OPINION: Here is a list of the real forces behind the violence in Iraq by Haifa Zangana

OPINION

Here is a list of the real forces behind the violence in Iraq


Violence is spiraling out of control in Iraq, as the regime dodges responsibility.

Last updated: 18 Jan 2014 08:27

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/01/here-list-real-forces-behind-violence-iraq-201411613100570815.html


Haifa Zangana


Haifa Zangana is an Iraqi novelist, artist and activist. Among her books are "Dreaming of Baghdad" and "City of Widows: An Iraqi woman's account of war and resistance". She co-authored "The Torturer in the Mirror" with Ramsey Clark and Thomas Ehrlich Reifer.

The Iraqi government's war on terror will not diminish the suffering of the Iraqi population, writes the author [AP]


During his visit to Iraq on January 14, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced concern about the deteriorating security situation. In his joint press conference with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Ki-moon urged all political leaders to "address the root causes of the problems", calling for "political cohesion" and "political dialogue, inclusive dialogue".

Ban Ki-moon was immediately rebuffed by al-Maliki, who said: "Talk about dialogue in Al-Anbar is rejected because we do not hold dialogue with al-Qaeda". He seemed to be saying there is no one in the province worth talking to. In doing so, al-Maliki resorted to his usual rhetoric accusing Anbar's population of being 'terrorists', despite the fact that protesters, along with five other provinces, have been peacefully demonstrating since December 2012. His statements were obviously intended to legitimise a sectarian-inspired brutal military campaign against the protestors.

The question is: Will the siege, bombardment and military onslaught on Fallujah and Ramadi in Anbar province , put an end to the terrorist acts and frequent car explosions taking place in markets, cafes and mosques and in various Iraqi cities? Will the highly publicised US-Iraqi franchised "war on terror" in Anbar put an end to the endemic suffering of Iraqis?



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Hardly so. Explosions continue unabated in many cities, even with the launch of Maliki's military assault on Falluja and Anbar. And despite the countless official statements of arresting and killing scores of "al-Qaida emirs" (leaders), as well as members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In Arabic, the ISIS has an acronym that reads as Daaish, which sounds comical, and in Baghdadi dialect is close to "Dagash" that translates to "phoney".

What Maliki chooses to ignore and what Ban Ki-moon has singled out is precisely what the protest movement has been demanding all along: looking at the root causes of the problems. In Iraq's case, they are sectarianism, corruption, lack of basic services, violations of human rights, increasing unemployment and organised gangs and militias flourishing under a kleptocratic government.

The Maliki government has been harvesting over $100bn a year for some time now, from the nation's oil wealth.That amounts to about $20,000 a year per average Iraqi household of 7 people, except that Iraqis are left deprived of basic commodities. The wealth is squandered or stolen, a situation illustrated byTransparency International as: "Massive embezzlement, procurement scams, money laundering, oil smuggling and widespread bureaucratic bribery have led the country to the bottom of international corruption rankings, fuelled political violence and hampered effective state building and service delivery."

Terrorism thrives through official corruption, since any officer has a price for letting go of a car or a convict. The officers themselves pay to get their positions, and they have to cover the costs for acquiring them. The Maliki regime blames all terrorist acts on al-Qaeda, and recently on Daaish. Iraqis, however, suspect an abundance of diverse actors according to where and when a terrorist act is committed, including the regime itself, its security officers who strive to increase their funding and its officials who resort to covering up tracks, burning documents and eliminating rivals.

Al-Maliki also selectively chooses not to mention the regime's own militias: Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Iraqi Hezbollah, the Badr brigades, factions of the Mahdi army and the Mokhtar army. The latter's leader has bragged on Baghdadiya TV, about their responsibility for several attacks. No investigation has been done and no one was arrested. There is also hardly any mention of the Iraqi Special Forces inherited from the occupation, especially trained by Colonel James Steele under US ambassador John Negroponte and attached now directly to al-Maliki's office.

Above all, there is no mention of the plethora of foreign-led special operation agents, private security contractors, and organised networks of professional killers, some of whom, many Iraqis believe, are protected by the regime, in the shadow of the US' biggest embassy in the world, in the fortified green zone in Baghdad. Added to this list is Iran and its using of Iraq as a battle ground to settle scores with the US, or making their presence felt in the ongoing bargaining about its regional role.



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Al-Maliki's political alliance, originally designed by the US-led occupation and carried on by the same players despite the fallacy of an electoral process, proved to be a complete failure leading the country from one disaster to another. A political process based on a sectarian-ethnic quota is the Frankenstein created and nurtured by the US and the UK to divide and conquer by positioning themselves to be the indispensible arbitrator. But like all rootless monsters, and oppressive subservient rulers navigating between masters, it has grown beyond the control of its creator planting the seeds of fragmentation and animosity.

The squabbling of the politicians, calling themselves partners in al-watan (homeland), has developed, in some cases, into a full-blown bloody clashes, such as when security forces raided the home of MP Ahmed al-Alwani in Ramadi, which led to the killing of his brother and five guards.

