BRUSSELS, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Iraq is burning and despite efforts by the coalition against the Islamic State, little has improved since the central government in Baghdad lost control over large swathes of its territory last June.
Lawlessness, terrorism, corruption and the systematic abuse of human rights are each a daily feature of life in Iraq. The World Bank lists Iraq as having one of the worst qualities of governance in the world. 'Transparency International' lists Iraq as one of the world's most corrupt countries. It has a dreadful human rights record and now is in third place after only China and neighboring Iran in the number of people it executes. In spite of vast oil revenues, per capita income is only $1,000 per year, making it one of the world's poorest countries. Women are constantly subject to rape, attack and violence.
The current crisis, which has been burgeoning for years under the sectarian rule of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and has led to the shock rise of Islamic extremists, is largely the product of a misguided post-invasion U.S. policy. The conflict has now been transformed into a formidable global threat and Iraq has become the front line for extreme Islamic fundamentalism; its defeat in Iraq will deliver lasting repercussions for fundamentalists across the region.
The greatest blunder committed by the U.S. was to relinquish the emerging post-war order of Iraq to Iranian malice and mercenaries. This opened the door to enable the mullahs to achieve their three-decade-old policy of exporting the "Islamic revolution" by Tehran. It enabled the Ayatollahs to solidify control at home and expand the range of their threats to threaten western interests.
Constitutionally, the export of Islamic fundamentalism by Iran underwrites the overall foreign policy of the ruling theocracy. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its extraterritorial arm, the Qods Force, have a mandate to execute that core objective. Over the past decade, the Iranian regime has expanded its control in Iraq through the establishment and strengthening of Shiite militias, seizing local control, infiltrating pro-Iranian Iraqi fighters and groups into key positions within the political, military, security and economic structures in Iraq. They have managed to achieve all of this while deceiving the US that they were engaged in the mutually corresponding war against terror.
The major factors that led to Iranian domination of Iraq were the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), and the ensuing withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq combined with the Obama administration's regional policy and its astonishing negligence of the rising Iranian influence. Nouri al-Maliki provoked widespread anger among the Sunni community through violent suppression, exclusion from the body politic, physical annihilation and forcing Sunni leaders into exile.
Three months of coalition airstrikes have now produced only modest gains in the absence of a reliable fighting force on the ground. Washington and Baghdad have failed to organize tribal and Sunni Iraqis who have a history of fighting al-Qaida. The majority of Sunnis and Iraqi tribes who fought against Maliki until a few months ago have now left the scene, with some being recruited by ISIS. The Sunnis simply do not have the motivation to become foot soldiers of a government that is still heavily influenced by the mullahs.
Tehran now pursues a two-pronged strategy to regain its grip on Iraq. On the one hand, it uses Shiite militias to regain control on the ground through the occupation of parts of Iraqi territory. On the other hand, it continues to empower Maliki against al-Abadi in a bid to maintain its grip on power in Baghdad. In the meantime, Iran's apparent animosity toward ISIS is tactical at best. U.S entanglement in the theatre against ISIS gives Iran a chance to restore its dominance in Iraq. Hinting at possible collaboration with Tehran to solve the Iraqi crisis would unquestionably constitute an irreversible mistake.
A solution to the crisis is hopelessly out of reach without the active and full participation of Sunnis and tribal forces in the reconstitution of the broken political process. These forces are prepared to engage on the ground and their potency was at its most obvious when they successfully repelled al-Qaeda during the past decade. However, in order to engage these forces effectively, the current policy has to be reconfigured and corrected. The new and pro-active policy should include the rigorous restraining of Iranian influence in Iraq and the expulsion of its destructive proxies, whose main objective has been to aggravate sectarian sensitivities and hostilities. Shiite militias such as the Badr Organization, Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq and Kata'ib Hezbollah must also be evicted from Iraq in order to rekindle a lasting environment of political reconciliation.
The strategy to defeat IS requires a far more comprehensive response than merely coordinated airstrikes by Washington. It should be fundamentally predicated on a cultural and religious alternative and antithesis that can mount a strategic challenge to their violent, fanatic and extremist view of Islam. US resolute support for a tolerant and democratic Islam that is indigenous to the Middle East will be instrumental in drying up the breeding ground of fundamentalism, whether in its Sunni form of ISIS or its Shiite version of the Iranian regime and its merciless mercenaries.
{i:Struan Stevenson was a Conservative Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2014, representing Scotland. He was President of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq from 2009 to 2014. He is currently President of the European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA).}
