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Iraq was one of the first Arab nations to embrace the Scouting movement, launching its program in 1921, just two years after the League of Nations had created the country out of the old Ottoman Empire. Iraq was a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement from 1922 to 1940, and again from 1956 to 1999.
[edit] HistoryThe history of Scouting in Iraq started with the British Mandate of Mesopotamia in the early 1920s, when Scouting got started in several areas and was well entrenched. In the early 1930s, the Iraqi Scout movement was fairly strong, but by 1939 it dwindled in numbers. After the 1941 Iraqi coup d'état, all youth organizations were disbanded. But by 1943, the Germans had been expelled and there were three British Service Rover Crews, based in Baghdad, Basra, and Habbaniya. RAF Habbaniya opened in 1937, on the Euphrates 40 miles west of Baghdad as the permanent RAF headquarters for Iraq. As well as the military part of the station, there was a civil cantonment for civilians working on the station and their families. The population was very mixed, with a comparatively high proportion of Assyrians. In 1940 the schoolmaster wished to start a Scout organization and was assisted by the Royal Air Force servicemen stationed there. The Iraqi Scout Organization was run on British lines, consisting of seven troops each with a British and an Assyrian instructor, a Senior Scout troop, and an Assyrian Rover crew. Girls wanted to join, so the Rovers started a separate troop for them. Some British nursing sisters (the only British women on the station) with experience as Girl Guides, started working with the group, until there were four Girl Guide companies, again run on British Guiding lines, within the framework of the Iraqi Scouting Organization. After the Baath party took control in 1968 and especially after Saddam Hussein seized power in 1979, youth groups were retooled to serve the state. One replacement program, Saddam Cubs, offered "summer camps" where 10 to 15 year-old boys endured up to 14-hour days filled with hand-to-hand fighting drills.[1] In 1990, during the period when the Iraq Boy Scouts and Girl Guides Council (Arabic: جمعية الكشافة و المرشدين العراقية) was recognized by WOSM, the Mesopotamian nation had 12,000 Scouts, however by 1999, Iraq had been expelled from the WOSM. [edit] RebirthIn the autumn of 2004, Chip Beck, a former Navy commander, CIA operative, and Assistant Commissioner for Venture Scouting[clarification needed] in the National Capital Area Council (NCAC) of Washington D.C., was serving a 6 month CPA tour of duty in Iraq, and had the idea to try and restart scouting in the country. The Iraqi Scouts Initiative committee was led by Co-Chairmen Beck and Michael Bradle, an Eagle Scout. Beck and a quorum of 100 multinational Scouters informally established the Green Zone Council of Scouting in February 2004 as a loose fraternal organization for fellow Scouters serving in Iraq. Through various Scouting networks, the GZC as it was called, came to the attention of Bradle and his corporation, who offered their full support, suggesting both groups work to formally re-establish a legal, recognized, and fully functioning Scouting program in Iraq. In early 2008, a group of coalition military officers led by Navy chaplain LCDR Andrew Wade sought to expand the Green Zone Council's model to the Iraqis living in and around the Victory Base Complex around Baghdad International Airport. Meeting with the Green Zone Council and their Iraqi counterparts, and spending several months building relationships with Iraqi civilian and military leaders on and around Victory Base, the group founded the Victory Base Council in April 2008 and began supporting troop meetings in June 2008. Following the "Green Zone" model, the VBC is a loosely organized fraternal support group that enables their Iraqi partners to establish and grow a vibrant Scouting organization to serve local Iraqi youth. During 2008 the VBC built important relationships with local schools and worked with local Iraqi military and civilians to create a camp and community center where the troop meetings are held. Continued growth of the camp facilities, and ongoing cross training of US and Iraqi Scout leaders are underway for 2009.[2] The Scout program is open to boys and girls of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and allows for local nuances to shape various regional program options. A National Iraqi Scouting Headquarters is envisioned for Baghdad, and a former government establishment has been earmarked for this. Five national Scout camps are also planned. Since the movement restarted in 2004, it has been taken over by Iraqis and is now run exclusively by them. Iraqi Scouts are involved in community service such as helping police with traffic control, giving first aid, cultivating cotton, planting trees and helping during natural disasters. In February 2006, 18 Iraqi Guides attended a leadership seminar in Egypt organized by the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.[1] However, the association was not listed as "Working towards WAGGGS membership" in 2008.[2] The Scout Motto is Kun Musta'idan or كن مستعداً, translating as "Be Prepared" in Arabic. The noun for a single Scout is Kashaf or كشاف in Arabic. [edit] Emblems
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