Iraq still at war a year after the fall of Baghdad
Iraq remains a country at war. More than 460 Iraqis, at least 40 Americans and two other coalition soldiers have been killed this week in fighting against Shi’ite militia loyal to radical anti- US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
It’s a far cry from that defining moment on April 9, 2003, when US marines surrounded by cheering Iraqis pulled down the black, bronze statue of Saddam at Fardous Square in central Baghdad.
The globally televised images gave Iraqis hope and were such a symbol of liberation that the first official act by the US-appointed Governing Council was to declare April 9 a national holiday.
There were few celebrations. For Iraqis, Saddam’s tyranny has been replaced by post-Saddam insecurity and fears over the future.
“We have lost the feeling of safety to the extent I cannot guarantee my sons will return home from school,” said Qasim al-Sabti, a famous painter.
Faced with the heaviest fighting since US President George Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1, US military planners are considering sending additional troops to join the 135,000 already in Iraq.
The US-led coalition says only a tiny percentage of the population is taking up arms, while US commanders vow to crush a militia loyal to al-Sadr.
But some US officials in Washington say they fear Shi’ites outside al-Sadr’s sphere of influence may be joining the uprising.
The fighting this week has revealed aspects of Washington’s predicament in the country as the Bush administration holds fast to a June 30 deadline to hand over sovereignty to Iraqis.
Anti-US sentiments still run deep a year after the US-led invasion toppled Saddam. Iraq’s security forces face many obstacles before they can assume responsibility for security and the country’s delicate ethnic and religious balance appear dangerously strained.
The US military has fought Sunni-led insurgents in the west and north of Baghdad for nearly a year. The siege of Fallujah aims to do away with a bastion of the guerrillas after four US civilians were killed and mutilated last month.
The Shi’ite uprising by al-Sadr’s militias also raises alarm since Iraq’s majority Shi’ites benefited most from the US-led invasion.
The intensifying violence will also probably curtail the powers ceded by Washington to an Iraqi government this summer, a development that may rile many Iraqis and spark fresh unrest.
Despite the latest turmoil, however, many Iraqis acknowledge that it has not been all bad during a year of US occupation. Government employees have seen their salaries rise from the equivalent of €5 a month under Saddam to €240 and more.
Unemployment is down by half since April last year, though still high at around 30%. Recent opinion polls conducted on behalf of Western news organisations show that some 70% of Iraqis have high hopes for the future.
