Crisis in Iraq

by Prof. Syed Waris Shere,
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Oct. 16, 2006

The human cost of the war in Iraq could be far higher than previously thought. A new survey, a study by Dr. Les Roberts and a team from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore suggests the situation is getting worse rather than better. The survey says more than 650,000 Iraqis have lost their lives as a consequence of the invasion by the United States and Britain with an estimated 200,000 violent deaths directly attributable to Allied forces. The 654,965 deaths estimated to have resulted from the invasion represent about 2.5 per cent of the Iraqi population. It means people have been dying at a rate of about 560 a day, equivalent to one death every three minutes, or less. George Bush's and Tony Blair's foreign policy was in tatters after the head of the Army, General Sir Richard Danatt said that the continued presence of foreign troops in Iraq was responsible for bloodshed at home and abroad. He added : "We are in a Muslim country and Muslims' views of foreigners in their country were quite clear. As a foreigner you can be welcomed by being invited in a country but we weren't invited, certainly by those in Iraq at the time. The military campaign we fought in 2003 effectively kicked the door in". The continuing military presence in Iraq is jeopardising security around the world.

Sir Richard even linked the presence of troops in Iraq with the growing Islamic extremism taking hold all over the world. The key reality that the West fails to grasp is that terrorism and democracy are not opposites. They can, and sometimes do, coexist. One is not a cure for the other. One must understand that those 12 million Iraqis had sharply divided views of what a free society meant. Shi'ites voted for a unified country led by Shi'ites, Sunnis voted for a unified country led by Sunnis, and Kurds voted for their own separate country. Almost nobody voted for a free society in any Western sense of the term. The history will show that the post-invasion planning by the US-led coalition will show that the planning for what happened after the initial successful war fighting phase was poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning. The original intention was to put in place a liberal democracy that was an exemplar for the region, was pro-west and might have a beneficial effect on the balance within the Middle East. That was the hope, whether that was a sensible or naive hope the future historians will judge. US-led forces and the Iraqi government face a real challenge both from insurgency and sectarian fighting between Shi'ites and Sunni Muslims that has brought the country to civil war. In Iraq, as with other conflicts, civilians bear the consequences of warfare. The combination of a long duration and tens of millions of people affected has made this the deadliest international conflict of the 21st century and should be of grave concern to everyone.

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