'Victory' In Iraq - Milan Rai

Stability has been weakened by the undoing of the tight controls imposed by the Saddam Hussein regime, leading to a considerable breakdown in social order, among other things. Having walked the streets of Baghdad at 2am, in complete security, during visits before 2003, I'm keenly aware of the dramatic loss of personal security that Iraqis have suffered. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported in August 2009 that around 500 people (mostly civilians) were still being killed every month, and 2,000 wounded every month in mass explosions and indiscriminate attacks. Fallen off the Agenda? More and Better Aid Needed for Iraq Recovery, a report on Iraq published in July 2010 by the major NGOs working in Iraq, listed ‘insecurity’ first among the major challenges facing Iraqis today. There has been a rash of sectarian attacks recently. 44 Shia pilgrims were killed near Nasiriyah and 23 people died in four bomb attacks in two Shia neighbourhoods in Baghdad, all in one day of bombing on 5 January 2012. This follows the 22 December 2011 attacks in Shia areas of Baghdad that killed 72 people. These are merely the most ferocious of the recent attacks (one suicide bomber killed seven people on 26 December, at the Ministry of the Interior in Baghdad). Read More