Originally published by the Middle East Institute – January 27, 2020
As an Iraqi American who lived through the 1991 Gulf War and 2003 U.S.-led invasion to bring about regime change, I have witnessed firsthand how U.S. wars in the region can break out when Baghdad and Washington fail to… Read more
Originally published on War on the Rocks – October 3, 2019
Iraq faces a threat of Iranian subversion that is, to a large extent, a function of a deepening geopolitical rift in which Iran stands on one side and the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia are on the other.… Read more
As the mercury surges in Mesopotamia, so does the risk for a new showdown between angry protesters demanding better conditions and a government struggling to provide for them but is shackled by a legacy of corruption and incompetent, fiefdom-like institutions.
Many parts of southern Iraq, especially Basra, witnessed widespread protests… Read more
Last week, Wehda al-Jumaili, a member of the Human Rights Committee in the Iraqi parliament reported that Iraq is establishing courts to issue birth certificates and identification cards to Iraqi children who were born under ISIS rule. This remarkable and laudable decision, once implemented, will affect the lives of tens… Read more
Protests and political violence continues to plague Basra, Iraq’s southernmost province. The province is largely populated by Iraq’s Shia majority, which has dominated Iraq’s post-2003 political order. Basra’s oil fields are the primary source of Iraq’s oil exports and proven oil reserves and Basra is home to Iraq’s only port.… Read more
Away from the limelight, violence continues to rage in southern Iraq in the form of tribal clashes, pro-government militia infighting and criminal violence. This violence often affects unarmed bystanders and makes life in Basra, which is already challenging due to government neglect, lack of services and rife unemployment, even more precarious. Although most residents of southern Iraq are Shia, Iraq's current political elite, which claims to represent the Shia community, has failed to address the needs of the south.
The past year was marked by considerable political turmoil and unrest in Iraq, underscoring the many challenges that the country faces beyond the battlefield.
In 2018, we saw a further erosion of public confidence in Iraqi leaders over corruption, insufficient basic services, and unemployment; a parliamentary election marred by poor… Read more
It’s an exciting time for EPIC’s mission of peace in Iraq. We just opened an office in Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq as we join a multi-organizational USAID effort to support the safe and voluntary return of displaced Iraqis to their homes in Ninewa Province. Through the project,… Read more
In 2014, the Iraqi Yazidi community, a small ethno-religious minority residing mostly in the area of Sinjar, a mountainous region in Ninewa, northwestern Iraq, was subjected to a campaign of massacres, mass kidnappings and enslavement of women, boys and girls at the hands of ISIS. Between 2,000-5,000 Yazidis lost… Read more
With the stroke of a pen last Friday, President Trump signed an ill-conceived Executive Order that attacks the very foundations of who we are as a nation.
