Iraq on Monday honours 20 years since the commencement of the United States-led war that overthrew tyrant Saddam Hussein, but no formal festivities are planned.
The oil-rich nation remains scarred by the years of war, occupation and brutal sectarian instability that followed the operation that began on March 20, 2003.
A sense of normality has returned, but Iraq still confronts a variety of entrenched difficulties, from political instability to poverty and endemic corruption.
Iran, the primary Shia state and arch-foe of the United States, now holds tremendous influence in Iraq, whose Shiite majority was liberated from the persecution of Sunni strongman Saddam.
Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, who is supported by a pro-Iranian alliance, has not talked of the American invasion but only of the “fall of the tyrannical regime” of Saddam, who was eventually arrested, prosecuted and killed.
Addressing a Baghdad conference on the eve of the anniversary, Sudani said: “We recall the sorrow and suffering of our people in those years that were dominated by needless wars and systematic sabotage.”
The American march to war began under then-president George W. Bush and increased momentum in the wake of the September 11, 2001 assaults on the United States by Osama bin Laden’s terrorist organization Al-Qaeda.
Bush, supported by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, contended that Saddam constituted a huge danger and was building weapons of mass devastation, but none were ever discovered.
Operation Iraqi Freedom was begun with a land invasion commanded by 150,000 American and 40,000 British soldiers, with the “shock and awe” bombardment of vital installations.
After three weeks, Saddam’s government had toppled, and the invading troops seized control of the capital Baghdad on April 9.
Video imagery sent across the globe quickly showed US Marines toppling a large statue of Saddam, and subsequently Bush announcing the “Mission Accomplished” atop a US warship.
Yet the invasion had generated widespread unrest and looting, turmoil worsened by the American determination to dismantle the Iraqi state, ruling party and military machinery.
The proclaimed American effort to restore liberal democracy to Iraq was swiftly undermined by bloodshed and sectarian war as Shia insurgents clashed with Sunni factions.
By the time American soldiers withdrew in 2011, the conflict had cost the lives of more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians, according to the Iraq Body Count organization, while US casualties totalled over 4,500.
The bloodbath would give birth to the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State group whose jihadist “caliphate” delivered additional atrocities throughout Iraq and Syria until its final collapse when a US-led coalition returned to assist in battle.
Corruption pandemic
In today’s Iraq, elections are conducted, political pluralism is promoted and free speech is legally protected.
Yet in fact, Iraqi politics remain unstable and characterized by sectarian and ethnic violence.
Massive anti-government demonstrations occurred in late 2019, leading to much more violence in the streets.
Turnout was low for parliamentary elections in October 2021, which spurred additional infighting and bloodshed until a government was ultimately formed a year later.
A third of Iraq’s population lives in poverty, governmental services are mostly nonexistent, and the energy-rich nation suffers regular blackouts, particularly in the intense summer heat.
Nepotism and corruption are common in Iraq, where desirable roles in a bloated public sector are routinely secured via personal ties and young unemployment is rampant.
Successive administrations “have failed to curb corruption”, says Abbas Mohamed, a Baghdad engineer in his 30s. “We are moving from bad to worse. No government has provided anything to the people.”
On Sunday, Sudani again committed to “combat the plague of corruption”.
Yet Baghdad day worker Mohamed al-Askari, like many Iraqis, is battling to keep alive any true optimism.
“We celebrated when the dictatorship collapsed because we believed Iraq would improve,” he continued, “but so far we have only suffered.”
