Encyclopedia)Erbil bīlˌ –bĭlˌ [key], city and capital of Kurdistan Region, N Iraq. A commercial, agr...