The following is from a brilliant sketch of Iraq in 2011 by Lady Emma Sky, who until 2010 was a key adviser to General Odierno in Iraq, and recently returned there for a visit. It suggests one important psychological reason for the long political stalemate in Iraq:
I sit with a good friend, a female member of Parliament, in a café in Baghdad. We reminisce about 2007 and how we worked together closely to help bring down the violence that ravaged the country. It seems such a long time ago. We discuss the problems facing the country today. How much longer will the patience of Iraqis continue, I ask her? She tells me that the people are tired. They want electricity and jobs. They want to eat and sleep. They want normal lives. There is injustice. The country is rich, but the people do not see the benefits. The Iraqi people have been so oppressed for years that we are like sheep. Iraq today is so far away from the vision that people had after the fall of Saddam. I describe to her my trips to Egypt and Tunisia and how people feel empowered because they removed their regimes themselves, with little bloodshed, are debating their constitutions, and new politicians are coming to the fore. She tells me that in Iraq people do not feel that same sense of empowerment. They did not remove Saddam themselves, many of the politicians who were put in power were Islamist exiles returning from abroad, there was little public debate over the constitution, and elections did not bring about change but kept the same dysfunctional arrangement in place.
The piece is long but well worth reading. I love Ms. Sky's prose style: clipped, direct and vivid. And if the story of how a female British aristocrat came to play a key part in the American occupation of Iraq isn't worth a mini-series, then I'm Joe Biden. You can read more about Sky here and here.
Hat tip: The Browser.
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