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No culture of rape in Iraq?

Sunni uproar over their alleged mistreatment has highlighted the tragedy of women raped in Iraq, writes Salah Nasrawi
For nearly a month now, Iraqi Sunni Arabs have been pouring into the streets across the country to protest against what they perceive as their unjust share in the country’s wealth and power and marginalisation by the Shia-led government in Baghdad.
Although Sunni demands have centred on ending what they say is their discrimination and exclusion, the tipping point for the protests, which have triggered the country’s worst political crisis in years, were allegations of the rape of Sunni women detained in Iraqi jails.
The row started on 29 November during a parliamentary debate on violence against woman when some Sunni lawmakers presented a report claiming that there had been systematic violation, torture and rape of female inmates in Iraqi jails and demanded that the Iraqi government and judiciary put an end to the abuse.
A heated parliamentary conversation later turned into fistfights, as Shia members accused their Sunni colleagues of fabricating the report and attempting to defame the Shia-led security forces.
The row later moved outside the parliament, as Sunni politicians, media and clergy demanded the release of Sunni women prisoners and the bringing of the alleged offenders to account.
Iraq’s Interior Ministry, which is responsible for the country’s police, and the Ministry of Justice, in charge of prisons, denied the accusations. The Ministry of Justice also prevented a team of lawmakers from visiting prisons to probe the allegations.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, who scoffed at the charges, promised scrutiny of prison officials and punishment for any found guilty.
After the Sunni protests, Al-Maliki named a committee that included two key Sunni clerics to investigate the allegations. A committee member later said they couldn’t find evidence of rape inside the prisons, but he didn’t rule out that some cases could have occurred during the investigation process.
The government says there are some 1,000 women prisoners in Iraq who were lawfully arrested with legal arrest warrants issued by the judiciary. It says that many of the jailed Sunni women were charged with terrorism, such as attempts to carry out bomb attacks.
Some Shia politicians have even blamed the victims for their “increased libido” inside the prisons, suggesting that they may have seduced their interrogators and guards.
On the other hand, Iraq’s Sunni Arab politicians have attempted in the past to increase public criticism of the Shia political class as a result of what they have described as attempts to whitewash the government’s indifference towards abuses carried out by Shia security forces, charges which Shia politicians dismiss as fabrications.
There is a growing fear that both sides are trying to manipulate the public clamour over the rape cases in the political contest ahead of the local elections in April.
During Iraq’s worst period of civil strife in 2007, a Sunni woman identified by the pseudonym of Sabrin Al-Janabi, told Al-Jazeera television that four Iraqi officers had raped her over a four-hour period after accusing her of aiding insurgents.
The claim, which had the potential to drive Iraq to a full-scale sectarian war, later turned out to be untrue.
While the ongoing sectarian row has raised fears of communal tension, it has also turned the spotlight on the rape of women as a vile crime that can hinder nation-building or the establishment of a value system that reflects human rights principles and gender equality. 
Under the regime of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, rape cases were not unusual but offenders also received harsh punishments, including the death sentence.
Nevertheless, among the shocking stories of brutalities committed during Saddam’s rule were rapes committed by his associates, including his maverick eldest son Odai.
During the US occupation of 2003-2011, Iraq struggled with stories of human rights violations in the form of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, including torture, and reports of rape and sodomy carried out by US soldiers.
Some of these acts, committed by US military personnel or governmental contractors in Abu Ghraib prison, came to public attention. On 12 March 2006, a 14-year-old Iraqi girl was gang-raped and killed by US army soldiers in Al-Mahmoudiya, a town south of Baghdad.
The soldiers also murdered her entire family and burned their house. Five soldiers were charged with the crimes.
There were also several cases of the reported rapes of US female soldiers by their colleagues in Iraq. While most of these cases were hushed up, US army reserve staff Sergeant Sandra Lee, raped twice while serving in Iraq, shared her story in interviews with several US media.
Beyond this handful of publicised cases, there is also ample anecdotal evidence that Iraqi and American troops raped women and men during the period when Iraq was under US occupation.
Reports have said that the Iraqi authorities that took over power after the Americans left the country continued the same policies as the US occupiers. Some of these reports have suggested that the Iraqi authorities have used the same excuses and tactics as the United States in order to evade their responsibilities.
Publicised rape cases and growing fears among many Iraqis of such a mentality and culture of impunity back up such a conclusion.
Last year, there were several cases of rape that made the headlines because of their brutality. In Basra, a four-year-old girl, Banin Haider, was raped and murdered. A few weeks later, a five-year-old girl, Abeer Ali, was also raped and murdered in Thiqar north of Basra.
A soldier was later arrested in connection with Banin’s murder. He was later tried and found guilty and sentenced to death for abusing and killing the child.
