Does the Occupation Still Have Ongoing Repercussions?

In a few days it will be the second anniversary of the end of the American occupation in Iraq. This closed the curtain on the bloody story that began with the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The invasion of Iraq began with “Shock and Awe” and ended with the American forces leaving piles of metal behind, as they withdrew from the last base in southern Iraq.

After the occupation the situation left Iraq was dilapidated and demolished, and the government was nonhomogenous. The people will need decades to pass through the atrocities of the war and misfortunes.

Even given the withdrawal of the American occupation forces, the Iraqis remember that the American forces stayed in Iraq for 3,175 days. The occupation began on April 10, 2003 and, during it, the U.S. Army deployed more than a million Americans (as was said by American President Barack Obama). This is in addition to surpassing more than a half million contractors and members of security companies. The numbers of American forces lost in Iraq are vague still, and are enveloped in American military statements that their losses did not reach 5,000 killed. Analysts confirm that the number is much higher than this.

The first exposed to American bombardment and occupation were the cities of Najaf and Fallujah in 2004. The first scandal of torture and human rights violations appeared in the same year in the Abu Ghraib prison.

The United States, which occupied Iraq under the pretext that it possessed weapons of mass destruction, did not find any proof that any of these types of weapons were present. It failed in building its new experiment in this country, promoted by the neoconservatives, who were most enthusiastic about the invasion of Iraq. But on the contrary, the Americans left Iraq in a situation that was worse, as Iraqis lived without electricity, suitable drinking water or health care.

Through the long period of American occupation, Iraq has regressed into one of the most corrupt countries in the world. The organization Transparency International has said that Baghdad, after Somalia and Afghanistan, has surpassed other capitals as being the worst in the world.

The Iraqis have harvested a great deal of pain and tragedy during the years of the American occupation, for among those killed have been scientists, doctors, university professors, officers, journalists and businessmen. Those who remain roam in different regions of the world. More than a million Iraqis have been killed or disabled by the American occupiers’ weapons or because of them.

Due to the chaos, murders and kidnappings, approximately 4 million Iraqis migrated elsewhere within or outside of Iraq. Civil society organizations count 1 million widows and 3 million orphans in Iraq. They have recorded declines in pensions, conditions of health, the environment and education to a surprising extent.

Even with the gloom of this sad picture that was left behind by the years of American occupation, Iraq with its oil wealth, the minds and wills of its sons, is able to clear the dust of the years of occupation despite the severity of the experience and bitterness. What is shown is that the people of Iraq have overcome any internal efforts that desire internal war, these being under banners of sectarian, ethnic and regional struggles.

The Iraqis breathed a sigh of relief as they turned a dark page of history, as the final U.S. soldier departed from their country two years ago. They are, however, still under the weight of the page that remains open: that of security, national reconciliation and the fight against corruption. They must face all this, maintain their wealth and respond to attempts to weaken Iraq’s connections.