20 years after US-led invasion toppled Saddam, Iraq far from ‘liberal democracy’

20 years after US-led invasion toppled Saddam, Iraq far from ‘liberal democracy’
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Women hand out small Kurdistan flags to men gathering in Arbil on March 11, 2023, during a commemoration marking the 32nd anniversary of an uprising against the regime of toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. (AFP)
20 years after US-led invasion toppled Saddam, Iraq far from ‘liberal democracy’
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Members of an Iraqi Kurdish dance group perform during a commemoration in Arbil on March 11, 2023marking the 32nd anniversary of an uprising against the regime of toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. ()AFP)
20 years after US-led invasion toppled Saddam, Iraq far from ‘liberal democracy’
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Vehicles drive past political graffiti murals along an underpass in Baghdad's Tahrir square on March 9, 2023. (AFP)
20 years after US-led invasion toppled Saddam, Iraq far from ‘liberal democracy’
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A vehicle drives past the iconic Freedom Monument, a 50-meter long bas relief that honors the 1950 revolution which overthrew Iraq's monarchy, in Baghdad's Tahrir Square on March 9, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 12 March 2023

20 years after US-led invasion toppled Saddam, Iraq far from ‘liberal democracy’

20 years after US-led invasion toppled Saddam, Iraq far from ‘liberal democracy’
  • By the time the US withdrew under Barack Obama in 2011, more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians had been killed, says the Iraq Body Count group
  • “The US simply did not understand the nature of Iraqi society, the nature of the regime they were overthrowing,” says California professor

BAGHDAD: Twenty years after the US-led invasion of Iraq toppled Saddam Hussein, the oil-rich country remains deeply scarred by the conflict and, while closer to the United States, far from the liberal democracy Washington had envisioned.
President George W. Bush’s war, launched in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, is seared in memory for its “shock and awe” strikes, the toppling of a giant Saddam statue, and the years of bloody sectarian turmoil that followed.
The decision after the March 20, 2003 ground invasion to dismantle Iraq’s state, party and military apparatus deepened the chaos that fueled years of bloodletting, from which the jihadist Daesh group later emerged.
The US forces, backed mainly by British troops, never found the weapons of mass destruction that had been the justification for the war, and eventually left Iraq, liberated from a dictator but marred by instability and also under the sway of Washington’s arch-enemy Iran.
“The US simply did not understand the nature of Iraqi society, the nature of the regime they were overthrowing,” said Samuel Helfont, assistant professor of strategy at the Naval Postgraduate School in California.
Bush — whose father had gone to war with Iraq in 1990-91 after Saddam’s attack on Kuwait — declared he wanted to impose “liberal democracy,” but that drive petered out even if Saddam was overthrown quickly, Helfont said.
“Building democracy takes time and building a democracy doesn’t create a utopia overnight,” said Hamzeh Haddad, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Instead of discovering nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, the assault by the US-led international coalition opened a Pandora’s box, traumatized Iraqis, and alienated some traditional US allies.




Iraqi Kurdish women perform during a ceremony to mark the 32nd anniversary of an uprising against the regime of Saddam Hussein in Irbil on March 11, 2023. (AFP)

Major violence flared again in Iraq after the deadly February 2006 bombing of a Muslim Shiite shrine in Samarra north of Baghdad, which sparked a civil war that lasted two years.
By the time the US withdrew under Barack Obama in 2011, more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians had been killed, says the Iraq Body Count group. The United States claimed nearly 4,500 deaths on their side.

More horrors came to Iraq when the Daesh group declared its “caliphate” and in 2014 swept across nearly a third of the country — a savage reign that only ended in Iraq in 2017 after a gruelling military campaign.
Today some 2,500 US forces are based in Iraq — not as occupiers, but in an advisory, non-combat role in the international coalition against IS, whose remnant cells continue to launch sporadic bombings and other attacks.
The years of violence have deeply altered society in Iraq, long home to a diverse mix of ethnic and religious groups. The minority Yazidis were targeted in what the UN called a genocidal campaign, and much of the once vibrant Christian community has been driven out.




