The Future of Iraqs Economy, Politics and Security - Essay Example

?Introduction The future of Iraq’s economy, politics and security remains uncertain. This of affairs is not acceptable in the 21st century, an era that has enjoyed tremendous gains in promotion of human rights, freedom and democracy. The country has been under United States occupation since 2003 following an ill-informed military intervention, intended to destroy the regime that allegedly supported terrorism and restore democracy in Iraq. Ironically, the aftermath of the invasion has created instability and uncertainty that has never been experienced before in the ancient history of the Iraq. The Iraqi people, especially women and children have borne the brunt of the invasion. United states should not have invaded Iraq because rather than instilling hope, the Iraqi people are languishing in despair, instead of ensuring security for all, the society lives in perpetual fear of attacks. The United States invasion destabilized the multicultural Iraqi society and destroyed the unique political structure that has served the country for many generations. Since time immemorial, Iraqi people have coexisted peacefully in spite of their diverse backgrounds. The United States led military invasion completely destabilized this coexistence, creating hatred among the existing groups in the country. Although Saddam Hussein rule created ethnic and religious animosity in Iraq, the aftermath of the United States invasion catalyzed the ethnic tensions, which almost brought the country at the brink of civil war in 2007, a situation that has never been experienced before in the history of the country (Jabar, 3). According to Amatzia and Barry (52), Iraq is predominantly an Arabic country consisting of Kurds, Turkmen, Assyrians and Arabs. Iraqi Arabs are the majority, comprising of about 75% of the total population. The Iraqi Arabs are divided into two major religious groups, comprising of Shiite and Sunni Muslims (Pollack, 116). The aftermath United States invasion resulted into a protracted conflict between the two Islamic factions resulting to loss of lives of thousand Iraqi citizens and horrible humanitarian crisis. Currently, Iraq has the second highest number of internally displaced persons in the world, estimated at over 1.8 million people (MIT Centre for International Studies). About 5 million Iraqis have been displaced since 2003 invasion (MIT Centre for International Studies). Sectarian war, between the Sunni and Shiite factions has intensified, causing death, displacements and widespread insecurity (Jabar, 12). United States should not have invaded Iraq because it did not have weapons of mass destruction. One of the major motivations for attacking Iraq was to destroy the capacity of the country to develop weapons of mass destruction, including biological and chemical arsenal, in addition to destroying alleged terrorism cells (Jabar, 6). Every sovereign country has the right of protecting its citizens and possession of weapons is one of the ways of defending its people. Iraq was not an exception, unless there was concrete evidence that the weapons were intended for other purposes. Iraqi was said to be in the process of developing nuclear weapons that could have destabilized peace in the Middle East and the world at large (Pollack, 39). However, after the ouster of Saddam Hussein, no weapons of mass destruction were discovered. Instead, the country infrastructure and rich ancient heritage was ruined and vandalized. The military invasion was therefore unwarranted and was based on misleading intelligence. Iraq, which is considered as “the cradle for human civilization” had rich heritage that defined the multicultural society as the precursor of modern development (Pollack, 94). Most of historic artifacts were destroyed during the invasion, undermining the rich heritage of Iraqi people. The suitability of a political system in a particular country is determined by its effectiveness in addressing and solving the challenges facing its citizens (Jabar, 13). Prior to the United States military invasion, Iraq had its own unique political system, which had served its citizens for a considerable time. Although the previous autocratic government contributed to significant violations of human rights in the country, democracy which was advocated by the United States has proved ineffective in establishing order, unity and economic prosperity in the country. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of Cold War, United States has been on the forefront of promoting democracy in the world, including Iraq (Amatzia and Barry, 129). For democracy to work effectively in a particular country, various factors such as culture and traditions of the people should be considered. This implies that the people of the particular country, with the objectives of serving their needs and interest, should drive democracy to improve their wellbeing. However, United States, with faulty comprehension of Iraqi political and cultural structure dismantled the existing power structures in Iraq, with the objective of reforming the country’s society, economy and polity in congruence with globalized based democratic system (Jabar, 16) Political stability and lasting security is a prerequisite for any meaningful economic development to occur in a country. In spite of the vast oil deposits in Iraq, about 50% of the Iraqi population is living in poor deplorable conditions compared to 17% before the military invasion. About 7 million Iraqis live below the poverty line and the country is one of the most corrupt in the world (MIT Centre for International Studies). The human cost of the war on Iraqi people is exacerbated further by the fact that about 400, 000 people have been killed since 2003. The high number of casualties has left about 4.5 million children orphaned and about 2 million women widowed (MIT Centre for International Studies). The invasion has also strained neighboring countries such as Syria, which host about 1 million Iraqi refugees (UNHCR, 2). Although the United States declared victory over the oppressive Saddam Hussein regime, Iraqi society has been considerably disrupted and lasting peace and stability is not anticipated in the near future. This is demonstrated by the fact that only 12.5% of Iraqi people displaced during the period has returned in the country. Conclusion It is apparent that that the United States military invasion in Iraq has created more economic, political, and social problems in Iraq than the autocratic Saddam Hussein’s regime. The invasion exacerbated the existing ethnic and religious tensions, resulting to sectarian violence that has left hundreds of thousand Iraqi people dead and millions displaced. The exact human cost borne by the Iraqi people is enormous, with millions of children left destitute and orphaned. Therefore, the invasion should not have taken place. Work Cited Amatzia, Baram and Barry, Rubin. Iraq’s Road to War. New York: St. Martins’ Press, 1993. Print Jabar, Faleh. “Iraq Four Years after the U.S. - Led Invasion. Assessing the Crisis and Searching for a Way Forward”. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 2007.14 April 2012. Web. Retrieved from http://www.policyarchive.org/handle/10207/bitstreams/6536.pdf MIT Centre for International Studies. “Iraq: The Human Cost”. 2012. 14 April, 2012. Web. From http://mit.edu/humancostiraq/. Pollack, Kenneth. The threatening Storm. New York: Random House, 2002. UNHCR. “Iraq Fact Sheet, June-July 2011”. 2012. 14 April, 2012. Web. From http://www.iauiraq.org/documents/1462/FACT%20SHEET%20JUNE-JULY%202011.pdf Read More