John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), commonly referred to by

his initials JFK, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United
States from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. He served at the height of
the Cold War, and the majority of his presidency dealt with managing relations with the Soviet
Union. A member of the Democratic Party, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in the U.S.
House of Representativesand Senate prior to becoming president.

The United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) was
created through the adoption of United Nations Security Council resolution 1284 of 17
December 1999 and its mission lasted until June 2007.

Saddam Hussein was President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003.[10] A leading
member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and later, the Baghdad-based Ba'ath
Party and its regional organization the Iraqi Ba'ath Party—which espoused Ba'athism, a mix of
Arab nationalism and socialism—Saddam played a key role in the 1968 coup (later referred to as
the 17 July Revolution) that brought the party to power in Iraq.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United
Nations (UN), charged with the maintenance of international peace and security as well as
accepting new members to the United Nations and approving any changes to its United Nations
Charter. Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of
international sanctions, and the authorization of military action through Security Council
resolutions; it is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member
states. The Security Council held its first session on 17 January 1946.

The Oil-for-Food Programme (OIP), established by the United Nations in 1995 (under UN
Security Council Resolution 986) was established to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in
exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian needs for ordinary Iraqi citizens without
allowing Iraq to boost its military capabilities. The programme was introduced by United States
President Bill Clinton's administration in 1995, as a response to arguments that ordinary Iraqi
citizens were inordinately affected by the international economic sanctions aimed at the
demilitarisation of Saddam Hussein's Iraq, imposed in the wake of the first Gulf War. The
sanctions were discontinued on 21 November 2003 after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the
humanitarian functions turned over to the Coalition Provisional Authority.

The Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), codenamed Operation Desert Shield (2
August 1990 – 17 January 1991) for operations leading to the buildup of troops and defense of
Saudi Arabia and Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991) in its combat
phase, was a war waged by coalition forces from 35 nations led by the United States against Iraq
in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait arising from oil pricing and production
disputes.
The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union with its satellite
states (the Eastern Bloc), and the United States with its allies (the Western Bloc) after World
War II. A common historiography of the conflict begins with 1946, the year U.S. diplomat
George F. Kennan's "Long Telegram" from Moscow cemented a U.S. foreign policy of
containment of Soviet expansionism threatening strategically vital regions, and ending between
the Revolutions of 1989 and the 1991 collapse of the USSR, which ended communism in Eastern
Europe. The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the
two sides, but they each supported major regional wars known as proxy wars.

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the Federal government of the United
States. The legislature consists of two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Al-Qaeda is a militant Sunni Islamist multi-national organization founded in 1988 by Osama bin
Laden, Abdullah Azzam, and several other Arab volunteers during the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan.

The Kurds are an Iranian ethnic group of the Middle East mostly inhabiting a contiguous area
spanning adjacent parts of southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern
Syria. The Kurds are culturally, historically, and linguistically classified as belonging to the
Iranian peoples.

Turkmens are a nation and Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, primarily the Turkmen
nation state of Turkmenistan. Smaller communities are also found in Iran, Afghanistan, North
Caucasus (Stavropol Krai), and northern Pakistan. They speak the Turkmen language, which is
classified as a part of the Eastern Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages. Examples of other
Oghuz languages are Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai, Gagauz, Khorasani, and Salar.

Sunni Islam is the largest denomination of Islam, followed by nearly 90% of the world's
Muslims. Its name comes from the word sunnah, referring to the behaviour of the Islamic
prophet Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a
disagreement over the succession to Muhammad and subsequently acquired broader political
significance, as well as theological and juridical dimensions.