A few days before the latest controversy started, the governor of Nineveh, Atheel Al-Nujaifi, revealed that an underaged girl had been raped by an army officer in the outskirts of Mosul, the provincial capital.
He said that the army had refused to hand the officer over to the local police for investigation and warned of discontent in the province.
These rape crimes by sometimes off-duty soldiers, such as in Banin’s case, and reports of rampant corruption in the security forces, have led many Iraqis to worry about what might be happening inside the country’s prisons.
Regardless of the sectarian brawl in Iraq, the news of women being raped in prison is alarming. Many Iraqis believe that these are not isolated incidents, and that they could be related to a culture of indiscipline among the highly unprofessional security forces.
During the Sunni protests and in broadcasts on Sunni-run television stations, activists have given horrible accounts of the rape of female inmates held in secret prisons. Among the secret prisons named was the Al-Muthanna Airport Prison.
In their 2011 reports on Iraq, the international NGOs Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch stated that the Al-Muthanna Prison, a disused airport, was reportedly controlled by the office of Al-Maliki, a charge denied by his office.
Remarkably, there has been no independent inquiry into the allegations of rape in Iraqi prisons, indicating insensitivity and inaction on the part of the government. Neither the United Nations nor respected human rights groups have indicated they are taking any action to probe these accusations.
In a country where violence is the norm and sentiments can be superheated, there are concerns that the abuse of women and even rape could be overlooked as only the temporary side-effects or unsettling consequences of the political climate.
Rape may not be endemic or a cultural phenomena in Iraq, but the rhetoric triggered by the Sunni accusations should be a wake-up call for the Iraqi authorities, civil society and the religious establishment to launch a national debate about violence against women, causing the state to take the necessary measures to stop such heinous abuses.
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                                                          بيان
تدخل القضية العراقية مع عام 2013 وبعد عشر سنوات من الغزو الامريكي منعطفا جديدا بسبب تفاقم الصراعات السياسية المستمرة والتهديدات بالتصعيد العسكري بين الاطراف المتنازعة والانهيار الامني والخراب الاقتصادي وسوء الخدمات وتغول الفساد وانتهاكات حقوق الانسان مما ينذر باحتمالات خطيرة على مستقبل البلاد والشعب العراقي برمته.
لقد اشرت سلسلة النزاعات الحادة التي شهدها عام 2012 المنصرم بين الفرقاء المشاركين بالسلطة والتي وصلت الى مستوى المواجهات العسكرية والتهديدات السافرة التي مست صميم الكيان العراقي والحقت المزيد من الضرر بالتعايش الوطني الى وصول العملية السياسية الجارية الى طريق مسدود تماما والحقت ضررا بالغا بجهود اعادة بناء الدولة والمجتمع.
كما كشفت الاحتجاجات الجارية في محافظات عدة على خلفية شكاوي التهميش والاقصاء وما رافقها من احتقانات طائفية والتهديدات بالحرب الاهلية عن عمق الازمة الوطنية والمخاطر التي تحدق بمصير الشراكة الوطنية بل بمصير الوطن ذاته.  
وفي الوقت الذي تتحمل فيه الاطراف المشاركة في الحكم المسؤولية الكاملة عما آلت اليه الاحوال المآساوية في بلادنا لاسباب تعود اساسا الى الفساد والتخبط وسوء الادارة وانعدام الرؤية وغياب القيادة فان نظام المحاصصة الطائفية الذي اقامه الاحتلال الامريكي يتحمل دورا كبيراً في فشل العملية السياسية ذاتها بما فيها الشلل الحكومي والجهاز التنفيذي وتعطيل دور البرلمان التشريعي والرقابي وعجز القضاء عن اقامة نظام للعدالة النافذة.
ان احد تجليات الازمات المتالية والمتفاقمة هو التنازع بين اهل الحكم والفرقاء السياسيين على الادوار في السلطة وعلى الثروة  ومحاولات الهيمنة والاقصاء والتهميش التي الحقت اشد الضرر بمبادئ الدستور التوافقية والديمقراطية وبمدأ الفصل بين السلطات وشرعت المجال لاقامة الدكتاتورية من جديد في العراق.
ان عشر سنوات من الاحتلال الغاشم ومن نظام المحاصصة الطائفية البغيض لم تفلح في وضع لبنة حقيقية لاعادة البناء، بل ادت على العكس من ذلك الى تدمير كامل في البنى المادية والبشرية في العراق مما يستوجب عقودا طويلة وجهودا جبارة واموالا طائلة سوف يتحمل عبئها اجيال عديدة من العراقيين في المستقبل.
