Iraq: More than 250 have died and thousands injured in anti-government protests

[obj 705A]

Iraq's young protesters count cost of a month of violence

For a young generation that has grown up in the 16 years that have followed the toppling of Saddam Hussein, elections and representative democracy have become synonymous with corruption and MPs abusing their privileges. Religious parties, many backed by Iran, dominate the political sphere and though oil-rich Iraq has an income of hundreds of billions of dollars, the reality for many citizens is parallel with life in some of the poorest Arab nations: unemployment, a collapsing healthcare system and lack of services.


Three young anti-government protesters in Baghdad. Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/The Guardian
As the protests gathered pace on 5 October, a crowd – of fellow teenagers and young men – started marching towards the square.

Police standing guard shot in the air but the crowd moved on, waving Iraqi flags and Shia banners.

Back and forth the young men surged, only to be pushed back by the heavy machine-gun fire and teargas.

Amid the carnage, dozens of small three-wheeled tuk-tuk motorcycle rickshaws zoomed between the crowd, ferrying the injured away from the scene.

Urging the men to move forward was a young man . He called on the men cowering behind the bridge railing. “Those who don’t want to advance go back home.”

The man, who gave his name as Jawdat, said he was a former fighter with the Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitary group, which was established in 2014 from disparate armed groups and volunteers to fight against Isis. Hashd al-Shaabi has received training and other support from Iran. Jawdat said his brother was an officer who was killed in the war against Isis.

“I fought with the Hashd, I even went to fight in Syria, but what did I get from this government? Nothing, while those politicians in the Green Zone [in Baghdad] are blocking any attempt to reform the state.”

Activists and journalists were intimidated, and dozens of them fled Baghdad after receiving threatening phone calls. Media outlets and TV networks were closed. Plainclothes officers roamed hospital wards, detaining injured demonstrators. “The doctors just patched my injury and told me to leave quickly, after officers entered the hospital looking for demonstrators,” said a young man as he lay in his bed, his injury still bleeding three days after he was shot in a street close to Tahrir Square.

By 7 October more than 106 people had been killed, and more than 6,000 injured.

the size of the demonstrations at the start of the month was not abnormal, but what came as a shock was the ferocity of the response.

Fatah, the political arm of Hashd al-Shaabi, is Abdul-Mahdi’s remaining major sponsor, after a bloc tied to the firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said it was dropping its support over the weekend.

During one night of protests, an unarmed army officer stood in front of crowd of young men, pleading with them to disperse. “I can let you go down and march towards Tahrir Square,” he said. “But I swear by Allah that the militiamen and the snipers will kill you.” The crowds responded with angry anti-Iranian chants.

Last Friday, a second wave of demonstrations began. The crowds waved Iraqi flags and chanted “our soul, our blood we sacrifice for you Iraq”. At least 74 people were killed over two days, with hundreds more wounded. The overall toll since the start of the month now stands at more than 250.

Protesters who stayed in Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the demonstrations, over the weekend were joined by thousands of students on Monday who skipped classes at universities and secondary schools. Security forces fired teargas and stun grenades to keep protesters from crossing a main bridge leading to the Green Zone, home to government offices and embassies. The army announced it would impose an overnight curfew in the capital.

“We have issued strict orders to our men not to carry weapons and to stand unarmed among the civilians because we don’t want to be accused of killing demonstrators,” a member of the interior ministry’s operation room said.

“The people who shot at demonstrators [in early October] were members of the [powerful, Iran-backed] Khorasani and Badr militias. The commanders of these militias have been in control since the start.


Protesters take to the streets of Hilla, a city in central Iraq, on 28 October. Photograph: -/AFP via Getty Images
Obsessed with the idea of a coup in a country were revolutions, wars and upheavals are a recurring event, the government, the religious parties and their Iranian-backed militias have denounced the demonstrators as plotters and former Ba’athists. The protests, so the line goes, have been organised by the US embassy and Gulf states set on toppling Iraq’s Shia government.

