Twenty years ago, in April 2003, American soldiers toppled the statue of Saddam Hussein in Al-Firdou

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[size=52]How has Iraq changed twenty years after the American invasion?[/size]

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Twenty years ago, in April 2003, American soldiers toppled the statue of Saddam Hussein in Al-Firdous Square in Baghdad[/size]
[size=45]Millions of Iraqis, along with millions of others around the world, remember these days the invasion of Iraq, the most prominent event that shook the Gulf region, the Middle East and the world in general in the first decade of the twenty-first century.[/size]
[size=45]In memory of “Operation Iraqi Freedom...!”[/size]
[size=45]On this day in 2003, the American invasion of Iraq began to remove Saddam Hussein's regime from power. At the dawn of that day, American planes and warships rained bombs and missiles on the capital, Baghdad, signaling the start of a military campaign that President George Bush called “Operation Iraqi Freedom” at the time, a campaign that spread terror and death among the Iraqi population and destruction among the neighborhoods of its cities.[/size]
[size=45]From war to chaos[/size]
[size=45]The history of the invasion and its repercussions proved that the freedom achieved in Iraq represented the breaking of the iron grip of a regime that had long tyrannized power and practiced all kinds of oppression against its citizens for decades. Iraqis, despite the passage of two decades since the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime, are still insecure for their lives. Most of them believe that their country, at best, emerged from a state of war and fell into a state of chaos from which it has not yet recovered.
More than 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed over the past 20 years. At the height of the conflict in 2006, the conflict claimed the lives of 29,027 people. At its quietest, in 2022, it recorded 740 deaths.[/size]
[size=45]During this period, groups of Iraqis were subjected to genocide, terrorism, poverty and displacement. When US President Barack Obama announced the official end of the war in Iraq and the withdrawal of his country's soldiers in 2011, Iraq was a country suffering from a deep political, social and economic shock.
The high cost of a wrong decision[/size]
[size=45]During the years of the invasion and beyond, Operation Iraqi Freedom cost more than $2 trillion. During this period, many scandals were recorded, including the cold-blooded killing of Iraqi citizens by British soldiers, and the torture and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison by American soldiers. Years later, international public opinion realized that that war was a grave mistake.[/size]
[size=45]Among them is John McCain, the late Republican senator, who was a staunch advocate of Iraqi liberation for years. In his memoirs, which he published before his death in 2018, McCain retracted his position and wrote, “That war, with its military and human cost, can only be judged as a mistake… a very serious mistake, and I have to bear my share of the blame for that.”[/size]
[size=45]Absent justice, conflicts and corruption[/size]
[size=45]Despite the withdrawal of US forces, the human rights situation in Iraq is still the subject of criticism by many international human rights organizations. In 2021, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights published a study in which it spoke of severe injustice affecting the justice system in Iraq. It states that detainees are deprived of some of their rights, that confessions are extracted from them through torture, and that they are forced to sign documents recognizing crimes they did not commit. In addition to exposing them to severe beatings, electric shocks, stressful positions, and suffocation.[/size]
[size=45]Bloody conflicts, corruption and instability dominated Iraq over the years following the US invasion. On February 22, 2006, an attack took place on a Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad, after which a sectarian war broke out, punctuated by unprecedented violence that continued until 2008.[/size]
[size=45]ISIS is tearing apart the social fabric[/size]
[size=45]The control of the Islamic State organization over about a third of the area of ​​​​Iraq in the summer of 2014 until the end of 2017 was a great shock to the social fabric in the country, which resulted in a profound change in Iraqi society, which is characterized by a unique ethnic and sectarian diversity. The number of Christians and Yazidis in the country has declined due to their exposure to genocide committed by the Islamic State.[/size]
[size=45]By the end of 2019, manifestations of corruption had spread in the joints of the state and poverty had spread among large segments of the population, and its rate increased from 20% in 2018 to more than 30% in 2020. 12 million Iraqis out of 42 million live below the poverty line, while 12 million Iraqis out of 42 million live below the poverty line. The youth unemployment rate is 25% in a country where 60% of the population is under 25 years old.[/size]
[size=45]Rich country and poor citizen[/size]
[size=45]Despite its huge oil reserves, the Iraqi infrastructure, including roads, bridges and facilities, is still dilapidated. Iraqis suffer from daily power outages and the absence of potable water distribution networks.[/size]
[size=45]In October 2019, the capital, Baghdad, and other cities witnessed unprecedented protests denouncing corruption, mismanagement, and Iranian interference in the country's affairs. These demonstrations were severely suppressed. In October 2021, early legislative elections were held, and it took another year to agree on the name of a new prime minister, which witnessed bloody confrontations between Shiite armed factions.[/size]
[size=45]Iraq is better today and corruption is the biggest challenge[/size]
[size=45]In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani affirmed his intention to tackle corruption that has permeated most of his institutions after Iraq ranked 157 out of 180 of the most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International.[/size]
[size=45]Despite this massive corruption and the repercussions of the political crisis that began in 2019, some believe that Iraq today is in a better condition than it was 20 years ago. The quality of life has improved relatively and literacy rates and life expectancy have increased. According to World Bank estimates, Iraq's gross domestic product in 2021 amounted to approximately $208 billion.[/size]
[size=45]Despite the jihadist rebellions, Iraq has held six consecutive parliamentary elections since 2005. Its representatives drafted the constitution and the Iraqis ratified it. Despite the corruption in the Iraqi political system, the elections remained competitive.[/size]
[size=45]Today, the Kurdish provinces in Iraq enjoy a high level of autonomy since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The continued existence of a Kurdish regional government constitutes a safety valve for the Kurds of Iraq and provides them with unprecedented security.[/size]
[size=45]Despite all the obstacles, some believe that Iraq has made progress since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. But corruption will continue to be the biggest challenge to the Iraqi state today. Iraqis hope that their country, which has fought two wars with relative success against two terrorist organizations - al-Qaeda and the Islamic State - since the fall of Saddam Hussein, will one day be able to cut off financial corruption in the wheels of government before Iraqis run out of patience with their officials.[/size]
[size=45]In your opinion[/size]
[size=45]How has Iraq changed twenty years after the American invasion?[/size]
[size=45]Except for getting rid of fear, what has the Iraqi citizen achieved over the past two decades?[/size]
[size=45]Has Iraq made progress over what it was under Saddam Hussein?[/size]
[size=45]Why does corruption remain an intractable problem? Can the system get rid of them?[/size]
[size=45]What do you think of the nature of the existing political system? Does he have the ability to build a strong country?[/size]
[size=45]We will discuss these and other topics with you in the Monday, March 20 episode[/size]
[size=45]Contact lines open half an hour before the program at 00442038752989.[/size]
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