An aerial picture shows mourners carrying coffins during a mass funeral for Yazidi victims of the Daesh group whose remains were found in a mass grave, in the northern Iraqi village of Kojo in Sinjar district, on Dec. 9, 2021. (AFP)

Tensions also simmer between the Baghdad federal government and the autonomous Kurdish authority of northern Iraq, especially over oil exports.
In October 2019, young Iraqis led a nationwide protest movement that vented frustration at inept governance, endemic corruption and interference by Iran, sparking a bloody crackdown that left hundreds dead.
Despite Iraq’s immense oil and gas reserves, about one third of the population of 42 million lives in poverty, while some 35 percent of young people are unemployed, says the UN.
Politics remain chaotic, and parliament took a year, marred by post-election infighting, before it swore in a new government last October.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has vowed to fight graft in Iraq, which ranks near the bottom of Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index, at 157 out of 180 countries.
“Every Iraqi can tell you that corruption began to thrive ... in the 1990s” when Iraq was under international sanctions, said Haddad, adding that graft is more in focus now “because Iraq is open to the world.”
Iraq is battered by other challenges, from its devastated infrastructure and daily power outages to water scarcity and the ravages of climate change.




The crackdown on corruption and violence by Iraq's current Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has given hope to the nation deeply scarred by multi-sided conflict. (AFP)

And yet, said Haddad, today’s Iraq is a “democratizing state” which needs time to mature because “democracy is messy.”

A major unintended consequence of the US invasion has been a huge rise in the influence its arch foe Iran now wields in Iraq.
Iran and Iraq fought a protracted war in the 1980s, but the neighbors also have close cultural and religious ties as majority Shiite countries.
Iraq became a key economic lifeline for the Islamic republic as it was hit by sanctions over its contested nuclear program, while Iran provides Iraq with gas and electricity as well as consumer goods.
Politically, Iraq’s Shiite parties, freed from the yoke of Sunni dictator Saddam, have become “the most powerful players,” says Hamdi Malik, associate fellow at the Washington Institute.




Vehicles drive along al-Firdous square in Baghdad on March 9, 2023 with a prominent billboard showing the slain head of Iran's "Quds Force" Qasem Soleimani (2nd-R) and the Iraqi Hashed al-Shaabi forces commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (2nd-L). (AFP)

Iran-backed groups have managed to maintain a certain “cohesion” despite infighting after the last elections, he said, adding that “Iran is playing a crucial role” in making sure the cohesion lasts.
By contrast, Iraq’s minority “Kurds and Sunnis are not strong players, mainly because they suffer from serious internal schisms,” said Malik.
Pro-Iran parties dominate Iraq’s parliament, and more than 150,000 fighters of the former Iran-backed Hashed Al-Shaabi paramilitary forces have been integrated into the state military.
Baghdad must now manage relations with both Washington and Tehran, says a Western diplomat in Iraq speaking on condition of anonymity.
“It is trying to strike a balance in its relations with Iran, its Sunni neighbors and the West,” the diplomat said. “It’s a very delicate exercise.”
 


34 migrants missing after 5th boat sinks in two days

34 migrants missing after 5th boat sinks  in two days
Updated 25 March 2023

34 migrants missing after 5th boat sinks in two days

34 migrants missing after 5th boat sinks  in two days
  • According to UN data, at least 12,000 migrants who have reached Italy this year set sail from Tunisia, compared with 1,300 in the same period of 2022

TUNIS: At least 34 African migrants were missing on Friday after their boat sank off Tunisia, the fifth shipwreck in two days, raising the total number of missing to 67 amid a sharp increase in boats heading toward Italy, Tunisian officials said.
The Italian coast guard said on Thursday it had rescued about 750 migrants in two separate operations off the southern Italian coastline, hours after at least five people died and 33 were missing in an attempted sea crossing from Tunisia.
Tunisian Judge Faouzi Masmoudi said that seven people had died in the boat capsizes off the coast of the city of Sfax, including babies and children.
Houssem Jebabli, an official at the National Guard, said the Coast Guard had stopped 56 boats heading for Italy in two days and detained more than 3,000 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan African countries.
According to UN data, at least 12,000 migrants who have reached Italy this year set sail from Tunisia, compared with 1,300 in the same period of 2022. Previously, Libya was the main launch pad for migrants from the region.
The coastline of Sfax has become a major departure point for people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East for a shot at a better life in Europe.
Tunisia is struggling with its worst financial crisis due to stalled negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a loan amid fears of a default in debt repayment, raising concerns in Europe, especially in neighboring Italy.
Tunisia has been gripped by political upheavals since July 2021, when President Kais Saied seized most powers, shutting down parliament and moving to rule by decree.
Europe risks seeing a huge wave of migrants arriving on its shores from North Africa if financial stability in Tunisia is not safeguarded, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday. Meloni called on the IMF and some countries to help Tunisia quickly to avoid its collapse. “If we do not adequately address those problems we risk unleashing an unprecedented wave of migration,” he said.

