My Opinion on the US-Iraqi Pact

Today, I am gonna talk about the US-Iraqi pact and what I think about it. The pact, which basically regulates US military's presence in Iraq, has been a subject of controversy for over a long period of time, but it has been recently approved by the parliament.

Anybody observing the Iraqi arena will definitely see alot of contradictions in the political views and statements declared by the political powers, whether major or minor ones in concern of the overall situation in Iraq, and recently about the US-Iraqi Pact. The very political powers that rejected the US military presence in Iraq and/or demanded to timetable the withdrawal of those troops, are now rejecting the US-Iraqi pact, despite the fact that the pact itself is kinda timetabling of the withdrawal of the US troops, but it is more programmed, calculated and logic. Doesn't it say the US combat troops will withdraw from the cities by mid 2009? and from Iraq by the end of 2011? Isn't this a timetable-like deal? From my perspective, it is even much better than a timetable; as it is gonna secure the legal rights of the Iraqi side, and will guarantee future benefits, to include logistics and Intel's, in addition to other types of support to Iraq. Plus, the three-year period will give the Iraqi side enough time to improve the abilities of Iraq's Army and Police forces. Well, I think the opposers of this pact wanna put Iraq under the influence of the neighboring countries. I don't wanna talk on behalf of everybody, but I don't think any average Iraqi would like to live under the influence of Iran, Syria, KSA or any other dictatorships. But unfortunately some Iraqis still lack awareness and they only say and act in agreement with their leaders' says and acts, regardless of the fact that most of them, within themselves, don't agree with their leaders. I mean: come on! who likes to live under the influence of Iran!!! or Syria!!! or Saudi Arabia!!! Who likes to live under the influence of ISI (the so-called Islamic State of Iraq)!!! Thus, going back to my main subject, I would raise this question hoping the readers will think about it: What do those political powers or blocs want? On one hand, they reject the US presence in Iraq, and on the other hand, they reject the neighboring countries' interference in Iraq!!! On one hand, they criticize the government's inability to provide services to its people, but on the other hand, they hinder any efforts to provide services and initiate reconstruction projects. On one hand, they criticize the Iraqi Security Forces' performance, but on the other hand, they reject any deals to improve the ISF's abilities, whether in terms of training or equipping or professionalism. Longstory short, everybody knows to have the government of Iraq provide better services, to include electricity, eradicate or at least reduce the corruption, start more projects, upgrade its security forces' abilities, US military better stay in Iraq for the next few years, or else the services will remain devastated, corruption will further spread, and the ISF will remain poorly-equipped and less trained, which will put Iraq under the influence of Asad, Najjad, King Abdullah, Husni Embarak, and Bin Laden and ISI's "mobile" leaders...etc. ((This is just a joke: probably nobody paid attention to this joke. But do you know that the Islamic State of Iraq had a federal governing regime??? because they got ministers in every province they had influenced. For example: they had one minister of finance in Baghdad and one in Mosul...and one minister of education in Baghdad and one in Mosul. By the way, ISI's ministry of education had curriculum focused on methods of making IEDs, car bombs, executions, kidnappings, sabotage...etc!!!!)) Anyway, I hope Iraqis act more wisely and think well about their future unless they wanna pay tributes to the ISI, train their kids on how to hold RPGs instead of holding pens, on how to plant IEDs instead of planting a tree or flower, on how to use a Haweyshion instead of having electricity. ((haweyshion is a mockery word invented by the Mosulli famous comedian Hasan Fashil, as referring to a homemade manually operating fan-like thing to provide kinda cool air in summertime during power outage)).

Some readers may accuse me of biasing to the US military or government, but I am not talking as a translator here. I understand the people are upset and not that much satisfied of the government's performance whether in security, political or services field, but they better see which way is hopeful and which way will lead them to more destruction, poverty, unemployment. If US military stays in Iraq for the next three years, employment opportunities will increase, ISF will receive better training and high-tech equipment, and will be capable of suppressing insurgency in Iraq, education system will revive, government will have more focus on providing better services to the people. But guess what! if the US military leaves now, unemployment will increase because the government will only be focused on the security side and on how to rebuild what the terrorists destroy on a daily basis, on how to train and equip the ISF, and that will definitely undermine its efforts on the services side.