“Look at the people around you,” said a 23-year-old lawyer in Sadr city, a suburb of Baghdad, one night in early October, pointing at dozens of children crouching in a small alleyway as bullets whistled over his head. “Do you think the American embassy even knows that this alleyway exists? We are all unemployed, I finished a law school three years ago and I haven’t found a job yet.”
_____________________________

unedited article:-

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/29/iraqi-protesters-demonstrations-month-of-violence

 

[obj 705A]

it certainly is admirable to see how the main protesters are school children & young people from universities, are they CIA agents as the government claims?
I myself am from a medical college, I went to college in the morning but then there were no students, however they weren't playing video games at home, instead they went to participate in the protests, I myself don't have the courage to do the same so I didn't protest, it is adimrable to see how even medical college students protest, after all even if they don't get a government job they can still open a private clinic & make at the very least 2k dollars per month, yet they chose to protest against the scum in the green zone.

if every body is a CIA agent... well then hopefully they succeed sooner than later.

make no mistake I love Iran & when Iraqi volunteers went to Syria most Iraqis were supportive of that however the political establishment in Baghdad is an enemy of the people & every one that supports it shouldn't be surprised if he becomes an enemy too.

 

[Indos]

I dont support mass demonstration in Iraq and Lebanon. If they want to change the government they need to do it using democracy mechanism instead of demonstration. They need to learn mistakes happening in Thailand and Egypt.

 

[Kamil_baku]

good to hear from somebody who is in the situation currently..
Iragi government make the same mistake ASSAD did... who they simply shoot people and expect to control it?

 

[HAIDER]

it certainly is admirable to see how the main protesters are school children & young people from universities, are they CIA agents as the government claims?
I myself am from a medical college, I went to college in the morning but then there were no students, however they weren't playing video games at home, instead they went to participate in the protests, I myself don't have the courage to do the same so I didn't protest, it is adimrable to see how even medical college students protest, after all even if they don't get a government job they can still open a private clinic & make at the very least 2k dollars per month, yet they chose to protest against the scum in the green zone.

if every body is a CIA agent... well then hopefully they succeed sooner than later.

make no mistake I love Iran & when Iraqi volunteers went to Syria most Iraqis were supportive of that however the political establishment in Baghdad is an enemy of the people & every one that supports it shouldn't be surprised if he becomes an enemy too.

Iraq is one of the richest country, but corruption. Few years ago , a top Iraqi official stole 3 billion dollar and settle in Australia .... An iraqi friend mother was admitted in hospital in Bagdad , poor guy told me how much corruption in hospital. He spend hundreds of dollar in govt hospital to get her proper treatment.

 

[obj 705A]

I dont support mass demonstration in Iraq and Lebanon. If they want to change the government they need to do it using democracy mechanism instead of demonstration. They need to learn mistakes happening in Thailand and Egypt.

in an ideal situation, when there is a malfunctioning government, you can just vote in a new good one, but what if every single candidate was equally bad? what if there wasn't even a single well known uncorrupted politician? do you just go & elect one of them? no ofcourse not, the only "democratic mechanism" you can use to express your openion is not to vote to express your dismay, the people have done that more than once yet it didn't work so what's the last resort? revolution.

the problem is that it isn't just few corrupt politicians, the entire establishment 100% of the politicians are corrupt, every few months an MP builds himself a mega mall in the middle of the city, no way his salary is enough to build these mega structures, from where did they get the money? obviously they stole it, theft by politicians is done in broad daylight yet the judiciary does nothing, that means the entire judiciary is also corrupt to the bone.

 

[Kabira]

Looking at Iran, Iraq and other oil rich countries... My respect for GCC/Gulf arabs only grow. They toke the right decisions at the right time.

 

[GiannKall]

Isnt the prime minister a communist?

 

[obj 705A]

Isnt the prime minister a communist?

wikipedia says he is now independent but used to be from an islamic party, & around 50 years ago was a comunist.

but really his ideals (if he has any) are of no importance, what's important is weather he does his job properly.

 

[Saddam Hussein]

Isnt the prime minister a communist?

He's a cunt that gives money to Kurds. I hope he gets trashed

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

Horrible scenes.

