As 2008 begins, much is being made of the temporary reduction in
violence in parts of Iraq. Pundits have even suggested that Iraq is
now less of an issue than it was even a few months ago, because of
recent American "successes" there.
Tonight, as the Iowa caucuses are held, Iraq is (surprise) still an
issue in the election. But what do they mean when they say, "Iraq"?
Here are two of the issues the candidates, and
the American public, aren't talking about enough:
1. Renewal of the UN mandate for foreign troops in Iraq
With very little fanfare, the UN mandate for US-led foreign troops in Iraq has just been renewed ("for the last time"), over the objections of a majority of Iraq's parliament. As is common, the political division in parliament did not line up along sectarian lines, but along political ones.
Joshua
Holland and Raed Jarrar offered an analysis at Alternet back in
December that is still relevant and timely in giving a picture of what the future may hold for a US military presence beyond the UN mandate's expiration next year.
The UN Security Council has for years provided legal cover for the ongoing occupation of Iraq, and this linkage has consistently undermined the ability of the UN to play a constructive role for Iraqis in either the political or the humanitarian spheres.
2. The (still) deepening displacement crisis
Just because a small portion of Iraqi refugees living outside of Iraq
have returned to Iraq does not mean that the displacement crisis is
over.
In fact, international media attention to the "successes" of the
troop increases and new US strategy in Iraq are shifting vital focus
away from the ongoing deterioration of conditions for Iraqis outside
Iraq, as meager savings is exhausted, visa restrictions are tightened, and increases in costs of living are made worse by the winter.
Even less remarked upon -- but even more important -- is the increasingly dire and complex crisis of
displacement inside Iraq, including but not limited to the serious risk
of facilitating partition of Iraq along sectarian and ethnic lines.
Elizabeth Ferris of the Brookings Institution recently addressed
important dimensions of this issue in a talk at the Center for American
Progress. Read the transcript here.
The seriousness of the complex crisis is made all the more clear by the recent request from the Iraqi government that the World Food Programme (WFP) assume partial responsibility for meeting the needs of some 750,000 of Iraq's most vulnerable internally displaced people, constituting an admission that the Iraqi government is not able to support the needs of internally displaced people in their own country.
Read WFP's announcement of their new efforts in both Iraq and Syria here.
Bringing them together
As Democratic candidates discuss different plans for troop redeployments and exit strategies for Iraq, their focus is still almost exclusively on "Iraq as seen from America", and not "Iraq as experienced by Iraqis". Unless someone (in fact, a lot of someones) in the US makes the two issues above a priority in advocating policy change, the lessons they hold for Iraq's future will continue to be ignored by those advocating an end to the catastrophe in Iraq -- by everyone, that is, except Iraqis.
