Sunday, 19 March 2023

Iraq 20 years after the invasion: How life is better and worse

 
 
 

Iraq 20 years after the invasion: How life is better and worse

Democratic elections are happening, but political elite are hampering change, say experts

But when those weapons never materialized, the hope was that by toppling Saddam and ending his brutal dictatorship, Iraq would at least emerge as a new democracy where Iraqis would enjoy new freedoms and significantly improved standard of living.

Twenty years later, however, the results, are decidedly mixed, say Iraqi experts, with gains coming at a huge expense. Estimates of war-related deaths vary but the Iraqi Body Count has estimated around 200,000 civilians killed following the invasion.

"Iraq is doing better than it was 20 years ago. But there's two caveats to that," said Hamzeh Hadad, an Iraqi Canadian and an adjunct fellow with the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, in a telephone interview from Baghdad. "It's not up to where we want it to be or what. Many had their hopes up in 2003 at the removal of a dictator."

"And two, it came out of big cost. The price that was paid, was enormous."

A view from above of a young vendor carrying a bunch of pink cotton candy and balloons. Iraqis today are doing better than 20 years ago, based on a number of indicators, including the UN's Human Development Index. In 2003, Iraq was given a score of 0.579, where life expectancy was around 65.6 years. Now, its rating is 0.686 and life expectancy is at 70.4 years. Here, an aerial view shows a vendor selling cotton candy and balloons in Basra, Iraq, on March 2. (Hussein Faleh/AFP/Getty Images)

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No time to breathe

Certainly before the invasion, Iraqis were being jailed, tortured and killed by Saddam's regime. And many Iraqis were dying because of the UN sanctions, Hadad said.

But "from the invasion, from the insurgencies, from the sectarian civil war, from fighting ISIS, there were so many lives lost," he said.

Hadad noted that with all that strife, Iraq hasn't had time to "really breathe."

"We're looking at the 20th anniversary of the war, but I think we haven't really been rebuilding up until the last four or five years. And even then, what happened in those four or five years, you had a global pandemic."

Still by a number of indicators, Iraqis today are doing better than 20 years ago. As far as democracy goes, since the 2003 invasion there have six elections, eight different governments and seven different prime ministers.

The Human Index Indicator is a metric compiled by the UN Development Programme  to quantify a country's "average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living."

Worshippers gather for Friday prayers in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, on Friday, March 3, 2023, nearly 20 years after the U.S. led invasion. Worshippers gather for Friday prayers in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, on March 3, 2023, nearly 20 years after the U.S.-led invasion. (Jerome Delay/The Associated Press)

In 2003, Iraq was given a score of 0.579, where life expectancy was around 65.9 years. Now its rating is 0.686 and life expectancy is at 70.4 years.

As well, according to UN figures, Iraq's GDP per capita in 2003 was $855. In 2021 it was $4,686. Luay al-Khatteeb, former minister of electricity of Iraq from 2018 to 2020, said electricity capacity has increased ten-fold since 2003. Meanwhile, oil production has roughly tripled, he said.

Still, observers say, many of those measures don't paint the full picture of Iraq and the significant challenges it still faces 20 years later.

Democracy in Iraq

"Democracy, free elections, federalism and market economy — all these things are complete radical changes to Iraq post regime change — most certainly a significant development from back in 2003," said Al-Khatteeb.

"I think there is a long way ahead of us in terms of establishing an accepted level of democracyBut again, this is part of the gradual progression of any state building post four decades of dictatorship and military rule."

Feisal Amin Rasoul al-Istrabadi, a former Iraqi diplomat, says it's praiseworthy that elections have gone off on time every time.

"We have not delayed elections," he said. "While I cannot tell you that the elections were as pure say as elections are in the Scandinavian countries, I can say the results were not known before the ballots were counted. And there were many surprises along the way. So we have had the peaceful transition of power."

Still, Freedom House, which annually rates the level of freedom of different states, categorized Iraq in 2023 as not free.

"Iraq holds regular, competitive elections, and the country's various partisan, religious, and ethnic groups generally enjoy representation in the political system," the Washington-based non-profit said in its report. "However, democratic governance is impeded in practice by corruption, militias operating outside the bounds of the law, and the weakness of formal institutions."

