Iraq: 'dramatically freer, dramatically safer and dramatically better'

As Bush came "to herald the passage" of the new accord, much debate and controversy still lingers around the security agreement. After months of protracted and tense negotiations, the deal has left a bitter taste in the mouths of many sceptical Iraqis. For these Iraqis, the pact remains unclear with regards to certain stipulations and they remain unconvinced that US will leave by the end of 2011 as agreed. In keeping with the divisions among Iraqis, for others Bush has abandoned his promise to the stay the course.

The Iraq left behind

Iraq may have become Bush’s Achilles heel, but at least he narrowly averted all-out disaster. Security is improving and hopes remain for greater political alignment next year with the provincial elections in Iraq.

It is easy to look at Iraq as all doom and gloom but productive progress, albeit at times at a snail’s pace, has been made since 2003, particularly with the first elections in decades, the onset of a national constitution and the building of a new security force.

However, gains all too often have become quickly overshadowed and the Iraqi project is far from implemented and certainly far from over. Key obstacles continue to blight the Iraqi divide, with frequent disputes between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government; debate over interpretation and amendments to the constitution; a lack of a national hydrocarbon law; and many other flash points, such as the hotly contested dispute over oil-rich Kirkuk. These have simply been delayed and too often brushed under the political rug, to give the perception of making political progress.

In summary, Kurds, Sunni and Shiites continue to disagree, with the tug-of-war for the new Iraq just heating up. It takes the argument full circle: problems experienced today in Iraq, have the same root cause as those at its inception all those decades ago after WWI. However, where Iraqi troubles and lack of unity could be masked in the past, the US has ensured that there is no hiding away from it now.

Without building a real foundation to the take the “whole” of Iraq forwards, gains in Iraq will always be tentative and life will always remain on the edge.

Shoe-throwing shame

No matter how passionate sentiments may get, the act of petulance demonstrated by the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at Bush and shouted insults in Arabic, is unacceptable.

Especially, in the “new” Iraq, Iraqis have every right to their opinion and US can seldom disagree, after all it was one of the defining reasons for the invasion. However, shoe-throwing in such circumstances is a step that does not do the image of the Iraqi public or Iraqi media a great deal of good. It only raises perceptions that some Iraqis remain confined to uncivilised mannerisms, especially considering the behaviour one comes to expect from a professional national press.

Indeed, Al-Baghdadiyah TV urged authorities to release the detained journalist as he was only practicing ideals that the US introduced. Such statements speak volumes about some mentalities that prevail and the huge strides that Iraq still has to make.

Every Iraq has a right to an opinion, and none more so than a journalist, but would the same journalist have even dared to utter a word against Saddam if he was performing a speech, let alone throw his shoe? Failing that, why didn’t the journalist throw one shoe at Bush for the suffering he has afflicted on Iraq and one at al-Maliki for his many failings at serving the Iraqi people?

Undoubtedly, the incident would have been met with jubilation in some circles, but such abrasive action in the knowledge that it was Bush’s last speech in Iraq and under the heavy eyes of the world, left little room for coincidence.

Bush and the US are by no means perfect, but the time to blame the West for each and everything is outdated and delusional.

If Iraqis can not get their act together for greater national progression, then no magic wand of Bush or anyone else could ever have done the trick.