The United States Embassy in Baghdad

By Connor Shirley

Since the official departure date of December 18^th, there have been a reported 79 deaths from bombings in Iraq, mostly targeted at Shia pilgrims.  Simultaneously, the city of Basra has seen hundreds of people come out in protest against some of the leading politicians, calling for their arrest or resignation. Large political groups, which are mostly formed around ethnic or religious ideologies, are beginning to butt heads as the power-vacuum left by the U.S. is bringing old rivalries to the surface. There is a constant fear the militant groups that were once so powerful in Iraq will take this opportunity to re-arm and begin to make the area even more conflicted.

The idea was once for America and Iraq to have strong ties, and for the country to be a thriving democracy. Obviously things haven’t quite turned out like that. The U.S. Government continues to condemn the actions of the terrorists and maintains a strong embassy/fortress in Iraq, but it is clear that Iraq has been an abysmal failure in terms of ‘reforming’ the country into an ideal state. It is now uncertain whether Iraq will even remain stable, or if there will be an armed and very violent civil war.

Unfortunately, there is not much that can directly be done to help Iraq. A military intervention has been more detrimental to Iraq, in terms of number of terrorist attacks and civilian deaths. U.S. diplomats have little efficacy outside of the embassy, and the people of Iraq are growing increasingly restless.

Normally I like to propose some sort of solution or logical next step for progress to be made. In Iraq’s case, the country has seen so much strife and warfare that is hard to fathom what could start to heal its wounds. All I can say is that I hope the government in Iraq is able to stabilize the country and stop a re-armament of the military groups, not just for the sake of international relations and the steady flow of oil for America and having a stable neighbor to Iran, but for the sake of the people of Iraq who have already seen so much death.

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