ومما يزيد الامر سوءا تفاقم التدخلات الاجنبية في الشؤون الداحلية العراقية والتي اسفرت في الفترة الاخيرة عن مشاريع شيطانية بدت بوادرها في الافاق ضمن المخططات الجارية هدفها زج العراق في المزيد من الصراعات الاقليمية المذهبية والقومية وتحويله الى ساحة حرب بالنيابة عن دور الجوار وغيرها من القوى الدولية تمهيدا لرسم خرائط جديدة للمنطقة.
وفي ظل التدهور الحاصل والاحتمالات الكارثية المتوقعة من استمرار الازمات فلم يعد الصمت عما يجري خيارا، خاصة وان هناك فى الافق ما يشير الى ان الفرقاء المتنازعين يستغلون حالة الاستقطاب المذهبي والقومي التي تفجرها صراعاتهم في تهيج الشارع خدمة لاغراضهم الانتخابية وادامة لعبة السلطة التي ادمنوها الامر الذي يتطلب العمل ليس على ادانة وفضح هذه الممارسات فقط وانما ايضا مواجهتها بكل السبل السياسية والسلمية الممكنة.
انني ومن هذا المنطق اتوجه مرة جديدة كما توجهت في السابق الى كل قوى شعبنا  السياسية والاجتماعية المؤمنة بخيار دولة المواطنة الديمقراطية، دولة العدل والحرية والمساواة والرخاء، بالشروع الفوري للتكافل بالعمل على تغير نهج الحكم والعملية السياسية القائم عليها وابعاد المتسلطين عليها بغية فسح المجال للقوى والتيارات الوطنية لممارسة دورها في بناء هذه الدولة قبل ان تعصف بها السياسات الطائفية والممارسات الديكتاتورية.
ان اولى الخطوات في هذا المجال تستدعي نبذ كل من شارك في ايصال هذه العملية الى نهياتها الكارثية وذلك من خلال مقاطعتهم في جولتي الانتخابات القادمة المحلية والتشريعية والعمل على الدفع بوجوه جديدة تلتزم ببرنامج سياسي واقتصادي واجتماعي شامل للانقاذ واعادة البناء على اسس وطنية متينة.ان عدم فسح المجال لمثل هذه الوجوه والقوى الجديدة والتضيق عليها يعني ضرورة الدعوة الى مقاطعة الانتخابات والعمل على نزع الشرعية عن الطبقة السياسية المتنفذة التي تعمل على الابقاء على الاحتكار والتهميش والاقصاء.  
كما يتطلب الامر اطلاق حملات شعبية ودولية واسعة لمناهظة الفساد بانواعه وانتهاكات حقوق الانسان والارهاب وجرئم تخريب الدولة والعمل على ملاحقة مرتكبيها وتقديمهم الى القضاء المحلي والدولي بما فيها محاكم جرائم الحرب والجرائم ضد الانسانية من خلال تفعيل بنود قرارات الامم المتحدة بهذا الشأن وفق الباب السابع الذي لايزال العراق خاضعا له.
لقد حان وقت العمل من اجل انقاذ العراق من مصيره الحالك الذي يدفعه اليه البعض ممن شاءت الاقدار وارادة الاحتلال الامريكي ان يتبؤ المشهد السياسي وان يعمل على تحقيق اجندات طائفية وفؤية ضيقة تتعارض مع المصالح الوطنية واهداف بناء عراق موحد  وحر ومستقل ومزدهر ولجميع ابنائه. 
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Sunni rebellion in Iraq

As the Shia-Sunni disputes in Iraq remain under the spotlight, the country has been rocked by a Sunni rebellion, writes Salah Nasrawi
Some hailed it as an Iraqi Sunni Spring, while others just took to the streets to vent their grievances about being treated as second-class citizens. Still others said the rallies that have hit Iraq’s three Sunni provinces over recent days have taken place as a protest against a crackdown on Sunni leaders.
Whatever the reasons behind their two week-long sit-ins, Iraq’s Sunni Arabs seem to have opened a new chapter in their struggle to regain prominence a decade after the 2003 US-led invasion of the country that toppled the minority Sunni regime of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and propelled Iraq’s majority Shias to power.
The Sunni rebellion is a sign of regained confidence, driven by increasing support by powerful regional Sunni heavyweights such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey and the prospect that a Sunni-dominated regime will come to power in neighbouring Syria following the widely expected fall of President Bashar Al-Assad’s Alawite regime.
The Sunni demonstrations heralded another bad year for Iraq and raised speculation about the future of the violence-torn nation some ten years after the US-led invasion which has gripped it in its worst political deadlock and confessional divisions since it came into being in the 1920s.
The Sunni protests came as sectarian violence spiraled across the country following the US troop withdrawal last year. A series of bombings across Iraq this week killed more than two dozen people, many of them Shias who were performing pilgrimages to the holy city of Karbala.
