[Peace-discuss] "When Will We Ever Learn: A New Crisis in Iraq"

[Stuart Levy via Peace-discuss]

When Will We Ever Learn: A New Crisis in Iraq
by Peggy Gish
Posted on June 14, 2014

Yes, the expansion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) take 
over in Iraq is alarming and tragic. After living and working in Iraq 
with a peace team before, during, and since the 2003 U.S. invasion, and 
experiencing the horror and suffering the Iraqi people have endured, I 
am appalled with what is happening now.

It’s not so surprising when you know many of factors behind this, 
including the uprising in Syria, that started nonviolently in 2011 to 
change an oppressive and corrupt government, but turned violent, drawing 
in foreign fighters. What’s happening is also the legacy of Iraqi Prime 
Minister, Nouri al-Maliki’, a Shia Muslim. whose brutal regime has been 
a dictatorial rule based on corruption, arbitrary arrests, torturing and 
killing political opposition, that he called “anti-terrorism.” In the 
past three years he crushed a nonviolent uprising movement in Iraq 
against government corruption and repression. All he has done has deeply 
angered Sunni and Kurdish Iraqis and further devastated any cohesiveness 
in a society already torn apart by the war and occupation.

And it isn’t just that the U.S. left too soon, as some commentators have 
said! It has more to do with the actual U.S. intervention, its 
post-invasion policies, and operations in Iraq geared toward destroying 
Iraqi society and rebuilding it to be available to economic plunder by 
international corporations. The longer our troops remained, the worse 
the situation there became.

Since the invasion, U.S. personnel in Iraq operated in a way that 
increased ethnic tensions and suppressed building collaborative, 
democratic leadership among the various ethnic and political factions. 
The U.S. hand-pick the post-invasion government leaders, marginalized 
other leaders who disagreed with the U.S occupation, discouraged 
grassroots human rights activity, controlled, behind the scenes the 
decisions of the heads of the new government ministries. U.S. personnel 
were instrumental in putting and keeping Maliki in power, even when the 
election results were questioned. U.S. Special Forces worked with 
Maliki’s Ministry of Interior to establish, train and equip the new 
Iraqi Special Police Forces that in 2005 began its campaign of sectarian 
killing and torture. I tell more about these things in my book, Walking 
Through Fire: Iraqis’ Struggle for Justice and Reconciliation (Cascade 
Books, 2013).

Even before the U.S. intervened militarily in Afghanistan and Iraq, so 
many around the world had predicted that the kind of operations planned 
in the name of the “war on terrorism” would increase anger and 
opposition to the U.S. and give fuel the formation and expansion of 
world-wide groups using terror to stop the U.S. and to gain power to 
establish alternative governments in the name of religion. The U.S. 
chose to ignore this warning and we have been seeing the result in that 
whole region.

President Obama is now being pressured to intervene in Iraq militarily. 
Bombing strikes or other military actions by the U.S., however, will not 
really resolve the underlying tensions and problems in Iraq, but only 
increase the suffering of the Iraqi people and increase the 
destabilization of the country. Putting more weapons in the hands of 
Maliki would increase his power to wage brutal violence on his own 
people who oppose his rule. Military intervention might not even be able 
stop this horrific movement in Iraq. Such actions will not stem the 
growing movement of terror in the world, but would continue to fuel the 
spread of such groups.

Our country’s violent and oppressive actions there have made such a mess 
of things that it greatly reduces the things we could do that will 
really turn this situation around. But we should encourage and support a 
government that is non-sectarian and which responds to the needs and 
concerns of the people. It would be wise to bring to the table 
neighboring countries, the UN and Arab League and finding solutions that 
deal with and address regional problems.

Look at Nigeria, where international oil companies and corrupt 
government take the huge profits from oil production, and the people do 
not benefit from the resources in their backyards. This is fertile 
ground for terrorism to take hold. Similar things happen in Iraq and 
other countries where people have been rising up to say, “We will not 
put up with this any longer.” And because their voices are not taken 
seriously, they resort to violence and extremist religious ideologies.

I don’t believe we will stop world-wide terrorism without taking a very 
radical shift in global economics and to policies based on relationships 
of justice with other countries. It will not happen without addressing 
the legitimate complaints of the poor and marginalized and putting the 
money now wasted in building military power bases around the world, for 
caring for real human needs around the world and back home

We have short memories. Each time a crisis occurs we are seduced into 
thinking that military force is the only thing that will save us from 
this disaster. And each time our country gives in to this demand, it 
results in more instability, violence, and suffering. When will we ever 
learn that it is not the quick fix it pretends to be and that we must 
make more radical, long-term changes?


Peggy Gish