Under current Iraqi law, 48 offenses are subject to the death penalty. Men as well as women are executed in an unprecedented rate. Just in 2013, 169 people were executed, the highest such figure since the 2003 US-led invasion, placing it third in the world, behind China and Iran. Iraq's justice system is "too deeply flawed to warrant even a limited use of the death penalty, let alone dozens of executions at a time," the United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay said, warning that the death penalty undermines efforts to reduce violence and achieve a more stable society. Torture, sexual abuse and the threat of rape and actual rape are frequently inflicted on detainees, regardless of their gender.

Adding to its crimes against Iraqi people, the US continues to deliver to al-Maliki's regime weapons and equipment, abetting its militarisation and uncontrollable violence against civilians.

The Iraqis themselves believe that no future without full political and economic sovereignty, equal citizenship and respect of human rights. Otherwise the madness of revenge will continue to prevail.

Haifa Zangana is an Iraqi novelist, artist and activist. Among her books are Dreaming of Baghdad and City of Widows: An Iraqi woman's account of war and resistance. She co-authoredThe Torturer in the Mirror with Ramsey Clark and Thomas Ehrlich Reifer.


The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

Haifa Zangana on Kurdistan and War

Posted by Wafaa' Al-Natheema on:

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To watch the video please click on:

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This is part of the interview with Haifa Zangana, which was recorded in New York on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 by Wafaa' Al-Natheema.

Other parts related to the life and career of Haifa Zangana will be posted separately. The entire interview can be obtained on DVD from the Institute of Near Eastern & African Studies (INEAS) at http://www.INEAS.org
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Iraqi Women Quietly Endure Horrors of War

By Cyril Mychalejko
11 March, 2008
Countercurrents.org

March 8 marks the 99th celebration of International Women's Day, a day to commemorate the political, social, and economic struggles and achievements of women globally.

This year we should use the holiday to observe and reflect on the suffering of Iraqi women, who have become invisible "collateral damage" in our country's war in this now defenseless Middle Eastern nation. A good place to start would be by picking up and reading Haifa Zangana's book, "City of Widows: An Iraqi Woman's Account of War and Resistance." Zangana is an Iraqi woman, journalist and activist, who was also a former prisoner of Saddam Hussein's regime. She dedicated her book to A'beer Quassim Hamza al-Janaby.

Who is al-Janaby?

She was a 14-year-old Iraqi girl who was gang raped and set on fire by five U.S. soldiers in March 2006 (while her family was murdered as well). This is just one extreme case. But while this horrifying crime received some attention in the media, though not nearly enough (think JonBenet Ramsey), there have been countless others which have gone uncovered. Zangana points out in her book there have been 1,053 cases of documented rape between 2003 and 2007.

Zangana also puts into perspective what the number of civilian deaths means in Iraq, which some estimates suggest eclipsed 1 million people. She cites a 2006 report that stated more than 90 women become widows each day.

"Since men are the main target of US led troops, militias and death squads…It is women who have come to bury the dead. Baghdad has become a city of bereaved women," writes Zangana.
Women are also bearing the brunt of the ongoing refugee crisis. According to an Iraqi Red Crescent report titled "The Internally Displaced People in Iraq" released Jan. 27, there are more than 2 million internally displaced peoples (refugees), while women and children under the age of 12 compose roughly 82 percent of this staggering number.

But I would be doing Iraqi women and Zangana's "City of Windows" a disservice by solely focusing on suffering and their role as victims. Because despite the web of destruction, violence and repression Iraqi women face on a daily basis, we must not forget their acts of courage and empowerment despite the hardships they are facing.

Iraq has a strong history of women's activism through arts, literature, politics and revolution. This can help explain why Iraq, while under the tyrannical rule of Sadaam Hussein, was still one of the most progressive countries in the Middle East regarding women's rights. In fact, UNICEF reported in 1993, "Rarely do women in the Arab world enjoy as much power and support as they do in Iraq."

But sadly Zangara points out that things have gotten worse, not better, after the "liberation" and during the current occupation—despite claims by the Bush Administration that the emancipation of Iraqi women was yet another reason to justify this war.

"In reality, Iraq now has US-sponsored medieval sectarian militias who have barbaric ideas about women's role in society," writes Zangana.

But Iraqi women continue to persevere.

Hana Ibrahim is a shining example that Zangana uses. She is an "independent left wing activist" dating back to the 1970's, and former editor of the weekly newsletter Gender, which covered problems Iraqi women faced at home and in the workplace. In 2002 Ibrahim founded the organization Iraqi Women's Will (IWW). IWW initially started as a women's cultural center in Baghdad which hosted events such as art exhibits and poetry readings. But after the invasion in 2003 IWW was kicked out of its space by gunmen, before the government at the time led by Paul Bremer reclaimed the space only to give it to the US funded NGO Women for Women International.

But Ibrahim would not be deterred. The organization continues to run, though its focus has shifted to ending the occupation and working to improve the political, social and economic rights of women in the country.

But any Iraqi woman could be used an example. Just getting out of bed, taking care of self and family, and living in a country with a wrecked medical system, where electricity is available for only a few hours a day, where clean water is inaccessible for over 70 percent of the population, and where armed militias and mercenaries run rampant—is a heroic act.

By pointing out the hardships Iraqi women face is not an indictment of this war in Iraq—it is an indictment of war period. Each of us needs to ask ourselves, what is the responsibility we bear as citizens of the country which has executed this war?

Ignorance is not an excuse, and apathy is acquiescence.