There is a nostalgia for Saddam Hussein.... There was more stability, ironically.
- Zainab Saleh, associate professor at Haverford College

One of the biggest problems with Iraq democracy is that for over 20 years, the political class has never shifted from thinking of itself as an opposition to the previous regime to actually having governing responsibility, Istrabadi said.

"It's a hodgepodge, a political class that has never had a shared goal, a shared vision for the state of Iraq and whose agenda seems to be dictated more by personal agenda than by sort of a larger vision for the state.

"I don't think anyone in the Iraqi political class is thinking about what is Iraq 20 years from now. I don't think in 2003 any of them thought what should Iraq look like in 10, 20 years. Fundamentally, it's an incompetent political class which has captured the state and which is going to be very difficult to dislodge."

Iraqi Hanaa Selim, 28, left, Israa Waleed , 40, center, and Muneera al-Azami, 71, hold their ink stained index fingers as they leave the election center after voting in Baghdad, Iraq,  Dec. 15, 2005. Iraqi Hanaa Selim, 28, left, Israa Waleed , 40, centre, and Muneera al-Azami, 71, hold their ink-stained index fingers as they leave the election centre after voting in Baghdad, Iraq, Dec. 15, 2005. (Samir Mizban/The Associated Press)

Meanwhile, militias continue to be a major problem, which has also led to a nostalgia for Saddam.

"There is a nostalgia for Saddam Hussein. It's not because the Iraqis love a dictator. But under Saddam Hussein, you knew you had one enemy. It was Saddam Hussein," said Zainab Saleh, associate professor of anthropology at Haverford College. "There was more stability, ironically. And that sort of violence was coming from one group — his regime. "After 2003, you don't know where the violence is coming from: militias, al-Qaeda, ISIS, the US military."

"I talked to Iraqis who suffered under Saddam Hussein. They lost family members in prison, and now they say Saddam Hussein's days are better now,"  said Saleh, author of the book Return to Ruin: Iraqi Narratives of Exile and Nostalgia.

Demonstrators take cover during a protest in Baghdad. They have bandana-like masks and are carrying flags. Demonstrators cover themselves during a protest over corruption, lack of jobs, and poor services, in Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 25, 2019. (Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters)

Economy

A young 20-year old Iraqi in 2003 may have thought that following the fall of Saddam, this could be a good opportunity for Iraq.

 "And to be sure, people have become fabulously wealthy," Istrabadi said. "But generally, the people who have become that wealthy have been extremely well connected to the political classes. So it's kind of robber baron capitalism as opposed to true regulated free market in which everyone has a relatively equal shot."

While Iraq does have a private sector, one that's bigger than in 2003,  it's "extremely limited," said Al-Khatteeb.

"And the main reason is because the political parties are running the show. They want to continue controlling, to get a share of the pie by financial allocation to public sector that they control by political quota system"

Meanwhile, says Istrabadi, the only real job prospects for Iraqis is to be a government employee. But the government can't afford its large public payroll.

"We have failed to create a true private sector, which means that our government sector is bloated and is in fact unsustainable. At this rate, the state of Iraq is unsustainable," he said.

According to Istrabadi, judging by the provision of services in Iraq, governance has been largely a failure.

"The fact remains that there has been no investment and infrastructure, there's been no real planning for a post-petroleum world. We still flare gas rather than capture our natural gas, we burn away a fortune every month," he said.

WATCH | In 2019, protesters demanded an overhaul of a corrupt political system: 

Anti-government demonstrations resume in Iraq

Duration 0:47
Iraqi security forces used tear gas and stun grenades to repel crowds marching towards the capital's heavily fortified Green Zone, protesting corruption and economic hardship.

"The provision of services is very poor. I cannot say to you that we've built a hospital or a school worthy of the name in Iraq," he said. "It is a poor country because of the lack of investment in their infrastructure over so many decades."

More freedom/protests

In theory, Iraqis have been granted more freedoms since the downfall of Saddam

"You constitutionally have a right to speak. There is a  plethora of media in Iraq," Istrabadi  said.