 


Latakia governor praises UAE’s rescue efforts in Syria’s quake-hit areas

Latakia governor praises UAE’s rescue efforts in Syria’s quake-hit areas
Updated 24 March 2023

Latakia governor praises UAE’s rescue efforts in Syria’s quake-hit areas

Latakia governor praises UAE’s rescue efforts in Syria’s quake-hit areas
  • Amer Ismail Hilal: ‘The UAE has supported the Syrian people since the quake first struck the country’

LATAKIA, Syria: Latakia’s governor has lauded the UAE’s efforts to rescue those affected by the earthquake that hit several cities in Syria last month, the Emirates News Agency reported on Friday.
“The UAE has supported the Syrian people since the quake first struck the country,” Amer Ismail Hilal was quoted as saying. He added that the support included search and rescue teams, as well as humanitarian aid.
Hilal highlighted the deep-rooted relations between the two countries, underscored by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s visit to the UAE last Sunday.
On behalf of Latakia governorate, Hilal thanked the UAE’s government and people for the continuous efforts of the Emirates Red Crescent field teams.


African migrants stuck in Tunisia say racism persists after crackdown

African migrants stuck in Tunisia say racism persists after crackdown
Updated 24 March 2023

African migrants stuck in Tunisia say racism persists after crackdown

African migrants stuck in Tunisia say racism persists after crackdown
  • ‘We need evacuation, Tunisia is not safe, there’s no future here when you have this color, it is a crime to have this color’

BEIRUT: Weeks after a violent crackdown on migrants in Tunisia that triggered a perilous rush to leave by smuggler boats for Italy, many African nationals are still homeless and jobless and some say they still face racist attacks.

Outside the UN refugee agency in Tunis, dozens of African migrants stood protesting this week by the temporary camp where they have lived, including with children, since authorities urged landlords to force them from their homes.

“We need evacuation. Tunisia is not safe. No one has a future here when you have this color. It is a crime to have this color,” said Josephus Thomas, pointing to the skin on his forearm.

In announcing the crackdown on Feb. 21, President Kais Saied said illegal immigration was a criminal conspiracy to change Tunisia’s demography, language the African Union described as “racialized hate speech.”

US Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf said Saied’s comments had unleashed “attacks and a tidal wave of racist rhetoric,” with rights groups saying hundreds of migrants reported being attacked or insulted.

Saied and Tunisia’s foreign minister have rejected accusations that he or the government are racist and they announced steps to ease visa regulations for Africans and reminded police of anti-racism laws.

While the official crackdown appeared to end weeks ago, migrants say they still face abuse.

“People told me ‘since you are in our country after the president’s speech, don’t you have any dignity?’ I kept silent and they told me I am dirt,” said Awadhya Hasan Amine, a Sudanese refugee outside the UNHCR headquarters in Tunis.

Amine has lived in Tunis for five years after fleeing Sudan and then Libya with her husband. Now 30, she has been living on the street outside the UNHCR headquarters since local people pelted her house in the capital’s Rouad district with rocks.

“We want to live in a place of safety, stability and peace. We don’t want problems in Tunisia,” she said.

Although some West African countries evacuated hundreds of their citizens earlier this month, many remain stuck in Tunisia, unable to support themselves let alone afford passage home or pay smugglers hundreds of dollars to ferry them to Europe.

“Tunisia is an African country. Why do they do racist things to us?” said Moumin Sou, from Mali, who was sacked from his job working behind a bar after the president’s speech and was beaten up the next day by a man in the street who stole his money.

Sou wants to return home, he said, but many others are determined to travel on to Europe.

In the wake of the crackdown, in which police detained hundreds of undocumented migrants and authorities urged employers to lay them off and landlords to evict them, smuggler crossings to Italy have surged.

