Iraq Crisis: Civil Services Mentor Magazine - September 2014

Iraq Crisis

Chronology of Events in Iraq (Free Available)
First let’s look at the external factors involved in the crisis (Free Available)
Now look at the internal problems of Iraq government (Free Available)
Iraq and India (Only for Online Coaching Members)

Chronology of Events in Iraq

2014 January - Pro-al-Qaeda fighters infiltrate Fallujah and Ramadi after months of mounting violence in mainly-Sunni Anbar province. Government forces recapture Ramadi but face entrenched rebels in Fallujah.
2014 March - The electoral commission board tenders resignation in protest at what it says is political interference ahead of parliamentary elections, amid allegations opposition candidates are being barred using a controversial legal clause.

2014 April - Prime Minister Al-Maliki’s coalition wins a plurality at first parliamentary election since 2011 withdrawal of US troops, but falls short of a majority.

2014 June - Sunni rebels led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) surge out of Anbar Province to seize Iraq’s second city of Mosul, moving on to the oil refinery centre of Baiji. Tens of thousands flee amid reports of atrocities. Iran and the US offer assistance.

2014 July- U.S. said it will not involve ground troops in the Iraq war. It will only send a small team for assistance and training of Iraq forces.

Iraq has descended into bloody war , it has to fight ISIS led sunni militant as well as Kurdish fighters. Overall, at least 1,300 people were killed and another 1,250 injured in Iraq. Government has lost a Northern and eastern portion to sunni and kurdish seperatist respectively. The beleaguered Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, is the latest in the long list of the West’s favorite political leaders turned into pariahs. The conventional wisdom now is that Maliki’s flaws and wrong policies, especially his alienation of the Sunnis and dictatorial style of governance, are at the root of Iraq’s problems. But in truth this war is a spillover of many factors like Syrian war, Geopolitics, Internal politics of Iraq and demography of Iraq.

First let’s look at the external factors involved in the crisis:-

Conflicting U.S. policy objectives in the region have led to current problem. It has proved to be difficult — indeed impossible — to eliminate Saddam but produce a stable Iraq; to isolate Iran and possibly change its regime; to get rid of Assad in Syria without exacerbating its civil war; to forge a Sunni-Israeli alliance against Shia Iran. They removed and executed Saddam Hussain on the grounds of terrorism and mass killing. On the other hand they have not stopped ISIS militant group to gain ground in the region and now ISIS is killing people on religious grounds. Analyst say West could have done more to stop Saudis and others, including Turkey and Qatar, from funding Sunni insurgents.

The most significant factor behind Iraq’s problems has been the inability of Iraq’s neighbours to come in terms with Iraq government. This is primary because of Shia and sunni divide, with Turkey and Saudi Arabia being Sunni dominated and Iraq being predominantly Shia dominated. Turkey which used to rule the Ottoman empire also supported the possibility of what Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutog lu favoured as “neo-Ottomanism,” the Turkish government called for the removal of Syrian President Assad and the emergence of a pro-Istanbul government there. Turkey opened its borders to international militants, with fighters from Libya and Chechnya flying into Turkey to cross into Syria to fight for ISIS and its offshoots. Saudi Arabia also funded and provided political support for jihadis in the region.

Now look at the internal problems of Iraq government:-

PM of Iraq maliki has been blamed of being sectarian and promoting Shia’s for job’s in government and also for all important decision making positions. After NATO forces left Iraq, littlehas been invested for the modernization and training of armed forces. Recruitment for armed forces has been done on sectarian grounds and Shia’s are promoted.

This is fueled by deep divide between Shia’s and sunni’s in muslim world in general and Iraq in particular. Sunni’s have traditionally ruled Iraq for centuries in ottoman empire and after independence also found it difficult to come in terms with Shia dominated government.

Iraq’s Sunni Arabs have not been alone in undermining the authority of the country’s Shia leadership. Masood Barzani, who dreams of an independent Kurdistan, has also done what he can to undermine the authority of the government in Baghdad, by essentially running his own economic, oil, and foreign policies. A factor in Barzani’s attitude has been his anti-Iran sentiments, which go back to the troubles that his father, Mulla Mustafa Barzani, had with the Shah.