By Faiza Alaraji
BAGHDAD: When America invaded Iraq in 2003, the Bush administration claimed that they came to liberate Iraq and bring democracy — to make it a shining example in the Middle East.
I believe most Iraqis still remember those rosy promises, and smile with bitterness, wondering to themselves: what kind of democracy have we gained after all our sacrifices?
How many years have we lost since 2003? How many Iraqis were killed? How many millions of dollars were spent?
Now let’s talk about the elections in March 2010, when the Iraqi political leaders called for all Iraqis to participate in the elections, to choose the best leaders for the next four years.
As Iraqis we all believed that it was our responsibility to choose good leaders, to be aware and avoid the mistakes of the 2004 and 2005 elections. Back then, sectarian and ethnic parties took the power and the spotlight as representatives of the Iraqi people. But time has shown us that we were misled by those parties, and the country has suffered enough violence and corruption. Now we must start a new era by choosing nationalist leaders, regardless of their ethnicity or sectarian background.
But realistically speaking, this process appears to be very difficult. From March 2010 until now in October, Iraq still has no government.
Political parties and leaders began the debate of who would be prime minister. And who would be the president? Should the prime minister be Shia or Sunni? Could the president be Arab or Kurd?
This is very frustrating for the Iraqi people, who have tried hard to push the political process from its sectarian and ethnic overlays to be more nationalistic.
Then the situation grew more complicated when Iraqi leaders reached a dead end after months of negotiations.
The neighboring countries started to play roles of their own. It seemed that the key was no longer in the hands of Iraqis, but rather in the hands of Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and possibly Israel as well.
Each country has its special history and experience with Iraq. Some countries, which have had wars with Iraq — such as Iran and Kuwait — want to be sure that Iraq will never be powerful enough to attack them again. Other countries, which are concerned about their religious role in the region such as Saudi Arabia, are worried that Iraq will be controlled by Iran and Shia sectarian leaders.
Jordan is also worried about Shia expansion in the region.
Syria is worried about the Baath party and wants to be sure that no enemies of the party dominate the government in Iraq.
Egypt, as a powerful Arab country, wants to ensure that Iraq is stable and has neutral government that is not extremist, aggressive against its neighbors or part of a coalition with Iran against Arab countries. Egypt is also looking for a passive Iraq, especially with regards to the situation in Palestine, for example. The Arab countries now have a passive attitude toward the problem of Palestine, and if Iraq were to take on a stronger stance like that of Iran it would change the balance in the region.
Turkey is worried about the role of the Kurdistan Labor party on its lands, so Turkey needs a government in Baghdad that is against this party and promises to control its activities near the Turkish border.
Israel definitely wants a friendly government in Iraq, unlike what it saw from the past government of Saddam Hussein.
All those neighbors are now putting their fingers in the Iraqi pie, trying to ensure that the new Iraq will never be as it was in previous decades. At the same time, most of these neighboring countries are not comfortable receiving Iraqi citizens either as workers or visitors as they believe they are a threat to their own national security.
Now, after seven months, the key to Iraq’s future is not in the hands of the Iraqi people anymore.
Iraqis are still waiting to see the end of this dilemma, and wondering: why did we sacrifice our lives going to the ballot boxes? Why have international organizations spent $22 million on awareness campaigns in many Iraqi provinces and villages about elections and choosing the appropriate candidate?
If the democratic process passes through our neighboring countries’ governments, why should we waste our time and efforts?
Iraq is now a model of instability due to its weak political system. It is based on sectarian and ethnic quotas in all state institutions and this is a big challenge for the future of the Iraqi people — and their neighbors.
Faiza Alaraji is an Iraqi engineer and mother of three. She has been blogging about her personal experience in Iraq since the American invasion in 2003, and part of her blogs were published as a book, “The Iraq War Blog”, in 2008. This commentary is published by Daily News Egypt in collaboration with bitterlemons-international.org.