Tunisian National Guard official Houssem Jbeli said on Wednesday alone the coast guard had stopped 30 boats carrying more than 2,000 people. On the same day and the following day four boats sank, with five people drowned, authorities said.


540,000 children in Yemen ‘starving’: UNICEF

540,000 children in Yemen ‘starving’: UNICEF
Updated 24 March 2023

540,000 children in Yemen ‘starving’: UNICEF

540,000 children in Yemen ‘starving’: UNICEF
  • The agency pleads for more aid as a child dies every 10 minutes

JEDDAH: More than 540,000 children under the age of 5 in Yemen are suffering life-threatening severe acute malnutrition and a child dies every 10 minutes from preventable causes, the UN said on Friday.

The UN children’s agency UNICEF warned that it could be forced to slash support for children in Yemen without a funding boost.

A total of 11 million children are in need of humanitarian assistance, UNICEF says.
It said it required $484 million to continue assistance this year, but the UN raised only $1.2 billion for all its agencies in Yemen at a pledging conference in Switzerland last month, well short of the $4.3 billion target.
“The funding gap UNICEF continued to face through 2022 and since the beginning of 2023 is putting the required humanitarian response for children in Yemen at risk,” the organization said said.
“If funding is not received, UNICEF might be forced to scale down its vital assistance for vulnerable children.”

The conflict in Yemen began in 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized the capital, Sanaa, in a coup. An Arab coalition intervened the following year to support the legitimate government, and launched their first assaults against Houthi positions on March 26, 2015.
A truce expired last year, but fighting has remained largely on hold.
More than 11,000 children are known to have been killed or maimed since the conflict escalated in 2015.
Fighting in Yemen has triggered what the UN describes as one of the world's worst humanitarian tragedies. Itsays more than 21.7 million people, two-thirds of Yemen's population, will need humanitarian assistance this year.
 


Rare anti-Houthi protests in Yemen after activist’s death

Hundreds of angry demonstrators are seen carrying the body of Hamdi Abdul Razaq through the streets of Ibb province on March 23
Hundreds of angry demonstrators are seen carrying the body of Hamdi Abdul Razaq through the streets of Ibb province on March 23
Updated 24 March 2023

Rare anti-Houthi protests in Yemen after activist’s death

Hundreds of angry demonstrators are seen carrying the body of Hamdi Abdul Razaq through the streets of Ibb province on March 23

SANAA: Rare protests have erupted against Yemen’s Houthi rebels following the funeral of a popular critic found dead after he was detained by the group.
Videos posted on social media showed hundreds of angry demonstrators carrying the body of Hamdi Abdul Razaq through the streets of Ibb province on Thursday.
Eyewitnesses, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisal, said the Thursday protests spanned several neighborhoods and protesters were heard chanting “No Houthis after today.”
Activists have accused the rebel authorities of abducting, torturing and killing Hamdi Abdul Razaq, who spoke out against the Houthi authorities in videos posted on Youtube. Followers knew him by his profile name, “Al-Mukohl.” He was reported dead by authorities late last week. His family have not commented on the incident.
In a series of videos, Abdul Razaq openly criticized Houthi rule, branding its administration as corrupt and repressive.
Houthi forces, who control Sanaa and most of northern Yemen, have cracked down on dissent in their territories. Some who oppose them have been charged for working with Saudi Arabia, which is part of the coalition battling the Houthis.
Yemen’s devastating conflict began in 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital of Sanaa and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. The coalition intervened in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognized government to power.
In a statement following Thursday’s protest, the Houthi authorities claimed Abdul Razaq had been detained for insulting another influential family in the area. On Sunday, he escaped through a bathroom window of the police station and was found in a half-constructed building later that day, it said.
In a statement Thursday, the head of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, Rashed Al-Alimi, offered his support to the protesters and said a monthly stipend would be given to Abdul Razaq’s family.
Mohammed Ali, a high-ranking Houthi official, later said on Twitter that a committee had been set up to further investigate the incident.
His death comes amid a string of similar reported incidents. Earlier this year, a fruit and vegetable vendor from northern Houthi-held territories was abducted and killed, whipping up widespread anger across the divided country.
On Tuesday four activists were handed prison terms, ranging from six months to three years, by a Houthi court for their criticism of the Iran-backed rebels on social media, a lawyer said.