Editing Umm Qasr (section)

==History==

===Village to port===
{{Main|Umm Qasr Port }}
Umm Qasr was originally a small [[fishing]] town, but was used as a military port on several occasions before advancing trades and jobs by building a deep-water port on the coast. It was said to have been the site of [[Alexander the Great]]'s landing in [[Mesopotamia]] in 325 BC. During the [[Second World War]] a temporary port was established there by the Allies to unload supplies to dispatch to the [[Soviet Union]]. It fell back into obscurity after the war, but the government of King [[Faisal II of Iraq|Faisal II]] sought to establish a permanent port there in the 1950s.<ref>"Iraq Hopes For Revival As An International Highway", ''The Times'', 15 May 1961</ref>

After the [[14 July Revolution|Iraqi Revolution]] of 1958, a naval base was established at Umm Qasr. The port was subsequently founded in 1961 by the Iraqi ruler General [[Abdul-Karim Qassem]]. It was intended to serve as Iraq's only "deep water" port, reducing the country's dependence on the disputed [[Shatt al-Arab]] waterway that marks the border with [[Iran]]. The port facilities were built by a consortium of companies from [[West Germany]], [[Sweden]] and [[Lebanon]], with a railway line connecting it to [[Basra]] and [[Baghdad]].<ref>"General Kassim Founds £15M. Port", ''The Times'', 27 March 1961</ref> The port opened for business in July 1967.<ref>''Ports of the World 1969'', p. 697. Shipping World Ltd</ref>

===Iran–Iraq War===
During the [[Iran–Iraq War]] (1980–1988) its importance increased as fighting restricted access to other ports further east. Umm Qasr was threatened after the Iranian invasion and occupation of the [[al-Faw Peninsula]] in 1986 but the port never fell.

===Gulf War===

Access to the port was part of the territorial dispute with [[Kuwait]] which led to the 1990 [[Gulf War|Persian Gulf War]]. Both countries contested ownership of the inlet leading to Umm Qasr as well as control of the nearby Kuwaiti islands of [[Bubiyan]] and [[Warbah]].<ref>"Iraq - First Persian Gulf War - Causes", ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2006)</ref> After the war, during which the port was bombed, control of the inlet was transferred to Kuwait and a large trench and sand berm was constructed along the border. The Iraqi government rejected the border changes and continued to claim Kuwaiti territory near the port.<ref>"Kuwait - The First Persian Gulf War and its aftermath", ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2006)</ref> The Iraqi government shifted much commerce to Umm Qasr from [[Basra]] to punish the Basrawis economically for their support of the [[1991 uprisings in Iraq|post-war rebellions]] against [[Saddam Hussein]].

===U.S.-led invasion===
{{Further|Battle of Umm Qasr}}
Umm Qasr was the target of one of the [[Battle of Umm Qasr|first major military operations]] in the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], on March 21, 2003. The assault on the port was spearheaded by [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Royal Marines]], [[15th Marine Expeditionary Unit|US Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit]] and [[Poland|Polish]] [[GROM]] troops, but Iraqi forces put up unexpectedly strong resistance, requiring several days' fighting before the area was cleared of defenders.<ref>"[https://www.theguardian.com/international/story/0,,920580,00.html Fierce battle around port]," ''The Guardian'', 24 March 2003</ref> After the waterway was de-mined by Australian Clearance Diving Team Three, Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron FOURTEEN Detachment ONE and Naval Special Clearance Team ONE of the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy Fleet Diving Unit 3 and reopened, Umm Qasr played an important role in the shipment of humanitarian supplies to Iraqi civilians.<ref>"Iraq aid confined to south", ''The Guardian'', 2 April 2003</ref>

During a debate in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom]] in late March 2003, British Defence Secretary [[Geoff Hoon]] somewhat inadvisedly compared Umm Qasr to the southern English city of [[Southampton]]. The analogy was met with scepticism among the troops. A British soldier was widely quoted as retorting, "There's no beer, no prostitutes and people are shooting at us. It's more like [[Portsmouth]]".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/01/world/middleeast/01port.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0|title=Iraq's Big Port Has Commerce, Crime — Even Camels|work=[[New York Times]]|date=1 July 2006|first=James|last=Glanz}}</ref> In January 2006, the 100th British soldier died in Iraq. Corporal Gordon Pritchard, was killed in a bomb explosion in the town.<ref>"Latest victim was one of the first liberators of Iraq", ''The Times'', 1 February 2006</ref> An American Air Force enlistee, Derek Mohamed Adas, described his war-time experience at [[Camp Bucca]] and the poverty of the surrounding area in his interview with the [[Library of Congress]]' [[Veterans History Project]] in 2013.<ref>Derek Mohamed Adas, interview, [[Library of Congress]]' [[Veterans History Project]], http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/bib/loc.natlib.afc2001001.65421</ref>