'Plainly put, Iraq does not have a functioning political process.' Opinion | TalAbdulrazaq
in the sweltering end of summer heat in Iraq. Protesters have descended on the streets of major cities around the country, including the capital Baghdad, to demonstrate against government corruption, a lack of public utilities and services, and a completely shambolic economy that has led to high unemployment and youth disenfranchisement.
Kadhim al Jibouri, the burly man who famously took a sledgehammer to Saddam’s statue in central Baghdad when American troops first occupied the city in 2003, has since remorsefully been quoted as saying that he is now filled withJibouri’s quote is a poignant one. While the sectarian narrative of a Sunni-Shia divide has some merit, particularly when studying both Sunni and Shia militants and their links to foreign powers, it is becoming a tired and overly simplistic one.
Sadr, Hakim, and many others like them have been involved in the political process in one way or another since its very inception. They have each formed and controlled their own militias, forged strong and close ties to Iran with some characters even occasionally flirting with the US, and have offered up candidates to take part in numerous governments. They, therefore, control various ministries along with competing factions and have a vested interest in the perpetuation of the corrupt system.
Obviously, Shia parties who follow the theocratic ideology of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, have very little to do with democracy.
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