In 2019, protests erupted against then-prime minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's government with demonstrators demanding an overhaul of a political system they see as profoundly corrupt and keeping most Iraqis in poverty.

While hundreds were killed and thousands injured, it was a scene unlikely to have taken place during the rule of Saddam.

Saleh said those mass protests, while sparking violence and death, also sparked hope.

"The amazing thing is that the younger generation is what gives me hope for Iraq. The protesters denounced the sectarian political system, corruption, lack of basic services, and high unemployment. In short, the protesters belonged to a generation that only knew Iraq as a failed state, and aspired to forge a different path by demanding a country and rights, through the slogan 'We Want a Country' (Inryd Watan)."

Hadad said the protests were very symbolic in that it was "literally the moment Iraqis stopped having to worry about terrorists, stop having to worry about wars and just started demanding, you know, a better life."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Mark Gollom

Senior Reporter

Mark Gollom is a Toronto-based reporter with CBC News. He covers Canadian and U.S. politics and current affairs.

With files from Reuters

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1639 Comments
 
 
 
Scott Thibodeau   
"When the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq on Mar. 19, 2003, the stated goal was to seek out a new source of oil and end the regime of Saddam Hussein."

There you go. Fixed it for you.

 
David Amos
Reply to Scott Thibodeau
Did they ever find any weapons of Mass Destruction?  
 
 
 
 
 
 
mo bennett 
this is what happens when a state is governed by religious beliefs. 
 
 
Malcolm McKeil 
Reply to mo bennett 
US is a very religious country
 
 
Katy Rose
Reply to Malcolm McKeil    
Just look at some of the things DeSantis is doing in Florida, banning books and now a new bill would ban young girls from discussing their periods in school.  
 
 
Malcolm McKeil  
Reply to Katy Rose
maybe somebody should sanction the US, kill half a million kids a long slow painful death of illness and hunger like the US did in Iraq, Afghanistan, is doing in Iran and Korea today  
 
 
David Amos
Reply to Malcolm McKeil   
Hmmm 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bill Watson 
I feel for the people of Iraq, but I strongly supported the invasion.
 
 
Alexander Borgia 
Reply to Bill Watson   
It's brave of you to admit that. Do you currently support the US being in eastern Syria stealing oil and grain? 
 
 
Malcolm McKeil 
Reply to Bill Watson   
makes you a war criminal 
 
 
David Amos
 
Reply to Bill Watson   
Shame on you 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Robert Stone 
Iraqi oil had a brief flirtation with the Euro. When the 'Mission Accomplished' banner was proudly displayed behind POTUS, Iraqi oil was back on the PetroDollar.  
 
 
David Amos
Reply to Robert Stone  
C'est Vrai  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mike Hamilton  
The Iraq war was a good distraction from their failures in Afghanistan. 
 
 
Dan Cooper
Reply to Mike Hamilton  
Well Afghanistan was a disguise to invade Iraq to kick our Saddam so they the US could get it;s hand on the oil. It was never about WMD or Bin Laden !   
 
 
David Amos
Reply to Dan Cooper 
Bingo 
 
 
 
 
 
Dan Cooper
"the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq on Mar. 19, 2003, the stated goal was to seek out and destroy Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction"

Yes another US led an US war crime knowing full well there was no WMD and guess who knew that ? Joe Biden of course ! It's on record people when Joe Biden confronted former UN and US Marine Maj. Scott Ritter ! 

 
Mike Hamilton 
Reply to Dan Cooper
Did Dubya know?
 
 
David Amos
Reply to Dan Cooper
Well put 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dan Cooper
Saddam should of never let in UN weapons inspectors, the US ignored all the UN's findings that there was no WMD which made it easy for the US to invade. Instead they should have bluffed or actually possessed them and the US would have not dared to invade !   
 
 
Allen Ross 
Reply to Dan Cooper
Lol…but he wasn’t that bright. And now he’s dead.    
 
 
David Amos

Reply to Allen Ross 
Methinks many would agree that you are not very bright either N'esy Pas?   
 
 
 
 
 
Dan Cooper 
The winner is Kim Jong-Un for actually possessing WMD !  
 
 
David Amos
Reply to Dan Cooper
There is no winner in this nonsense  






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