The protests were triggered by the arrest of the bodyguards of Sunni Finance Minister Rafei Al-Essawi on 21 December.
Thousands of Sunnis massed across their three provinces with the main focus in their heartland of Anbar. Crowds also blocked the highway that links Iraq with neighbouring Jordan and Syria to increase the pressure on the Shia-led government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki.
Al-Essawi, a prominent member of the mainly Sunni Al-Iraqiya political bloc, denounced the arrests as a “deliberate and premeditated act” by Al-Maliki. He accused Al-Maliki of turning the Iraqi security forces into militias run by his office.
Al-Maliki said the executive branch had not ordered the detentions and insisted that they had been the result of an investigation carried out by the judiciary.
A spokesman for the Supreme Judiciary Council said 10 of Al-Essawi’s bodyguards were being held on suspicion of terrorism-related offences. Other sources suggested that the bodyguards had confessed to carrying out bombings on Al-Essawi’s personal orders.
Last December, several bodyguards of Sunni Vice President Tarek Al-Hashimi were arrested. Shortly afterwards, a warrant was also issued for the arrest of Al-Hashimi himself, accusing him of running sectarian death squads.
Al-Hashimi denied the charges, but fled to the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region and then to Turkey and later to Qatar. He has been sentenced to death in absentia.
The Sunnis’ anger has been growing louder for several months over what they perceive as their mistreatment in Shia-run Iraq. The complaints have included the arbitrary use of anti-terrorism laws and the prolonged detention and mistreatment of prisoners, particularly women, in government jails.
Sunni dissatisfaction with the government has been building for years, stemming from claims of marginalisation, unequal distribution of wealth, repressive actions and the government’s failure to provide jobs.
Many Sunnis have declared that they should secede from the ethnically-divided and violence-ridden country and seek their own autonomy. Proponents say that the establishment of an autonomous region would be in reaction to the Iraqi government’s neglect and exclusion of the Sunnis.
Last year, the Sunni-dominated province of Salaheddin created uproar when its local council voted to establish it as an “independent region within a unified Iraq”. The Anbar council was to follow suit, but a bid to vote on the issue was halted under pressure from Sunnis opposed to autonomy.
Such demands for autonomy are considered as a major shift in the perspective of the country’s Sunni Arabs.
Since modern Iraqi came into being after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire following World War I, Sunnis have prided themselves on being a bulwark of Arab nationalism and the guardians of Iraq’s unity in the face of Kurdish secessionism and Shia disenchantment with Sunni domination.
Most Sunnis rejected Iraq’s new constitution drafted after the 2003 US-led invasion on the grounds that the document was a recipe for the end of Iraq as a unitary state, since it allowed ethnic groups, or provinces, to set themselves up as autonomous regions under a federal system, something argued for by the Kurds and backed by the Shias.
Many Sunnis boycotted Iraq’s parliamentary elections following the invasion but participated heavily in the 2010 elections, later joining a “partnership government” in the hope of ending their marginalisation under the Shia and Kurdish-controlled governments that came to power after the US-led invasion.
Although in recent demonstrations Sunnis again showed their commitment to a unified Iraq, a sectarian slant was also evident in the demonstrations.
Some protesters carried the Iraqi flag of the Saddam era and shouted anti-Shia slogans. Others carried Syria’s rebel flag and pictures of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom many Iraqi Shias consider as an enemy.
Fugitive Vice President Al-Hashimi has been leading a campaign from his new exile in Qatar to rally Sunni support for the demonstrators.
He has called on Sunnis not to “waste the historic opportunity provided by the blessed uprising” and has also urged the Sunni Gulf countries to lend support to their Sunni brethren in Iraq.
However, the anti-Shia rhetoric has infuriated many Shias in Iraq, including those who are opposed to Al-Maliki. Prominent Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr canceled plans to send representatives to Anbar to participate in the anti-government protests and criticised the anti-Shia slant.
Even liberal-oriented Shias who disagree with al-Maliki voiced their dismay over what they saw as sectarian incitement and attempts to bring back Saddam loyalists to power.
“How can we defend the Sunnis, when their representatives fire all these words of contempt and slander against the Shias,” asked Nabil Yassin in the Al-Mowaten newspaper on Sunday.
Some Shia politicians have accused the regional governments of being behind the protests to incite “sedition”.
Turkey has headed the list of countries accused of meddling in order to destabilise Iraq. On Sunday, Al-Maliki accused Turkey of encouraging Iraqi Kurds to secede from Iraq.
Turkey has sided with the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan in its conflict with the Iraqi government. It is also working closely with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and Erdogan has said that Al-Maliki is sectarian and is discriminating against Sunni Muslims in the country.
