Death has become a major part of Iraq’s daily routine. Pro-Iran militias, death squads, hit lists and cold-blooded assassinations highlight how failed the state of Iraq is despite the international and local denial.
When five Iraqis die, it is not news any more. When 50 get killed, it is not breaking news. When 100 lose their lives in a terrorist attack, Western media may generously talk about it for a couple of hours.
In October 2019, widespread anti-government protests took place in Baghdad and several southern provinces, with protesters speaking out against corruption, outlaw militias and foreign loyalty. Even though the demands of the young demonstrators were not outrageous or luxurious, they were faced with violence and brutality.
More than 800 peaceful protesters were killed, about 25,000 were injured and hundreds were kidnapped, while the government was busy forming fact-finding committees, releasing condemning statements and hiding the real identities of the murderers under the pretext of protecting the Iraqi political process and the new democracy.
Nurturing a young democracy and building an institutional state has never been achieved thanks to the successive governments that have been in power since 2003, which have continued to adopt oppressive policies or provide legal cover for such practices. This means that the dark age of Saddam Hussein’s regime remains as it was, only with different names and political affiliations.
Who is leading these death squads and how do they pick their targets? If any Iraqi official or politician says he does not have an answer, he is hiding the truth, which makes him an accomplice to these heinous crimes.
Despite being filled with thousands of surveillance cameras, main streets and popular squares have witnessed political and human rights activists being gunned down, with the executioners always vanishing into thin air, filled with confidence that their images would never be caught on tape.
Read the complete article at: Eurasia Review
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