Those of us following the events in Iraq are not surprised by the violent turn of events taking place in the country, after what we perceived to be successful elections.
Many parties will have a share in the new government. Nouri Al maliki, it seems, is not going to easily let go of the premiership. Iyad Alawi visited Saudi Arabia days before the elections for talks. Iran, the country with more to lose or gain, depending on the type of government ruling Baghdad, is meddling with the political dialogue between the political parties.
The U.S It is watching very closely the fusion of the next government. Since it is determined not to leave any hostile government behind after it leaves Iraq next year.
Addressing the latest violence in Iraq, Christopher Hill, the US ambassador to Iraq, said on Monday that Iraq’s security situation has improved overall, but that the attacks show “small terrorist cells” still exist within the country.
I respectfully disagree with the ambassador. There is no reason to believe that these latest attacks are only the work of small terrorist cells. But every reason to believe that the attacks, including the execution of twenty-five Iraqis the day prior by men dressed in police uniform, is perpetrated by more than one organized party that have vested interest in undermining and coercing the result of the current talks to form a government.
So far about 800.000 Iraqis and 4700 U.S. soldiers lost their lives in this war. Seven years on, there is no reason why we should believe that this conflict would leave the Iraqis with better institutions for better governance. There is a question commentators and columnists don’t like to ask, but I am sure it crossed everyone’s mind, did the Iraqis, and U.S. soldiers that lost their lives in this war, die in vain?
What we need is an American official of Mr. Hill’s capacity to declare:“ I think Iraq is not ready for democracy. Every leader is a possible Saddam Hussein until proven innocent. Our former administration acted on a pure self-interest of a few, not in our national interest, we paid the price for it, and we learned our lesson”.
This should send a clear message to the Iraqi politicians and the regional players; their ugly politics will only bring more destruction and death for the people of Iraq, and instability for the entire region.
The current legwork to form a government needless to say must produce a leader and a coalition of leaders who believe in free elections and the outcome that they produce. If the outcome of the latest elections is not a sustained democratic process for Iraq, they did die in vain.