Last week Erdogan said that “extremist Shia authorities are ruling Iraq”.
Saudi Arabia, at the forefront of the conflict against Shia Iran, has assumed the mantle of the defender of the Iraqi Sunnis.
In an article published by Project Syndicate 2012 last week, an influential member of the Saudi royal family said “Iranian intervention is tearing Iraq apart and endangering the countries around it.”
“Western and Iranian support for Nuri Al-Maliki’s government, which is controlled by Iran’s Basij militia, must be withdrawn, enabling the Iraqi people to determine freely their own destiny,” wrote prince Turki Al-Faisal, a former head of Saudi intelligence and ex-ambassador to the United States and Britain.
Qatar is also believed to be heavily involved, its Al-Jazeera satellite networks providing heavy coverage for the Sunni protests and its employees joining an anti-Shia campaign by disgruntled Iraqi Sunnis on the Internet.
As the inevitable brinksmanship plays out, the question remains of what options the Sunnis really have to advance their cause apart from street mobilisation.
One effect of their protests is a deepening division within their ranks, which could embolden Al-Maliki. Many moderate Sunni groups and leaders have expressed their dismay over the anti-Shia rhetoric, describing it as being counter-productive.
Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Al-Mutleq was attacked when he visited the protesters in Anbar recently, trying to calm them. Angry crowds insisted that the Sunni official should resign from the government.
There are also signs of Shia dissent within the Al-Iraqiya bloc, which are a serious blow to its proclaimed secular mantel.
On Monday, the bloc’s Shia leader, Iyad Allawi, distanced the group from the protests in Anbar. He told the Al-Hurra television channel that he would have preferred Al-Iraqiya ministers to withdraw from the government instead.
Al-Iraqiya’s Shia spokesman Haidar Al-Mullah said he was resigning from his post because of the anti-Shia diatribes.
Prospects for these escalating Shia-Sunni tensions spiraling out of control and producing yet another civil war are sharply heightened by the new conflict.
In an interview with Al-Sumeria television on Sunday, Al-Maliki warned of “a deadlock situation” in the country.
He suggested that the Sunnis either go for a new election or sit around the negotiating table in order to try to find a solution to the crisis.
Otherwise, he said, “we are faced with either civil war or separation.”
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Troubled times for Iraq

Iraq has had another bad year, and it is entering 2013 amid increasing uncertainty, writes Salah Nasrawi

A year after the last US troops pulled out from Iraq, the beleaguered country has slipped into a state of ongoing and escalating political turmoil as sectarian violence shows no signs of abating.
Iraq has remained gripped in its worst political deadlock since the US-led invasion of 2003 amid confessional divisions, rival clashes and terrorist attacks that have sparked concerns about the country’s post-war stability.
Corruption and human rights abuses are rampant, while government mismanagement and the lack of health and social services and basic supplies, such as electricity, water and sewage systems, remain epidemic. Ultimately, the situation in Iraq nearly ten years after the US-led invasion is anything but encouraging.
A few weeks before the year ended, the political deadlock took a sharp and perilous course as the country’s Shia-led government and its Kurdish and Sunni partners engaged in a bitter power struggle and military standoffs.
On 21 December, Iraq’s Sunni leaders accused Shia Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki of a political crackdown after troops raided the Sunni Finance Minister Rafea Al-Essawi’s office and home and arrested dozens of his guards and staff members.
The crackdown has built on tensions that have been running high since December 2011, when Al-Maliki moved against Vice President Tarek Al-Hashemi, who fled Baghdad for Turkey in order to avoid prosecution on charges of terrorism and running death squads.
The Sunni Al-Iraqiya bloc, which includes the groups of both Al-Essawi and Al-Hashemi, has accused Al-Maliki of trying to consolidate his power at its expense.
Al-Iraqiya leaders say Al-Maliki, who controls the army, security forces and intelligence services, is trying to subdue the country’s Sunnis to his autocratic tendencies. They also accuse him of relying on Iraq’s compromised judiciary and corrupt bureaucracy as weapons against his rivals.
The situation has also infuriated some of Al-Maliki’s Shia allies, who believe he is fabricating and politicising terrorism or criminal cases against his enemies. “The way he deals with the security files has made everybody lose confidence in him,” said Amir Al-Kinani, a top Shia lawmaker from the Shia Sadrist Trend.
The raids and detention of Al-Essawi’s staff came a day after troops from Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish Region opened fire on Iraqi army helicopters, the second such incident in a week, underscoring mounting tensions between Baghdad’s Shia-led government and the Kurdish Region.
Iraq’s central government and the country’s northern Kurdish region have in recent months remained gridlocked after Kurdish leaders accused Al-Maliki of trying to orchestrate a power grab.
