The major religion in Iraq is Islam, followed by about 95% of Iraqis, although more recent poll results seem to contradict these numbers. The other 5% consist of those following Christianity and other religions. Many cities throughout Iraq have been areas of historical prominence for both Shia and Sunni Muslims including Najaf, Karbala, Baghdad and Samarra.

Iraq (/ɪˈræk/ or ⁱ/ɪˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق‎ al-‘Irāq); officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic:  جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.

Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the southwest and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country.

Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.

Historically, Iraq was the center of the Abbasid Arabic Islamic Empire. Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.

Greydon Square (born Eddie Collins on September 28, 1981) is an American rapper. He is an Iraq War veteran and an outspoken atheist who promotes discussion on philosophical issues, as well as having studied physics full time before moving on to study computer science.

Collins grew up in Compton, California, a historically impoverished suburb of Los Angeles, where he was raised as an orphan and became immersed in gang culture. In May 2001, he enlisted in the United States Army. He went on to serve in the Iraq War in March 2004. After returning from Iraq, Collins began attending college in Phoenix, Arizona as a physics major. It was at this time that he began questioning his prior religious beliefs and became an atheist, posting videos on YouTube. He has appeared in several television documentaries and radio shows, and his music has attracted fans such as Penn Jillette and Richard Dawkins. He is also a member of the international secular hip-hop activist movement The Anti-Injustice Movement (aka AIM Clika) and now runs his own organization Grand Unified Theory which uses creativity to educate about science and rational thinking.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck (née Filarski; born May 28, 1977) is an American television talk show host and television personality. She was a contestant on Survivor: The Australian Outback (2001), is a co-host on the daytime talk show The View, and is a contributor to the ABC morning broadcast Good Morning America.

Elisabeth DelPadre Filarski was born in Cranston, Rhode Island. She is the daughter of Roman Catholic-school teacher and lawyer Elizabeth DelPadre and architect Kenneth Filarski. She has one brother, Kenneth, Jr., a lawyer and aspiring musician. As a child, she lived in Providence and Cranston, Rhode Island.

Hasselbeck was raised Roman Catholic and attended St. Mary School in Cranston, followed by St. Mary Academy - Bay View in Riverside, Rhode Island, where she graduated in 1995. She then attended Boston College, where she captained the women's softball team for two seasons, winning consecutive Big East championships. With a concentration on large scale paintings and industrial design, Hasselbeck graduated with a fine arts degree in 1999. Hasselbeck started working for Puma in 1998, while attending Boston College. After graduation, she worked for Puma shoes as a member of its design team before her television career.