NSC mandate, helping to provide
security and to support the freely elected government. The Coalition
Provisional Authority, which temporarily administered Iraq after the
invasion, transferred full governmental authority on 28 June 2004 to
the Iraqi Interim Government, which governed under the Transitional
Administrative Law for Iraq (TAL). Under the TAL, elections for a
275-member Transitional National Assembly (TNA) were held in Iraq on
30 January 2005. Following these elections, the Iraqi Transitional
Government (ITG) assumed office. The TNA was charged with drafting
Iraq's permanent constitution, which was approved in a 15 October
2005 constitutional referendum. An election under the constitution
for a 275-member Council of Representatives (CoR) was held on 15
December 2005. The CoR approval in the selection of most of the
cabinet ministers on 20 May 2006 marked the transition from the ITG
to Iraq's first constitutional government in nearly a half-century.

Geography
Iraq

Location:

Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iran and Kuwait

Geographic coordinates:

33 00 N, 44 00 E

Map references:

Middle East

Area:

total: 437,072 sq km
land: 432,162 sq km
water: 4,910 sq km

Area - comparative:

slightly more than twice the size of Idaho

Land boundaries:

total: 3,650 km
border countries: Iran 1,458 km, Jordan 181 km, Kuwait 240 km, Saudi
Arabia 814 km, Syria 605 km, Turkey 352 km

Coastline:

58 km

Maritime claims:

territorial sea: 12 nm
continental shelf: not specified

Climate:

mostly desert; mild to cool winters with dry, hot, cloudless
summers; northern mountainous regions along Iranian and Turkish
borders experience cold winters with occasionally heavy snows that
melt in early spring, sometimes causing extensive flooding in
central and southern Iraq

Terrain:

mostly broad plains; reedy marshes along Iranian border in south
with large flooded areas; mountains along borders with Iran and
Turkey

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Persian Gulf 0 m
highest point: unnamed peak; 3,611 m; note - this peak is neither
Gundah Zhur 3,607 m nor Kuh-e Hajji-Ebrahim 3,595 m

Natural resources:

petroleum, natural gas, phosphates, sulfur

Land use:

arable land: 13.12%
permanent crops: 0.61%
other: 86.27% (2005)

Irrigated land:

35,250 sq km (2003)

Total renewable water resources:

96.4 cu km (1997)

Freshwater with