BIRMINGHAM - After the withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops from Iraq the visible occupation the country has come to an end. However, the true struggle for the future of Iraq has begun, in fact the struggle for the survival of Iraq as one entity has begun.  Also, as the visible occupation comes to an end, the invisible occupation is still very strong and it is menacingly threatens the future of Iraq and of the whole Iraqi people regardless of ethnic or sectarian group that they belong to. 

To understand the statement above we first need to understand the history of the recent past. 

Iraq was ruled by Saddam Hussein a vicious tyrant for 35 years, both as Vice-President and from 1979 as President, where no one was safe, more than 4 million Iraqis were exiled. His killing machinery and torture chambers were unrivalled in the history of Iraq. Also, Iraq was embroiled in many adventurous wars for the benefit of other countries and not for the benefit of Iraq or the Iraqi people. A million more Iraqis died as a result of these foolish wars. In addition, Saddam began a concerted campaign against the Kurds and other ethnic groups in the north, culminating in the gassing of Halabja and the Al-Anfal Campaign and the destruction of hundreds of Kurdish, Assyrian, Turkoman, Shabak, Armenian and Yazidi villages and their mass killings. He set upon a policy of settling Arabs in the formerly Kurdish area, copying the Stalin’s Soviet Union. Many Kurdish, Assyrian, Turkoman, Shabak and Yazidi villages and towns were destroyed or forcibly resettled with Arabs from the south of Iraq.

The United States of America promised Iraqis Freedom, Democracy and Respect for Human Rights. Then they invaded Iraq in March 2003 with the help of the main Iraqi opposition parties that are in power now. But soon it turned out that Iraq jumped from frying pan directly into fire, because neither USA nor Iraqi opposition parties had any plans to stabilise Iraq after the invasion. The Liberation turned into occupation, the country was looted and more than 500000 innocent Iraqis have lost their lives and many more were injured as a direct or indirect result of the occupation. Another 4 million Iraqis were displaced both inside and outside the country with their Human Rights flouted on daily basis. Also, many thousands of Iraqis were incarcerated for indefinite periods and without any trial by the liberators. Terrorism, secret prisons, kidnappings, torture and serious abuses of Human Rights flourished in new democratic Iraq which culminated by the abuses of Iraqi prisoners in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. Finally the defender of freedom and Human Rights has betrayed its main principles and stabbed the lady liberty in the back and raped her when they abused and raped men and women in Abu Ghraib prison.  

As for the promise of Democracy and prosperity it turned out to be the most hollowest of all promises, because after the invasion the USA created a flawed political structure and divided the Iraqi society along ethnic and sectarian lines (i.e. Shia, Sunni and Kurds) which was and still is a recipe for disaster. The minorities such as the Turkomen, Christians, Yazidis, Shabaks, Assyrian and other groups had virtually no voice or they had minimal representation in the new democratic Iraq. In the drafting of the new constitution the majority were ignored or side-lined by the two main groups. One cannot say Iraq is democratic just because it holds elections which many knows the elections in Iraq had many fundamental flaws that rendered the whole election undemocratic and put into doubt the legitimacy of the government. We must not forget that many dictators around the world hold elections to legitimise their rule and we all know that they are not democratic. Also, in democracy we can setup systems and political structures that are undemocratic too and in the same fashion as the ones under the dictatorship, which renders the whole system illegitimate. We can safely say that the new political structure in Iraq falls under such a corrupt or inept system. Unfortunately, this inept system will always result in weak and ineffective governments that will continuously fuel instability, but it also contributed to inactivity in relation to implementing reforms and taking measures that protects human rights or the Iraqi population. We saw in the last election that this inept political structure resulted in inconclusive election that led to a long process of government formation which was not concluded until December 2010 and left the ordinary people without government and paralysis of the institutions. 

As for the prosperity we have widespread corruption, poverty, economic stagnation, unemployment and absence of basic services. The corruption in Iraq is allowed to become entrenched and spread throughout its institutions and it is now interwoven into the fabric of the society. This corruption has contributed to a severe decay in public services and it is so widespread that even jobs in ministries of Defence and Interior are sale for thousands of dollars. This flaw in political structure discussed above together with the government interference in anti-corruption cases, manipulation of investigations to frame rival political opponents and intimidating and silencing critics to prevent uprising in Iraq has exacerbated the problem even further. 

The recent event with the issue of arrest warrant for the Vice-president Tariq Al-Hashimi (Sunni Arab), the fragile Iraqi political structure the US military has left behind is beginning to fall dangerously apart and it will head the country for either a Civil War or the brake-up of the country, which cannot be done without a Civil War.

Obviously this move by the government is designed to strengthen the grip of Shia power in the country to protect Iran from the shockwave of the collapse of the regime in Syria. Also, it is designed to force the creation of regions along the Sectarian lines which they were prevented from accomplishing this goal in 2006 by the American. 

In addition the nature and the composition of the current Iraqi political parties that arrived with the Americans to power are such that they can only survive if there are sectarian and ethnic tensions. But the majority of the Iraqi society is aware of this ugly intention.

In conclusion we in the People’s National Democratic Liberation Movement of Iraq believe that 2012 will see a dramatic change in the Middle East and in Iraq in particular and we either create an Iraq based on Citizenship, Equality and true Democracy or stay on the current path that leads to disaster and mass uprising. We must all work for Iraq and the Iraqi people or we are all doomed to years of instability or civil war.

We as a movement have been warning of such a fate from the outset and we have a detailed plan to take Iraq to safety and establish a Democratic Iraq based on Freedom, Democracy, Justice and Equality with full adherence to principles of Human Rights.