What happened to Iraq in the Cyberpunk universe (2020–2077)?

In Cyberpunk lore, Iraq (Mesopotamian Glass Crater Sector (Post-1997 Meltdown)) is aligned with Petrochem Automated Salvage. In 2020 (● RADIOACTIVE GLASS DESERT, Sovereignty 0%): In 2020, the former territory of Iraq is a silent, glowing wasteland of fused black silica and poisoned riverbeds. By 2077 (● GLASS CRATER EXCLUSION ZONE, Sovereignty 0%): In 2077, Baghdad remains a cautionary historical monument to pre-corporate nuclear madness—an empty glass crater visible from Low Earth Orbit.

ATLAS/NATIONS/IRQ

← [IRN] Iran [IRL] Ireland →

ISO IRQ● 2077 STATUS: IRRADIATED DEADZONE● SPHERE: NON-ALIGNED

Iraq

Mesopotamian Glass Crater Sector (Post-1997 Meltdown)

[MAP: 1994 →][MAP: 2002 →][MAP: 2020 →][MAP: 2045 →][MAP: 2077 →]

CAPITAL / PRIMARY HUB: Baghdad (Vitrified Ground Zero)
DOMINANT MEGACORPORATION / POWER BLOC: Petrochem Automated Salvage
CANONICAL SOURCEBOOK CITATION: Cyberpunk 2020 Core Rulebook (1990), p. 176 · Firestorm: Stormfront & Shockwave (1997), pp. 56–60 · Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook (2020), p. 252 · The World of Cyberpunk 2077 (2020), p. 43

Chronological Geopolitical Record (1994–2077)

Complete era-by-era archival telemetry for Iraq across all five canonical Cyberpunk anchor years.

ERA 1994 // 1994 CRASH·● GULF WARLORD MILITARIZATION·● BIOTECHNICA

1994: Iraq — World Stock Crash & US Collapse

SOVEREIGNTY INDEX: 22%[LAUNCH 1994 MAP →]

CONTROLLING AUTHORITY (1994): Baghdad Military Directorate

01.Crippled by early-1990s conflicts and the 1994 World Stock Crash, Baghdad stockpiles clandestine chemical, biological, and tactical nuclear weapons.
02.Border skirmishes over Kuwaiti and Khuzestan oil fields escalate as Western diplomatic oversight vanishes.
03.Tigris and Euphrates water levels plummet due to upstream damming and severe climate aridification.

HUMAN TOLL & CASUALTY ASSESSMENTSevere Famine & Militarized Rationing

MONETARY & ECONOMIC REGIMECollapsed Dinar · Illicit Oil Smuggling

ERA 2002 // SOVOIL COUP·● 1997 MELTDOWN EPICENTER·● NON-ALIGNED

2002: Iraq — SovOil Coup & Mideast Meltdown

SOVEREIGNTY INDEX: 0%[LAUNCH 2002 MAP →]

CONTROLLING AUTHORITY (2002): None — Vitrified Thermonuclear Crater

01.During the 1997 Mideast Meltdown, Baghdad and Basra are struck by multiple multi-megaton thermonuclear warheads, fusing the Mesopotamian plain into radioactive glass.
02.Subterranean oil reservoirs catch fire and burn for years beneath a shroud of black radioactive soot.
03.The Iraqi state ceases to exist; surviving border populations flee into Syria, Jordan, and Turkey.

HUMAN TOLL & CASUALTY ASSESSMENT22M+ Killed in 1997 Nuclear Exchange · Total State Erasure

MONETARY & ECONOMIC REGIMENon-Existent (Radioactive Dead Zone)

ERA 2020 // 4TH CORP WAR·● RADIOACTIVE GLASS DESERT·● NON-ALIGNED

2020: Iraq — Fourth Corporate War & DataKrash

SOVEREIGNTY INDEX: 0%[LAUNCH 2020 MAP →]

CONTROLLING AUTHORITY (2020): Uninhabited Radiological Quarantine Zone

01.In 2020, the former territory of Iraq is a silent, glowing wasteland of fused black silica and poisoned riverbeds.
02.Mercenary salvage teams in radiation-hardened Linear Frames occasionally raid buried pre-war military bunkers for intact old-tech hardware.
03.EEC satellite networks monitor the sector solely to track radioactive sandstorms heading toward the Mediterranean.

HUMAN TOLL & CASUALTY ASSESSMENTZero Permanent Human Habitation

MONETARY & ECONOMIC REGIMENone

ERA 2045 // TIME OF THE RED·● RAD-SCORCHED BADLANDS·● NON-ALIGNED

2045: Iraq — Time of the Red & Reconstruction

SOVEREIGNTY INDEX: 0%[LAUNCH 2045 MAP →]

CONTROLLING AUTHORITY (2045): Hazmat Nomad Scavenger Clans

01.During the Time of the Red, heavily augmented "Rad-Nomads" establish shielded transit tracks across the northern Iraqi highlands.
02.Central and southern Mesopotamia remain lethally radioactive and off-limits to unshielded biological life.
03.Petrochem drones harvest sulfur and vitrified mineral slag from the Basra crater rim.

HUMAN TOLL & CASUALTY ASSESSMENTUninhabitable Interior Basin

MONETARY & ECONOMIC REGIMESalvage Barter Only

ERA 2077 // MODERN DYSTOPIA·● GLASS CRATER EXCLUSION ZONE·● NON-ALIGNED

2077: Iraq — Modern Megacorp Hegemony

SOVEREIGNTY INDEX: 0%[LAUNCH 2077 MAP →]

CONTROLLING AUTHORITY (2077): Automated Corporate Hazard Sector

01.In 2077, Baghdad remains a cautionary historical monument to pre-corporate nuclear madness—an empty glass crater visible from Low Earth Orbit.
02.Autonomous drone swarms patrol the perimeter to prevent unregistered techno-scavengers from harvesting weapons-grade isotopes.
03.Global history textbooks cite the 1997 destruction of Iraq and Iran as the birth of the CHOOH2 corporate age.

HUMAN TOLL & CASUALTY ASSESSMENT0% Habitation · Permanent Exclusion Zone

MONETARY & ECONOMIC REGIMENone

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