IRAQ IMBROGLIO

The world seems to have forgotten the deplorable living conditions of the hapless victims of the citizens of Iraq since the US invasion of Iraq on March 20,2003.The world has forgotten the relevance and significance of the issue though the US-lead forces have completed four long years of occupation there armed with a toothless UN resolution on this day.

It is a matter of grave concern that the world opinion against the US occupation is not vocal enough for the Bush administration to rethink and refashion its skewed policy on Iraq. The opinion of the world leaders is so muted for the US to take note of any noticeable opprobrium and anger and disgust against the avoidable occupation in Iraq. For the Bush administration, it is yet to come out with a convincing justification as to what was the compelling reason to occupy the Iraqis when there were so many pockets in the rest of the world where the Islamic militia has been more prominent and menacingly threatening the world peace. The Bush administration is also yet to come out with a white paper on the impact of the Iraqi occupation of long four years under the guise of fighting the axis of evil. Even they seem to have been caught in a cleft stick in the Iraq imbroglio. The heavy causalities and the high cost of war the Iraq invasion has inflicted on the US economy cannot be brushed below the carpet. In all probabilities there seems to be something more than what meets our eyes in Iraq as far as the Bush administration’s warped foreign policy is concerned.

Sadly, the Arab voice is muted in this burning issue. So is the collective voice of the Islamic countries which otherwise make such a hue and cry even on no-issues and non-issues. Everyone is convinced that the innocent people of Iraq are being made to eat humble pie literally and figuratively primarily for the acts and the omissions of their now-executed leader who often challenged the US authority patently and otherwise.

The major fall-out of this is the chilling fact that the living conditions of the Iraqis have declined to an unbelievably lower standard since the occupation in 2003, though the Bush administration would have us believe otherwise. This is despite being the fifth largest producer of the black-gold. As per the Human Development Index published by the UNICEF the plight of the Iraqis need to be experienced to believe it. Many reports released by the World Aid Agencies point to the real and under reported naked Human Rights Violations of the most abominable levels. Power shortage, lack of access to potable water & sanitation, abysmally absent health care, malnutrition, quantum rise in the child mortality rate from 5% in 1990 to 12.5% in 2004, wide-spread poverty, absence of social services, inadequate state provisions, violence against the women, rampant human rights violations et al from the lengthy list of the woes of the Iraqis. To top it all is the looming threat for the common people from the rabid Islamic Militia and ethnic and tribal violence. In short, the Iraqis have been living between the hard rock and the deep sea without any light at the end of the tunnel.

What dismays on is the absence of any collective voice against the US occupation on the need to impress upon the US to restore the much eluding peace there. Unfortunately, no nation is prepared to invite the wrath of the US, fearing policy backlash from the Bush administration. So, at least for now there is no nation to take up the lost cause of what was once a great nation called Iraq which during ancient times influenced the Civilisation of both the Asia and the Europe. Even Islamic countries are competing with one another to get noticed before the US for obvious political, diplomatic and strategic reasons.