Starting with Samaraa, Tourhan Al-Mufti* reviews the last three years in Iraq and finds a catalogue of foreign failures and an Iraqi people that endures On that miserable Wednesday, I was sitting before the television, following events, attempting to put distance between my thoughts and fighting between brothers and the division of Iraq. Thinking and watching, I was stunned by the sobbing of Ahmed Abdul-Ghafour Al-Samaraai, president of the Sunni Waqf (endowment). He was one of the first Iraqi notables to have reached Samaraa. Al-Samaraai was crying loudly and praying for the unity of Iraqis and a halt to civil strife. Baghdad was boiling with anger and fear. With the frequency of news of civilian victims, it became certain that President George Bush's mission -- fragmenting and destroying Iraq and sowing sectarian and ethnic strife -- had been carried out successfully. Bush granted Iraq, albeit not on a golden platter, to states that attempted, through various means, to penetrate the Iraqi interior -- even if they failed to do so. The tears of Al-Samaraai brought me back to other miserable days, the day the American invasion began and the day Baghdad's occupation was complete; when the politicians and leaders of the "new" Iraq adopted the slogan "Iraq first". The time had come (we were told) to establish the Iraqi identity that years of suffering from wars and sanctions had attempted to dissolve. Yet Iraqis soon discovered that "Iraq first" was a cover for sectarian allocations and ethnic divisions, seeds planted by Paul Bremer and which remorselessly fractured Iraqi society. Rather than establishing Iraqi identity, groups of shared identity rose in stature, each of which claiming that it was the most worthy of governing Iraq or of bequeathing its characteristics on Iraq. Since 9 April 2003, Iraq has lost its Arab affiliation. Its new constitution affirms that the Arabs of Iraq are part of the Arab world, failing to take into consideration that Arabs form the majority in Iraq and that therefore they give the country its identity. "National identity" has come to be measured by the degree of cooperation with invading forces and occupation authorities. The two Kurdish leaders Jalal Al-Talabani and Masoud Al-Barzani sent a joint letter to President Bush in 2004 in which they reminded him of the "sacrifices" the Kurds had made in fighting with the Americans to "liberate" Iraq. This is how the Kurds became a cornerstone in Iraqi domestic and foreign politics. In re-examining the last three years, I find that chaos continues to reign and that Bush remains insistent on continuing his war on terrorism according to his strategic plan for Iraq to make the world a safer place for Americans. Yes, we now have a permanent constitution, but approximately 20 per cent of Iraqis rejected it and the Islamic party stipulated changing some of its paragraphs in order to approve it. We have entered into elections twice. The first time, interim representatives cast aside promises and created a political vacuum while they divided up the cake of posts between themselves. The second time, politicians and bloc leaders passed back and forth stipulations and demands and held meetings as though they were in a safe, wealthy country for which delaying the formation of government poses no problem. I know that democracy is not easily earned, but in Iraq it has become extremely bloody and produces little fruit if any. A quota of 25 per cent was granted for the representation of women in parliament and the government. In the interim elections, women formed 25 per cent whether parties liked it or not. Yet in the last elections, by way of which the permanent government will be formed, female representation fell back to 18 per cent. And regardless of their share, the treatment of women has overwhelmingly remained top-down; their being brought onto election lists only implementation of a demand made by "big brother". The fact is that the sector of society most harmed in the "new Iraq" is women. The abduction of women has increased, whether to demand ransom, to take revenge, or for human trafficking, particularly if they are young and beautiful. Rape has also increased, as confirmed by international reports. Due to poverty and the killing and imprisoning of male breadwinners, women as heads of households is common. Due to the security situation, international NGOs have withdrawn from Iraq, Iraqi women finding themselves alone in overwhelming circumstances. They seek work at a time when approximately 60 per cent of the Iraqi workforce is unemployed; when beggary has become a luxury profession and a first step towards other street professions. The number of street children has grown and they have become the best means for the circulation of drugs, which have entered Iraq for the first time in April 2003 and with force. In the shadow of fear that Iraq will be divided, public services have dwindled to the lowest degree possible. Electricity is cut for six hours and provided for one. The price of a container of gas exceeds 20,000 dinars, or approximately $16. This is very high if we take into consideration that 20 per cent of Iraqis are below the poverty line, meaning that they earn one dollar -- 1,460 dinars -- or less a day. Fuel has become scarce at stations but is plentiful among itinerant traders who sell it at inflated prices. The food subsidy card that interim governments failed to distribute fully, even for one month, has still not stabilised. Despite civilian victims, Iraqis have been able to subdue civil strife and prevent a civil war. However, fear remains, including fear of Iraq's division. Iraqis, while demanding security and services, are working towards preserving Iraq's unity and searching for its identity. After determining an identity, Iraqis will begin to think about rights, democracy and federalism. How do we view the future of Iraq? This question is unavoidable and the answer to it is at once simple and painful. Iraq is the only country whose future one cannot predict due to numerous foreign interventions, American floundering, and US inability to move within Iraq amidst Iraqi rejection. The coming days are pregnant with events. We hope that occupation forces will not stay long in Iraq. * The writer lectures at Kirkuk University.