The whole system is cancerous. The constitution is worth less than used toilet paper and was imposed by foreigners and only enables internal division. Corruption, even for regional standards, is extreme. A bunch of uneducated monkeys, mainly Iraqi Shia "Islamic" "political parties" (more precisely mafias, often led by families and allied friends) and their "militias" controlling their own fiefdoms, the Kurdish question unresolved to this day, Wilayat al-Faqih Farsi Mullah influence destroying almost everything (no need to look further than what the protestors are shouting) and almost no patriots in power and zero visions.

This is not something new. Ever since 1958, Iraq has (more or less) been politically unstable.

The most sad thing is that those protests have mainly occurred in the Shia Arab south. The same people who have foolishly been electing (blindly) the same people that they are now protesting against after gaining political power in 2003. Just shows how bad it really is.

in an ideal situation, when there is a malfunctioning government, you can just vote in a new good one, but what if every single candidate was equally bad? what if there wasn't even a single well known uncorrupted politician? do you just go & elect one of them? no ofcourse not, the only "democratic mechanism" you can use to express your openion is not to vote to express your dismay, the people have done that more than once yet it didn't work so what's the last resort? revolution.

the problem is that it isn't just few corrupt politicians, the entire establishment 100% of the politicians are corrupt, every few months an MP builds himself a mega mall in the middle of the city, no way his salary is enough to build these mega structures, from where did they get the money? obviously they stole it, theft by politicians is done in broad daylight yet the judiciary does nothing, that means the entire judiciary is also corrupt to the bone.

Never in my life met a single Iraqi or heard about a single Iraqi (I know that you are Assyrian, but even Assyrians don't have much love for Iran in general) patriot who "loves" Iran. How has that "love" enriched your life since 2003? Iranians here and elsewhere brag 24/7 that they "control" Iraq. What a shithole they have turned a once proud nation into then!

Iran has always been an enemy of Iraq. Pre-1958 (border disputes), post-1958, Iraq-Iran war and post-2003 cancerous interference.

Before you lot do not come to terms with the simple fact, that Iraq is nothing more than a buffer for Iran, that they can use as they please, the sooner you will realize that Iran is no friend. Don't even get me started using the Islamic era or pre-Islamic era as evidence of why they are an enemy state historically. You as an Assyrian should know the history but apparently that is not the case or you have amnesia.

I dont support mass demonstration in Iraq and Lebanon. If they want to change the government they need to do it using democracy mechanism instead of demonstration. They need to learn mistakes happening in Thailand and Egypt.

Lebanon, once a thriving Arab nation, has turned into a shithole as well. What a coincidence. Interestingly, the Arab countries that have zero Farsi influence, have not turned into shitholes where sectarianism, economic failure and weakening of the central state has occurred. Which translates to 90% + of all Arab countries (meaning that 90% + of all Arab countries have zero Farsi influence), even those with a mixed demography. The Mullah regime is obviously not to blamed for everything, but it is nevertheless very telling. You can't expect anything else. If you have dumb and weak leadership who are sellouts, you can't except foreigners (Iranians), only looking for their own interests, to translate into success for your country. They will only support their own groups at the expense of the interests of the nation state as seen in Iraq and Lebanon.

 

[Indos]

in an ideal situation, when there is a malfunctioning government, you can just vote in a new good one, but what if every single candidate was equally bad? what if there wasn't even a single well known uncorrupted politician? do you just go & elect one of them? no ofcourse not, the only "democratic mechanism" you can use to express your openion is not to vote to express your dismay, the people have done that more than once yet it didn't work so what's the last resort? revolution.

the problem is that it isn't just few corrupt politicians, the entire establishment 100% of the politicians are corrupt, every few months an MP builds himself a mega mall in the middle of the city, no way his salary is enough to build these mega structures, from where did they get the money? obviously they stole it, theft by politicians is done in broad daylight yet the judiciary does nothing, that means the entire judiciary is also corrupt to the bone.

I rather suggest new political party should emerge. Independent Anti Corruption body who has big power should also be created. Iraq can learn from Indonesia on this. Revolution is not the answer since Iraq has already become a democratic country.