Tensions between Baghdad and the Kurdish Region have risen after Al-Maliki formed a new military command covering disputed territories in September, in order to address the deterioration in security in areas that have been the scene of terrorist attacks in recent months.
In retaliation, Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani has dispatched massive troop numbers to the same areas, ordering them to be renamed “Kurdistan areas outside the region”, which Baghdad considers to be provocative.
Relations between the country’s Kurds, who make up about 20 per cent of the population, and the Shia-led government have also worsened over other long-running disputes, including power and resource-sharing.
The Kurds have been pursuing separate oil-and-gas exploration deals with foreign companies, and they have started selling oil on international markets in independent export deals.
The moves have aggravated tensions with Baghdad, which considers the sales to be illegal and a challenge to its claim to full control over Iraq’s oil.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, has initiated a reconciliation effort to defuse the disputes, but the talks have come to a stalemate after Talabani himself recently suffered a stroke.
Now there are increasing fears that if he dies or is permanently incapacitated, Iraq will face further political turmoil.
While the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq led to the creation of a Kurdish semi-autonomous region, the recent disputes have raised fears that the Kurds are now drifting further from Baghdad, raising questions about the possible secession of Iraqi Kurdistan from the rest of the country.
On the other hand, sectarian violence and killing continue to rise, and attacks targeting both Iraqi security forces and civilians killed more than 4,000 Iraqis in 2012.
The United Nations said it was concerned that the violence was increasing a year after the US forces left, noting that “the attacks were often more deadly, with a few attacks claiming scores of victims.”
As the political conflicts and violence continue, respect and protection of human rights in Iraq have deteriorated. While acknowledging the responsibility of the armed groups for some gross human rights abuses, including the indiscriminate killings of civilians and kidnappings, international rights groups blame the Iraqi government for serious violations, such as unlawful detention and torture in detention centres.
Executions remain of great concern in Iraq, with the number of people executed in 2012 exceeding 129, the highest since 2005, drawing criticism from international rights groups. Further death sentences were ratified last week pending execution.
“Respect for human rights is the basis of any democracy, and strong action needs to be taken by the Iraqi authorities to ensure that each and every person in this country can fully enjoy his or her fundamental rights,” said Martin Kobler, UN special envoy for Iraq.
Corruption remained one of the main obstacles to economic development and good governance in Iraq over the course of the year. Reports have suggested that corruption has reached the highest levels of the government and negatively impacted every aspect of Iraqi life.
As usual over the last 10 years, the international group Transparency International has ranked Iraq among the most corrupt countries studied in its 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index. A US government report quoted Abdel-Baset Turki, Iraq’s chief auditor, as saying in October that almost $800 million was flowing out of the country illegally each week.
In November, Iraq cancelled a $4.2 billion deal to buy arms from Russia because of concerns about corruption. Lawmakers accused several of Al-Maliki’s aides of personally profiting from the deal.
Iraq’s internal bickering aside, 2012 will also be remembered as the year when Iran managed to protect its alliance with the country’s government and increase its standing with Iraq’s Shia political groups, which dominate the Baghdad government.
Iran’s resolve to increase its influence in Iraq, including by building a military and security alliance with the Shia-led government, has raised concerns among Iraq’s Sunni neighbours, such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Relations between Iraq and Turkey remained strained over a host of issues, including accusations by Baghdad that Ankara was interfering in Iraq’s internal affairs.
On Saturday, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Iraq was “passing through a critical period” and described the Shia-led government as “a minority government.”
Baghdad has repeatedly accused Ankara of sectarian bias and has blasted Ankara for supporting both the Kurds and the Sunni Arabs.
Distrust and suspicion between Iraqi Shias and Saudi Arabia continued to block reconciliation with the Arab world’s heavyweight oil-producer. Iraq now plans to increase its own oil production, which could trigger a decline in international prices, setting the two countries on a collision course.
Relations between Iraq and Kuwait also remained cool, signalling difficulties in ending issues emerging from former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1991.
The main disputes include Kuwait’s refusal to lift the UN sanctions imposed on Iraq following the 1991 invasion and a new port on the Arabian Gulf that the emirate has started constructing that many Iraqis believe is blocking entrances to Iraqi ports.
Iraq also faces daunting challenges over Syria as it seeks to contain the spill-over from the crisis in the neighbouring country.
Fearing that Iraqi insurgents will unite with extremists in Syria in order to wage a two-front battle for Sunni dominance, Iraq has implicitly supported Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and allowed Iranian weapon airlifts through its airspace.
This has put Iraq at loggerheads with the United States and other countries, which are pushing for Al-Assad’s ouster.
All this makes Iraq today as fragile as it has ever been since the US-led invasion in 2003. No lasting solution to the country’s instability can be brought about until the decade-old struggle over power and wealth is dealt with.
