Iraqis watch Egypt unrest with sense of irony

Iraqis watch Egypt unrest with sense of irony

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Iraqis who have long suffered from high unemployment, poverty and endemic corruption — the catalysts of unrest spreading in the Arab world — called on their own government to take notice.

Many watched footage of riots and looting on the streets of Egypt, the region's traditional powerhouse, with a sense of irony. The scenes brought back disturbing memories of similar mayhem in Iraq, but also admiration for an uprising that came from the streets rather than in the wake of a foreign invasion.

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Trying to post and keep track of reactions from the other countries in the Middle East as they come and have been waiting from some news from Iraq.

This is as expected. It must be bittersweet for them to watch events unfold.

"I wish the young people here would stage demonstrations and make an uprising — something that I would like to call the jobless revolution," said Hazim Kadhim, a 27-year-old arts graduate who has been unemployed for four years.

Wish?

Having been through what they've been through and are still going through, it might be doubly hard for the Iraqis to find the strength and the energy to even consider their nation being torn again. Then again, it sounds as if Iraq, under its new government, might be as vulnerable as any of the other countries being affected in the Middle East.

Possible turmoil there probably cannot be discounted.

Haven't seen any statements from Afghanistan yet, but they do appear to have many of the same issues and concerns...poverty, unemployment, and corrupt government.

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Iraqis are probably like "Wait a minute! That's all we had to do? CRAP! Now we are stuck with a bunch of Americans here! NO I DON'T WANNA DRIVE A FORD!"

reply to post by whatukno


i am not sure weather the sanctions towards iraq would have been lifted if the people had revolted as it would not have ended up with a puppet government so i i am not sure if this would have worked in the same way. also the general iraqi people were not all oppressed and it would have been hard for the kurds to be succesful with such an uprising as many in the general population did not like them.

reply to post by lewman


Most all the Iraqis I have met did not like Saddam at all. (and yes I have met many)

I just think that would be the sense of irony, thinking they didn't have to get invaded and occupied for a decade or more if they just took Saddam down themselves.

Some have mentioned that the case of Egypt and how the people have banded together in the streets to remove Hosni Muburak is ironic for Iraqis and their situation with Saddam. Iraq is a melting pot, and a different environment than Egypt. In Iraq, there are divisions along many aspects of society from ethnic identities to religious beliefs. It took them months to put their differences aside to form a parliament after the March 2010 elections. Any dictator would have used the division to their advantage.

Play them off against other, keep them disorganized, and pepper in a little terror to keep them on edge. Anytime there was an uprising he was able to clamp down hard on it, because the Iraqis self-imposed division kept flare-ups localized and manageable. One example would have been the Shia Uprising in the south after the First Gulf War. To put it simply, the Iraqis could never put aside their century old beefs and prejudices to band together in streets to protest Saddam. Nothing went on in Iraq without him knowing about it. People were snitching on each other, and spies were everywhere. With that scenario, only outside intervention could have removed him and not a grassroots approach like in Egypt or other places.

With Iraq and its current situation, I don't think we will see people taking to the streets like we are seeing in other Middle Eastern countries. First, it will give the Iraqi government an excuse to extend any US military involvement if they cannot stabilized the situation, and the normal everyday Iraqi wants the US out. Furthermore, the divide among the people persists, and the political crisis is an example of that as well as the sectarian violence of 2006-2007. Protests on the scale of Northern Africa, and parts of the Middle East seem unlikely in the case of Iraq. There is just to much division among the people.

reply to post by Jakes51

Hmmm...yes a diverse country does come with its own set of challenges. Sounds vaguely familiar.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


Hmmm. . . What country may that be? I follow you, and I know exactly what you are alluding to. Keep up the good work!

reply to post by ~Lucidity


In the 1980's, Iraq attacked Iran and started what was, until that point, the longest land war of the 20th century. Something to the tune of five hundred thousand Iranians died in what they call "The imposed War;" another thirty to fifty thousand are still unaccounted for.

And the Iranians see this as a positive thing. Stunning? Think about it for a moment.

It's the day after (so to speak) the revolution in Iran. The Theocrats and the Leftists are beating each other up, the Arabs of Khuzestan are looking mutinous, the Kurds are starting up some trouble, even the Azeris, good Persians though they may be are talking of separation. To the east, Afghanistan is being invaded by the world superpower, opposed by the other world superpower, which is backing a heavily armed fundamentalist Sunni movement. Everyone else in the world has Iran under sanction, and to top it all off, heavy rains have screwed up the wheat harvest. On the eve of September 1980, Iran was really on the brink of Yugoslavia-style collapse.

And then Saddam invaded. Almost overnight, you had Azeris from Tabriz fighting alongside Shia from Tehran and Turkmen from Sari, all to defend the Arab-speaking city of Dezfal, in the name of one single country; iran.

The war killed a hell of a lot of Iranians; but it also welded the country together when they were teetring on the precipice of becoming another Afghanistan.

In a similar way, an Egypt-style revolt in Iraq would cut across all social layers, religions and ethnic groups, unifying the country for one purpose against a common enemy; the US and their puppet government. So I can see why this fellow might wish for that sort of thing.

And regarding Afghanistan.. .Afghanistan has been in a state of anarchy since 2001 . There are zones of government control, primarily around Kabul, but aside from that? There's really not an "Afghanistan" anymore.

reply to post by TheWalkingFox

Thought about it, and got it. Great points all.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Maybe?

The Kurds in Iraq have already started protesting for over a week now. Four people have been killed.

Yet the media has given little attention to it.