by Panagiotis Pattichis
Member of Central Council of EDON
Member of International Relations Bureau of EDON
Iraq, eleven years after the invasion of the USA, is in the midst of an ongoing civil strife. War and the nine years of occupation have left behind them firstly in terms of human losses 1 million Iraqis dead and hundreds of thousands injured. Currently, there are about 2 million Iraqi refugees, of whom 1.5 million are internally displaced. Although the American troops left Iraq, the United States maintain the largest embassy in the world in Baghdad with 16,000 "diplomatic personnel" which obviously plays a broader role by aiding American espionage in the region.
The civil conflict
Iraq constitutes a trisected country mainly plagued by the conflict between Sunnis - Shias while the Kurds are enhancing the autonomy of the federal state of North Iraq. The reasons for the action of Sunni forces had to do with the fact that the Shiite government acted with a violent and sectarian manner against the minority Sunnis. Meanwhile, American and NATO forces have been trying to bring into control the unstable political situation mainly by supporting the Shiite government, whilst al-Qaeda was able to further penetrate into Iraq through the organization "Islamic State of Iraq and Levant."
The situation today
The unhindered advance of Islamic extremists, who have managed to reach the outskirts of Baghdad, creates new standards in the wider region of the Middle East. However, alongside this, a first class opportunity for a new intervention in Iraq arises, by the imperialist forces. The Islamist (mostly Sunni) ISIL extremists have as their main goal the capturing of Baghdad and the creation of an Islamic caliphate which will unite territories of Syria and Iraq.
The role of the imperialists
After the beheading of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, the USA via Barack Obama did not rule out the possibility of military intervention in Syria as well. The northern province of Raka, and the eastern regions of Syria are the central objectives of the United States, but they will not venture in all this just by themselves but in cooperation with allies in the area. A new imperialist attack involving the United States and countries of the EU, those who bloodshed the country in 2003, favours all those who have been “wronged” by the sharing of the "pie" with regards to the oil and the construction works in the post-2003 bombed Iraq.
UN Report equates Syria with the Islamic State
The UN Commission of Inquiry’s report, attempted to equate the government and the Syrian army with the mercenaries of IS, accusing both sides of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the war between them, such as public executions of civilians in the areas of Syria under the control of the Islamic State. All of these are the result of the imperialist intervention in Syria made possible through the utilisation of the various dissident groups and mercenaries, supported and equipped by the United States and the Gulf “petromonarchies”.
Terrorist action with the support of the USA
"In Syria we were allies to the terrorists of ISIL" said the Republican Senator Rand Paul and admitted that the United States supported the Islamist terrorist organization by providing them with money and weapons to fight Assad, in the war in Syria.
It is now obvious that the people are being sacrificed on the altar of the imperialist geo-strategic interests and, more specifically, the control of energy and transport routes.
October 9th, 2014