The US military invasion in Iraq is ‘part of a global democratic revolution' it should be understood in the broader context of the 2500 year old story of democracy' explained George Bush during a 2003 speech. Eight years later, Iraq Body Count revealed that more than 150,000 Iraqis have died following the US invasion, among which roughly 80% civilians. However, as democratic revolutions are shaking the core of corrupt regimes, the absence of democracy in Iraq has become more visible than ever. Both, Cairo and Baghdad have a central square that is called Tahrir square. Whereas the Egyptian Tahrir square has been the stage of a historic revolution, the Iraqi square remains surrounded by razor wire and checkpoints. Democracy in Iraq seems an unachieved goal, not for lack of trying by the Iraqi people though. Inspired by the democratic revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, Facebook-groups in Iraq called for a ‘Day of Rage' on the 25th of January. As thousands took the streets to protest against Nouri Maliki´s government, at least a dozen peaceful protesters were killed by the Iraqi army. The picture of the Iraqi democracy should have been a positive one. However, the optimistic message of Iraqi freedom has gotten a Kafkaesque touch. In January 2003, the Defense Department recommended the creation of a ‘Rapid Reaction Media Team' in order to establish a monopolized structure of information dissemination. According to Pentagon sources, the Iraqi Free Media should give citizens the feeling of ‘North Koreans who turned off state TV at night and in the morning turned on “the rich fare of South Korean TV . . . as their very own.' The news should concentrate on ‘Entertainment and Hollywood' with a number of ‘hand picked Iraqis' providing the ‘face' of the new Media. This vision, however, did not take into account the role of critical free-lance journalists, bloggers and citizens organized in Facebook-groups that have been covering scandals such as the massacre of Fallujah or the devastating humanitarian conditions. Consequently, pressures towards independent journalists have increased. According to the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, in March, more than 160 attacks against Journalists have taken place within two weeks. According to the International Press Institute, ‘the Iraqi government's policies towards the press resemble that of the autocratic regimes in the regions rather than that of an aspiring democracy.' As in the rest of the Arab World, Iraqi citizens use the internet to mobilize against their governments. Whereas the Mubarak regime shut the internet down, the Iraqi government is advised to use more subtle means. The US military is currently advising the Iraqi government how to use social media for their purposes. ‘People are being targeted via social media, abuses by the security forces and others are happening now. Even though Iraq is not as sophisticated as other governments in terms of its use of social media, it seems to be effectively countering the protests to some extent' explains Samer Muscati, a researcher for Human Rights Watch. In the hours following the ‘Day of Rage' in February, more than 300 journalists, lawyers, artists and Intellectuals were detained. While the shooting of peaceful protesters in Libya reminded the International Community of her ‘responsibility to protect', the shooting of peaceful protesters in Iraq is in the best case met with the silent complicity of the Western forces, in the worst case, the US army has actively contributed to the repression of the democracy protests in Iraq. This lays a bridge towards more recent events. On March 20, the anniversary of the invasion in Iraq, an international coalition led by the US started air strikes against Libya in order to promote democracy. The prospects for this new war should be seen in light of the ‘democratic achievements' that have been taking place in Iraq during the last eight years. BM
