iraqi voices

Almost every Iraqi who can speak freely would welcome the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. But how could this be achieved without horrendous consequences? Faleh Jabar warns that Iraq, with its system of rule highly resistant to peaceful change, is no Afghanistan. An intelligent strategy requires long-term thinking and creative solutions. For Yasser Alaskery, the unique nature of the Iraqi people’s burden makes forced removal of Saddam Hussein the only ethical solution. Progressive Iraqis should throw in their lot with the lesser evil – the United States – working to turn a successor puppet regime into one that is truly democratic and just.
Monday 30th May

Ready, set, crawl!

Jaffar Al-Rikabi, 30 May 2011
Despite protests and intense political pressure on Prime Minister Maliki’s coalition government, reforms in Iraq are likely to be slow, sporadic and contradictory. Meaningful reform is undermined by a political system that fosters immobility, an incompetent and politicised bureaucracy, corruption and a general over-reliance on the state
Wednesday 18th August

Iraq’s future hanging by a thread

Zaid Al-Ali, 18 August 2010
Iraqis now have greater physical security, though violence continues and politics are stalemated. But the years of conflict have corroded trust, entrenched sectarian identities, undermined livelihoods, and ravaged the environment. Zaid Al-Ali, travelling through Iraq, finds a society under intense stress whose human and national bonds are frayed - but far from broken.
Monday 20th March

Iraq: three years of war

openDemocracy, 20 March 2006
openDemocracy presents the views of Iraqis on the third anniversary of the United States-led invasion of Iraq.
Tuesday 28th June

I am an Iraqi journalist

Alia Amer, 28 June 2005
Alia Amer defends her calling as a service to the Iraqi people – and asks herself every day if the sacrifices they are being asked to make are worth it.
Wednesday 15th June

Ahmed, a story of Iraq

Alya Shakir, 15 June 2005
Alya Shakir’s family has survived wars, conscription, prison, robbery and exile, but it is a 3-year-old cousin who opens her eyes to Iraq’s current nightmare.
Tuesday 22nd March

Parallel politics in Iraq

Yahia Said and Mary Kaldor, 22 March 2005
As politicians squabble in Baghdad, does a gathering of Iraqis in Cairo more truly represent the country’s interests?
Monday 21st March

Kirkuk: microcosm of Iraq

Omar A. Omar, 21 March 2005
Want to understand Iraq two years after the start of the war? Take a look at Kirkuk, says Kurdish journalist Omar A Omar.
Wednesday 2nd February

Reporting Iraq's election

IWPR reporters, 2 February 2005
Iraqi journalists from the Institute for War & Peace Reporting – not identified by name because of concerns over their security – send eyewitness accounts of election day in four of Iraq’s cities.
Friday 21st January

Our Election

openDemocracy, 21 January 2005
On 30 January 2005 Iraqis go to the polls. What are they thinking?
Wednesday 16th June

Al-Jazeera: the world through Arab eyes

Hazem Saghieh, 16 June 2004
A booming satellite television industry offers the Arab world’s 280 million people fresh perspectives on Middle East and global affairs. Hazem Saghieh assesses the ambiguities of a revolution in Arab minds and screens.
Wednesday 2nd June

Iraq in the balance

openDemocracy, 2 June 2004
Iraqis are engaged in an intense national debate about the way they will now govern themselves. In this period of uncertainty, expectation and continued insurgency, six Iraqis discussed how they should shape their country’s future, its relationships with occupiers and neighbours, in mid–May, before the new government was formed.
Wednesday 5th May

An Iraqi's impressions: interview with Yahia Said

openDemocracy, 5 May 2004
What is happening in Iraq? After the Fallujah siege, as insurgency continues and the June deadline for transfer of sovereignty approaches, Caspar Henderson of openDemocracy interviews the civil society researcher Yahia Said over a line between London and Baghdad.
Wednesday 14th April

Fallujanomics

Khalid Kishtainy, 14 April 2004
An American life is worth a thousand Iraqi lives. Iraqi satirist and author Khalid Kishtainy does the accounts for the recent fighting in Fallujah.
Thursday 19th February

Return to Baghdad

Raeid Jewad, 19 February 2004
After long exile from Iraq, Raeid Jewad’s second return visit to Baghdad is an extraordinary mixture of hope and tragedy.
Friday 13th February

The next Iraqi state: secular or religious?

Sami Zubaida, 13 February 2004
Will Iraq’s new state define its people as secular citizens, religious believers or members of a tribe? Sami Zubaida sees the Iraqi Governing Council’s arguments over “personal status” issues – including marriage, family, and women’s rights – as the latest, vital chapter of a struggle for democracy and the rule of law across the Middle East.
Thursday 22nd January

The next betrayal? The Kurds and their 'friends'

Ayub Nuri, 22 January 2004
Iraqi Kurds have struggled for self-determination for eighty years. Iraq can have no peace – and the United States may lose an ally in the Middle East – if their rights are again denied, argues a Kurd who originally supported the US-led of Iraq invasion in 2003.
Monday 24th November

Dear General Ezzat!

Yahia Said, 24 November 2003
Yahia Said, responding to Mazin Ezzat, reaffirms his belief that the reactions of Iraq's people to the violence around them will decide the country's future.
Thursday 20th November

April to November: an Iraqi journey

Ayub Nuri, 20 November 2003
In April 2003, Ayub Nuri embraced the change in Iraq with cautious hope. In July, he took the measure of a complex transition. Now, he reports on a time of bitterness and disillusion with the American occupiers.

Not normal, but bleeding: a reply to Yahia Said

Mazin Ezzat, 20 November 2003
From Baghdad, Mazin Ezzat, a wounded former officer of the deposed Iraqi regime, responds to Yahia Said’s optimism with a bleaker view of his country’s prospects.
Thursday 6th November

Eight days in Iraq

Yahia Said, 6 November 2003
Yahia Said, returning to Iraq after a twenty-five year absence, finds a people yearning for freedom, normality – and an end to violence.
Syndicate content