Bottom line, US military's presence in Iraq for the next three years will benefit Iraq for decades to come, but their uncalculated pullout will harm Iraq for a whole century; as it will remain under the influence of al-Qaeda, ISI, militiamen...etc. Let's just be reasonable for a moment. Will Iran or Syria provide jobs for the unemployed Iraqis? Will they provide electricity to Iraq? Will they upgrade the education system in Iraq? Everybody knows the education system in Iraq needs a lot of attention, and Iraqis will not be able to better it unless supported by the US government, I mean technically, not financially; as the Government of Iraq is currently seeking to send 10,000 students in scholarship programs within the next five years, 2,000 per year, which I think will be great. If I was a student rightnow, I wouldn't wanna get a scholarship in Syria or Iran or Egypt or Sudan or may be "Mauritania"!!!! Iraqis need to invest this good relationship with the US government to upgrade their education institutions, and get as much expertise as possible from the US education institutions. I probably seemed kinda deviating from my basic topic but I am so focused on the education level; as education is the key to rebuild Iraq, just like any other country that had passed through similar situations. Finally, I think US military's presence in Iraq for the three years ahead will help the government of Iraq implement these goals and others, and their departure will help the insurgents and the neighboring and regional countries implement their destructive agendas. So let's be wise and decide which way to choose.

However, I think it is a healthy thing to see people express their viewpoints freely as long as they do that peacefully.

US Elections and its Impact on Iraq?

Today US people have elected who they think will brighten the future of their nation, the nation of multi-ethnicities and religions. What is interesting though is that the American people have proved and demonstrated their democratic awareness and freedom of choice; as most of the people, regardless of color or origin, have voted for Obama, an African American, simply because they see him as the man who will change their reality and bring more prosperty to their nation, amid the recently emerged economic crisis. Some Americans, however, see him as the man who will bring their sons and daughters from Iraq back home.

But the questions that many Iraqis raise these days are: What will Obama exactly do vis-as-vis the Iraqi Issue? Is he gonna pull the US troops out of Iraq? Is he gonna change the plan he set for himself during his electoral campaign? Is he gonna stick to the US commitment to the reconstruction of Iraq and training of ISF? and continue what the Bush administration has been doing? Is he gonna commit to the security pact with the Iraqi side, if approved by government of Iraq? All these questions and tens of others remain unanswered and pending until Obama takes office the coming winter. Well, I do wish that Obama will not dramatically change the US policy in Iraq. I do wish that Iraq will remain a big part of the US concern in the Mideast cuz letting Iraq down during this phase, will create a chaos in this country and encourage many neighboring and regional countries to interfer in the Iraqi affair. Leaving Iraq alone during this phase will demolish all the recently gained progresses, and will destroy the young democracy in this country. Iraq, will then, be a country under the influence of many dictatorships that could be even worse than the dictatorship Iraqis just buried, and all the efforts made by the US administration in this course will go with a blow of wind. Iraq will then be an ongoing war zone. Nobody in Iraq wishes this war to continue but they wish US remains committed to its mission in Iraq and has/have a wiser policy to resolve the problems there, whether security-wise, economically, or politically, and that will be possible by putting more pressure on the Government of Iraq to make further reforms in the course of democracy and economy, and in the course of reconciliation, and its fight on the widespread corruption, and by putting further pressure on the Iraqi politicians and parliamentarians to be more effective and stop their laziness and thinking of nothing but financial gains and vacations abroad!!!

Well, by saying so, I don't wanna be a representative and speak on behalf of other Iraqis but through my talking to the people and understanding of the situation in this country, I think this is what an average Iraqi citizen hopes of the US president-elect. I hope one day Iraqi people will be as wise as the American nation, and choose who they see will well-fit to lead them in the future and bring more properity to Iraq, away from partisan or personal considerations.