IRAQ
A Government of Ghosts
Sixteen years ago, after the US had occupied Iraq for more than two years, South Africa’s Mail & Guardian painted a picture of lawlessness in the country’s capital of Baghdad.
“Two and a half years of bloodshed have convinced the outside world that Baghdad is not so much a city as an event, a maelstrom of violence,” it wrote. “The ferocity and frequency of bombings and shootings have turned Iraq’s capital into a maze of military checkpoints, concrete blast walls and razor wire.”
Unfortunately, a lot has not changed.
Women don’t drive saying that since men are kidnapped regularly, what chance then do they have. People who pray going outside because of their fear of bombs find themselves in a constant cycle of prayer. And some people are just thankful when there is only one bomb a week, saying “it’s nice.”
These folks are the lucky ones.
Iraqi party planner Arshad Haibti al-Fakhry was at his Ladies Night event at the Ishtar Hotel in Baghdad on Nov. 20 when unidentified men in Iraqi security force uniforms barged in and abducted him, a friend and 10 others.
As the Washington Post wrote, the men released the 10 partygoers almost immediately. They released al-Fakhry’s friend, the nephew of a government minister. But the party planner has not been seen since. His family and friends still are not sure who is holding him, or where.
Al-Fakhry’s story illustrates the lawlessness that has taken root in Iraq in the almost 18 years since the US invaded the country.
For example, armed groups abducted and sometimes tortured more than 100 people during anti-government protests in 2019, Al Jazeera reported. Authorities have not prosecuted anyone for these crimes.
This summer, kidnappers seized a German curator off the street before she was rescued, Euronews wrote with reporting from the Associated Press. At around the same time, two gunmen shot and killed Hisham al-Hashimi, a security expert who often discussed armed groups in the media, in Baghdad, reported the BBC.
The disappearances don’t only affect dissidents, intellectuals or other prominent figures.
Islamic State militants kidnapped eight people in eastern Iraq recently. The extremists erected a fake checkpoint on a main road, taking whoever was unlucky enough to fall into their trap, Xinhua, China’s state media outlet, wrote. Iraqi forces, with the help of the US and Iran, have largely defeated much of the Islamic State in recent years. Even so, some fighters still roam near the Iranian border.
Even more extreme violence still occurs in Iraq, too, years after widescale fighting has ended.
Suicide bombers killed at least 32 people and injured 100 more at a Baghdad market recently, according to the United Nations. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. But the government may execute hundreds of people now in prison in retaliation.
It’s an endless cycle of violence. And unfortunately, some say rightly that it’s hard to stop such cycles when they’ve taken hold – and become entrenched.
Sarmad Riyadh, a 35-year old antique dealer, saw this firsthand 16 years ago.
“If the Americans left tomorrow, I would close my shop immediately,” he told the Mail & Guardian back then. “No one wants his country to be occupied but in Iraq, we have no security. No one is in charge…We have a government of ghosts.”
No comments:
Post a Comment