How US handed Iraq to Iran on a platter

Occupation has transformed a regional heavyweight into a crippled state

By Abdel Bari Atwan, Special to Gulf News

"......Under Al Maliki, the Iraqi people do not have adequate clean water, electricity or sanitation despite $7 billion (Dh25.69 billion) having been spent on the latter. Like all Middle Eastern dictators, Al Maliki retains power by giving his friends, family, tribesmen and loyalists the cream of commercial contracts. Officials admit that either the commissioned sewers were not installed at all or done very badly. Unemployment stands at 30 per cent, and many of those who have a job will have paid an official to secure it. Bribery is endemic from politicians to prison officers.

Administratively, the country is paralysed because many top managers, appointed through corruption, lack the talent and experience necessary to get the country back on its feet.

Some claim that Iraqis are now free of censorship, but the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists reported that, in 2012, “central government officials used threats, harassment, attacks, and imprisonment to suppress critical news coverage throughout the year”. Journalist Hadi Al Mahdi was assassinated in September 2011, just one of many killed for speaking out........

The US occupation has transformed Iraq from a regional heavyweight to a crippled state and this has wider regional implications. The balance of power between Iraq and Iran, which was tested by the 1980-88 war, ensured that no one power could dominate the region. Now, however, by weakening Iraq and placing at its head politicians who have deep-rooted ties with Iran, America has effectively handed the country over to its own nemesis, Tehran. As a result, Iran is emerging as a hostile regional superpower, overtly opposed to Israel......"