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

 

[obj 705A]

@ArabianEmpires&Caliphates
there are no eternal friends or eternal enemies, only eternal interests, what happened 40 years ago is of no importance to nowadays, if we consider every single country that we had problems with several decades ago to be an eternal enemy then not only Iran but even the US & Kuwait would be an eternal enemy of ours, but if we do that then we won't have any friends left , I know that you personaly prefer if Iraq becomes as hostile to Iran as it was during the 80s but that will (& should) never happen, the war with Iran was devastating for Iraq & it will never happen again , yesterday Iraq was an enemy of Iran.. today we are a friend of Iran, tomorow we may become enemies again.. who knows, it's all about interests, since the Kuwait war Sadam was an enemy of the gulf countries & things didn't change that much even after he was toppled, so the relation with the gulf never really worked out.

that is only my personal openion, it does not represent the entirety of the Iraqi people (for example it's not rare at all to see shia who has negative views of Iran), & the policies of the government in Baghdad itself certainly does not represent the people.

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

@ArabianEmpires&Caliphates
there are no eternal friends or eternal enemies, only eternal interests, what happened 40 years ago is of no importance to nowadays, if we consider every single country that we had problems with several decades ago to be an eternal enemy then not only Iran but even the US & Kuwait would be an eternal enemy of ours, but if we do that then we won't have any friends left , I know that you personaly prefer if Iraq becomes as hostile to Iran as it was during the 80s but that will (& should) never happen, the war with Iran was devastating for Iraq & it will never happen again , yesterday Iraq was an enemy of Iran.. today we are a friend of Iran, tomorow we may become enemies again.. who knows, it's all about interests, since the Kuwait war Sadam was an enemy of the gulf countries & things didn't change that much even after he was toppled, so the relation with the gulf never really worked out.

that is only my personal openion, it does not represent the entirety of the Iraqi people (for example it's not rare at all to see shia who has negative views of Iran), & the policies of the government in Baghdad itself certainly does not represent the people.

If we agree to agree with that useless saying (no permanent enemies nor permanent friends), it still does not change the historical facts of Iran being a historical enemy of Iraq (Mesopotamia - in fact the entire Arab Near East) in pre-Islamic times, Islamic times or modern times in general. There were exceptions to the rule but just geopolitically, you should have long ago realized how the Iranian political elite views Iraq and that is nothing more than a buffer against the remaining Arab world. You will notice that their entire focus is on their western border. Hence the obsession about events in the Arab world. It is due to the beating and destruction they received during the Iraq-Iran war and historical reasons (Arab Muslim conquest and previously Mesopotamian dominance in Western Iran until that ended with their own rise).

The difference between Kuwait is, that it was Iraq (Saddam) that foolishly attacked Kuwait thinking that the West (USA) gave him a green light. Despite Kuwait supporting Iraq during the Iraq-Iran war. Kuwait does not pose a geopolitical or military threat to Iraq or anyone in the region due to their small size. At most some disputes relating to access to the Gulf which can be easily solved politically. Let's not forget that Kuwaitis and Iraqis are fellow Arabs (90% of all Iraqis are Arabs) and share everything in common. Unlike with Iranians or other foreigners.

To begin with Kuwait is an artificial state like every state in the world. My firm belief is that the Arab Near east would be much better of if 1-2 large federal states existed instead of the current status quo. This way strong central states would emerge and many of the problems in Iraq and other Arab states would be solved. Money, manpower, resources etc. would never be lacking.

I don't prefer anything. I don't even prefer KSA being hostile to Iran, as that means that resources, money etc. is used towards non-Arabs rather than our own people and progress. What I am against, as every sane Arab is, is negative external influence whether it comes from Iran, Israel, West, Turkey or Singapore.

You are not a friend of Iran (lol), neither the Iraqi people is and never was or will be. Your corrupt and incompetent "elites" and mainly Iraqi Shia Arab "militias" and useless political parties are in love with Iran (Mullah's). Once Iran turns nationalistic (hopefully soon) that love will end very quickly. Believe me. Just think back to the Shah era if you want a reminder what the future has in store.

I can't wait to see the faces of those retarded Iraqi Shia Arabs who worship Iran when that happens. But judging from the actual Arab people (in this Shia Arabs of Southern Iraq) and their protests in the South, there is little love for Iran.