Though the failures of the Iraqi political groups have been well-documented, it is time for them to contemplate other options or else to watch the pattern of perpetual conflict in the country continue.
ما بعد التجربة
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أمريكا ووصفتها السحرية للديمقراطية الإسلامية
بقلم: صلاح النصراوى
الاحد 16 ديسمبر، 2012 
من تابع التصريحات الرسمية وتحليلات الصحافة ومحللي مراكز البحوث الامريكية بشأن ازمة الدستور في مصر لابد وان لفت انتباهه ان الموقف الامريكي كان ميالاً لموقف التيار الاسلامي.فالرئيس باراك اوباما كان صريحا في مكالمته التلفونية مع الرئيس محمد مرسي بدعوته قادة المعارضة اللبرالية الي الانظمام للحوارالذي دعا اليه مرسي “دون اية شروط مسبقة”، في حين ان استنتاجات المحللين الامريكيين الذين هم عادة رسل مراكز صنع القرار كانت بمثابة شهادة جودة (ايزو) للوثيقة باعتبارها ديمقراطية.
هل ثمة جديد في الممارسات والعادات الامريكية البغيضة في التدخل في خيارات الشعوب؟بالطبع لا.فالامريكيون المغرمون بصياغة عقول وقلوب الشعوب لم يخفوا نواياهم منذ انطلاق ثورات الربيع العربي في عزمهم على الاستمرار في المشاركة في رسم صورة المنطقة بذات الجهد الاستشراقي الذي حولوها فيه خلال ما يقارب من قرن الى رقعة شطرنج هم فيها اللاعب الابرز الذي يحدد مسارها.
زبدة الموقف الامريكي ازاء سجالات الدستور المصري هو ان الميثاق “يكاد لا يختلف كثيراً في تدينه عن الدستور القديم” كما عبر عن ذلك مراسل نيويورك تايمز في القاهرة ديفيد كيرباتريك عن لسان “خبراء دوليين” لم يسمهم، او انه “من وجهة النظر الديمقراطية اللبرالية فان هناك الكثير ما هو جيد في الدستور” كما كتب نيثان بروان في دورية الشؤون الدولية، وهي كلها اراء تحمل رسائل تحذير الى التيار المدني واللبرالي اكثر من كونها تحليلات سياسية رصينة تستند الى قراءات دقيقة للدستور، او تستوعب النقاشات الدائرة بشأنه.
الرسالة الاهم هي ان القوى المدنية واللبرالية المصرية هي التي تنقلب على اسس الديمقراطية وترفض شروطها وآلياتها وانها بفعلها ذلك تتحول الى مجرد مجموعات عابثة من معرقلي اقرار الدستور ومن مثيري الشغب.يصعب فهم هذه المفارقة في الموقف الامريكي، الا اذا كنا على اطلاع على تجارب تخريب العمليات الديمقراطية وتدمير اختيارات الشعوب التي مارستها الادارات الامريكية المتعاقبة منذ التخلي عن مبادئ ولسن بعد الحرب العالمية الاولى، مرورا باليابان، التي اعادوا صياغتها على هواهم بعد الحرب العالمية الثانية، وانتهاء بالعراق بعد غزوه واحتلاله قبل نحو عشر سنوات.
 ما نحن بصدده لم يكن سراً ابدا اذ ان السياسات الامريكية بشان ثورات الربيع العربي كانت تدعم منذ البداية صعود تيارات الاسلام السياسي الوسطي في المنطقة، وهي سياسات تعود جذورها الى فترة بزوغ ما اطلق عليه بالصحوة الاسلامية في ثمانينات وتسعينات القرن الماضي وترسخت بعد احداث 11 سبتمبر 2001 حيث طرحت ستراتيجية جديدة للمنطقة قائمة على الفرز بين الاتجاهات الاسلامية المتشددة والمعتدلة، بغية عزل الاولى وتمكين الثانية، كحل لمعضلات المنطقة التي رأتها مقبلة على الحكم الاسلامي.
كانت خلاصة استنتاج هذا الفكر السياسي الامريكي هي ان تجيش الجيوش والقيام بالاعمال العسكرية لوحدها لن يؤدي الى القضاء على الارهاب الذي اصبح من الاعراض الجانبية للحالة، وانما المطلوب معالجة جذور الغضب والاحباط عند المسلمين، وكذلك المناخات الثقافية والاجتماعية التي احاطت بالصحوة الاسلامية وما نشأ عنها من تناقضات داخل المجتمعات الاسلامية، سمته مراكز الابحاث الغربية فيما بعد بالصراع داخل الاسلام.
