Blog Post 6: Iraq March 12th, 2011 to March 18th, 2011
Global news of the past week has focused primarily on the tragedies of Japan, and with good reason. However, the rest of the world moves on and Iraq is no exception. There has been little news about the protests for political reform across the country, but it seems like some of the protesters have shifted their attention to Bahrain. The Xinhua News Agency reported that demonstrators in cities across Iraq have been calling for support of the people in Bahrain and that the Iraqi Parliament will back them up.
The aftermath of the prison riot
CNN reports that there was a small riot at a prison in Tikrit on Sunday the 13th. Reports tell that the fires and rioting were instigated by al Qaeda prisoners trying to protest poor living conditions and corruption in the prison. There were at least 2 killed and 14 injured, including a mix of prisoners and guards. The following day, a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle born improvised explosive device (VBIED) outside military headquarters in a town 40 miles northeast of Baghdad. The attack killed 11 and injured at least 30.
Digging back a couple weeks, I found an interview with the former Iraqi Prime Minister. Iyad Allawi served as the interim Prime Minister from June 2004 to April of 2005. I found the interview on Al Jazeera and some of his responses are really interesting. He comments on the protests in Iraq and how he thinks they will impact the government. He makes the bold statement of saying that there isn't really democracy in Iraq. Keeping in mind the protests of the last couple months, I would say that there isn't a perfect democracy in place and that's why there are protests. It's going to be interesting to see where the protests end up leading and whether Allawi will change his view on the level of democracy in Iraq.
Your post was a good reminder for all of us to not just read the major headlines that are in the news. If you wouldn’t have posted this, I would have no idea of the devastation that happened in Iraq.
I think it is interesting to see that the former Prime Minister calls the democracy within Iraq "a joke". He first began with saying that there is not a very good democratic process in place. And continued with the joke statement, but he does attribute this to some very important factors; The biggest in my mind is that there is no power-sharing; the political process is NOT all-inclusive. This FAILURE has included: politicizing religion, unemployment, no services, 1/3 of Iraqi people living under the poverty line.
My question is, and maybe LBennin can answer it for me :). What do the Iraqi people want? Why are they not banding together in support of democracy and freedom if that is what they really want?
In looking at many other countries' histories, they all needed one huge factor-a united population for freedom. With 1/3 of the population living in poverty, they most likely don't understand what freedom means for them. There is no previous experience of it, so how can they hope for it?
Part of the reason why the U.S. came to be is because there was to be no integration of religious ideology so that people are free to practice what they want. The founders got together and "shared power" amongst them to create a constitution that they agreed on and would hold each other accountable by. Can Iraq do this? Can the population set aside their religious beliefs to create a nation that embraces all of its citizens' rights?
Tough questions I know... Thanks Bennin, this is a great blog!
Your post was a good reminder for all of us to not just read the major headlines that are in the news. If you wouldn’t have posted this, I would have no idea of the devastation that happened in Iraq.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting to see that the former Prime Minister calls the democracy within Iraq "a joke". He first began with saying that there is not a very good democratic process in place. And continued with the joke statement, but he does attribute this to some very important factors; The biggest in my mind is that there is no power-sharing; the political process is NOT all-inclusive. This FAILURE has included: politicizing religion, unemployment, no services, 1/3 of Iraqi people living under the poverty line.
ReplyDeleteMy question is, and maybe LBennin can answer it for me :). What do the Iraqi people want? Why are they not banding together in support of democracy and freedom if that is what they really want?
In looking at many other countries' histories, they all needed one huge factor-a united population for freedom. With 1/3 of the population living in poverty, they most likely don't understand what freedom means for them. There is no previous experience of it, so how can they hope for it?
Part of the reason why the U.S. came to be is because there was to be no integration of religious ideology so that people are free to practice what they want. The founders got together and "shared power" amongst them to create a constitution that they agreed on and would hold each other accountable by. Can Iraq do this? Can the population set aside their religious beliefs to create a nation that embraces all of its citizens' rights?
Tough questions I know... Thanks Bennin, this is a great blog!