Monday, March 11, 2013

Iraq Since the Arab Spring


                As most of us know Iraq has had a difficult past and it a place where corruption and terrorism is an everyday occurrence. The American’s who intervened in the nation thought their actions to make Iraq in to a peaceful democracy that would then lead to the spread of democracy throughout the Middle East. However, this was not the case; Iraq is ranked fifth in most terrorism and eighth in most corrupt. Worse yet there have been over 150 civilian casualties in February alone.

                Sunni protests are still taking place today in Iraq. The Sunni’s believe that many laws against anti terrorism laws are racist towards them. The saying of the Sunni protesters has become “Iraq or Maliki.” Maliki is the current leader of Iraq and many attempts have been made to over throw him. The protests were started by the arrest of the finance minister’s body guard, who is a Sunni, in mid December. The reason for arrest was anti terrorism law. The big picture that Sunni’s feel they are not a part of the country any more.

                The majority of these protests have been peaceful; however there are some signs that violence is approaching. The leader of protests in Kirkuk, Bunyan Sabar al-Obeidi, was shot while driving his car. There have been several shooting of protesters. It also looks like the government is the only one ready for violence, Al jazeera reported that many of the rebel Sunnis are thinking violence will be the only way to get what they want. Maliki has taken some of their concerns in but is not listening enough. The rebels have changed their mind on negotiation. This is the significance of creating the slogan “Iraq or Maliki,” because it signifies that they want to over throw Maliki or no longer be a part of the country.


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5 comments:

  1. What we see in Iraq today is almost the same thing is what is going on in Syria. It is a Shii/Sunni conflict led by Iran and Saudi Arabia. On one side there is Saudi Arabia supporting its Sunni fellows in Iraq while Iran is in favor of Nori Maliki and his followers. The latter, prime minister of Iraq, came up to Al Jazeera channel in an interview about the Iraqi situation in which he stated that some countries are trying to ignite a civil war in the country.

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  2. Although Iraq doesn't get the news coverage that it used to, it is still on of the most important countries in the region. With the third highest oil reserves in the Middle East, a civil war could see outside intervention a lot quicker than a country like Syria or Israel. Also, if Iraq falls into political turmoil, the United States could be blamed. This would be detrimental because if they think that our military interventions do more harm than good than they will dislike the US more than they already do now.

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  3. I believe the U.S.'s image in the Middle East is already extremely poor. Some of the strong Arab countries (Saudi Arabia, The UAE, Bahrain) support the U.S. government (and of course Israel), but I think it's important to remember that many of the leaders in the Arab world are clearly anti-American intervention/presence. For example, the NY Times reported on Tuesday that Karzai is trying to distance himself from the U.S. in order to gain support from the citizens of his own country.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/world/asia/karzais-bet-vilifying-us.html?_r=0

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    1. Also, I would like to learn more about this Maliki fellow...very interesting how he is almost inexistent in the eyes of the U.S. media.

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  4. Iraq and its' future is always interesting to discuss. This case is very similar to other episodes like when Britain occupied other countries. Also similar to when Britain withdrew its' troops, the withdrawal of US troops once again left Iraq ripped apart with sectarian violence, with Sunni vs. Shia (and vice versa), and Muslim against Christian (and vice versa). I think the realization is there, but many don't see it. Iraq and its uncertain future is another historical lesson we all must learn from: war and violence never stabilizes a country, yet somehow that is usually the logic. Iraq is at a crossroads, but at the end of the day all they want is to survive.

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