وادت نتائج اعمال العصف الفكري والتخطيط الاستراتيجي قبل تحويلها الى ورشات الهندسة السياسية الامريكية الى شيوع مقبولية خطاب الاسلام السياسي القائم على  ضرورة التلاحم الوثيق بين الدين والسياسية بعدما كان مرفوضا في الثقافة الديمقراطية العلمانية في الغرب.بل ذهب الامر الى اكثر من ذلك وراحت مراكز الابحاث الامريكية ترشد لبراليا فكرة جوهرية، وهي ان الديمقراطية لا تتعارض مع الشريعة ولا تتطلب فصل الدولة عن الدين، وهو استنتاج يضرب عصب التفكير اللبرالي والدولة المدنية، مرتكزا الحداثة التي طالما سعى الغرب الى تصديرها الى المنطقة.
ان ابرز خلاصة اتت بها مساعي التنظير الامريكي بهذا الاتجاه هو ان نشر الديمقراطية في العالم الاسلامي يتطلب ادماج الاحزاب السياسية الدينية والقادة المنتخبين ديمقراطيا في النظام السياسي.وكان دليلهم في ذلك هو وصول الاحزاب الاسلامية الشيعية في العراق وحركة حماس في غزة الى السلطة عبر صناديق الاقتراع في ظل انتخابات نزيهة.اما الخلاصة الرئيسية الثانية التي روجت لها الافكار الجديد فهي ان امتلاك الانظمة الجديدة شرعية سياسية مستمدة من الاسلام سيعكس الاتجاه القائم، وسيسهل عملية القضاء على التطرف والارهاب نهائيا من خلال الشرعية القائمة على الشريعة.
ولكن كما هو الحال دائما في الشرق الاوسط فان الناس الذين خبروا الطريقة الامريكية في وضع المنطقة في مختبرات التجريب لاختراع حلول لمشكلاتها بعيدا عن رغبات واماني اهلها وشعوبها لا يمكنهم بسهولة ابتلاع تلك الترهات التي تقول ان امريكا تسعى لمساعدة شعوب المنطقة لبلوغ نمط ملائم من الديمقراطية.وكما هو الامر دائما فان توقعاتهم تتجه صوب مدى ارتباط اي سياسة امريكية بالموقف التقليدي من الصراع العربي الاسرائيلي لانهم يدركون بالنهاية ان رعاية اهداف اسرائيل ومصالحها بعيدة المدى وضمان مستقبلها يشكل الهم الاكبر لامريكا واستراتجياتها في المنطقة.
وما كان الامر يتطلب الكثير من الجهد والوقت للاستنتاج بان ذلك كان حق يراد به باطل وان ما تبتغيه امريكا حقا هو ان تضع الاسلاميين امام نفس الاختبار الذي وضعت فيه سابقا الانظمة البالية من شبه لبرالية وانقلابية قومية ويسارية، وهو الاعتراف باسرائيل اولا والقبول بمهمة حراستها وضمان أمنها ومستقبلها ثانيا، وهو ما اتضح جليا في اسلوب تعاملها مع مصر في حرب غزة الاخيرة، وما سيتضح لاحقا في تعاملها مع الثورة السورية ومع الحراك الاردني.
ان جوهر هذا التحليل يقوم على فكرة اختبرت تاريخيا وهي ان  سياسات الهيمنة والتبعية التي مارستها الولايات المتحدة في المنطقة خلال اكثر من سبعة عقود كانت ترتكز على نبذ قيام ديمقراطيات حقيقية في المنطقة العربية، وتعطيل بناء مجتمعات عربية حديثة قائمة على العدالة والحرية لصالح قيام دكتاتوريات يسهل مقايضة التعايش معها مقابل انصرافها عن اي جهد وطني او قومي حقيقي لتحرير فلسطين والانصياع بدلاً عن ذلك للارادة الاسرائيلية.وفي سبيل تحقيق ذلك فانها كانت تضحي ايضا بالقيم الامريكية التقليدية وبمصالحها القومية اللتان تشكلان عمودي سياستها الخارجية.
ليس بامكاننا طبعاً الا ان ننتظر لنرى نتائج لعبة القص واللصق التي تحاول مختبرات التجريب الاستشراقي الامريكي ان ترسم من خلالها صورة المنطقة الجديدة، الا ان شواهد المعركة الاخيرة بشأن الدستور المصري والنتائج المتحققة في بلدان اختبرت فيها التجربة، تقدم دلائل كافية على ان الوصفة الامريكية للديمقراطية الاسلامية هي لعبة غير مسلية، وانها بالنسبة للاسلاميين قبل اللبراليين لن تخرج عن كونها روايات خيالية آتية من ورش صناعة الاساطير والاوهام في اجهزة الاعلام والبحث الامريكية.
  

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