America Unravels Iraq
Mohammed M. A. Ahmed
Mazda Publishers
The war brought to the surface Iraq’s long simmering tribal, communal and political conflicts. By replacing the Sunni Arab autocratic minority rule with a Shiite majority, the U.S. angered its Sunni Arab regional allies and helped Iran expand its sphere of influence. The war led to over six years of violence, during which thousands of people were killed, maimed and displaced from their homes. The continuing low-intensity conflict was fueled by mutual suspicion and distrust among Iraq's political factions. This book sheds light on how the 2003 Iraq war engendered and shaped power struggles between Kurds, Shiites and Sunni Arabs.
Contents
Acknowledgments' / ix
Abbreviations / xi
Maps / xiii-xiv
Foreword / xv
Introduction / xvii
Chapter 1
Brief History / 1
Chapter 2
Iraq’s Internal Complexity / 10
Chapter 3
Occupation and Administration / 24
Chapter 4
Nominal Transfer of Sovereignty / 41
Chapter 5
Insurgency Sets a Pattern / 65
Chapter 6
Collateral Damage 93
Chapter 7
Transitional Government / 105
Chapter 8
Struggle for Power Intensifies / 130
Chapter 9
Consensus Government Formed / 171
Chapter 10
Appeasement of Sunni Arabs Propel Violence / 209
Chapter 11
U.S. Blames al-Maliki for the Mess / 251
Chapter 12
Climax of Sectarian Violence / 267
Chapter / 13
Oil Smuggling Sustains Insurgency / 300
Chapter 14
Multi-Dimensional Counterterrorism / 308
Chapter / 15
Divide and Conquer Policy Bears Fruit / 331
Chapter 16
Al-Maliki Asserts Authority / 373
Chapter 17
Al-Maliki Overplays His Hands / 400
Chapter 18
January 2009 Provincial Elections and their Aftermath / 416
Chapter 19
U.S. - Iraq Strategic Agreement / 449
Bibliography / 485
Index / 493
FOREWORD
After a distinguished career as a United Nations official in the Middle East and elsewhere. Dr. Mohammed M. A. Ahmed has turned his recent years into study and research on the Kurdish issue. His Ahmed Foundation for Kurdish Studies has sponsored four separate scholarly conferences, each resulting in the publication of edited volumes dealing with the Kurds and 1.) International Law, 2.) Refugees; 3.) The 2003 Iraqi War; and 4.) Nationalism.
Now Dr. Ahmed has turned his attention to the naive and costly misguided U.S. war that overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003, but then got bogged down in a confusing, still ensuing Hobbesian civil war of all against all. Dr. Ahmed’s narrative vividly details the horrific bloodshed and confused U.S. responses, complicated by Iraq’s deep sectarian, ethnic, political, social, and tribal divisions as well as weak Shiite-led government attempts to ameliorate the situation. In reading the ceaseless recounting of the bloodshed one is reminded of the eerie comment made a half century ago by Allen Dulles, then U.S. CIA Director, that Iraq “was the most dangerous spot on earth.”
However, the other theme that emerges from Dr. Ahmed’s survey is how a seemingly hapless Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki slowly rose to the occasion and, as of this writing, is apparently well on his way to taming the Iraqi insurgency.
Unfortunately for the Kurds, if he does so, it might well be at their expense by reasserting Iraqi centralization. Of course, al-Maliki’s success story also must be understood in terms of the U.S.-led troop surge masterminded by General David Petraeus, the U.S. enlistment of former Sunni Arab insurgents into a pro-U.S. al-Sahwa or Awakening movement, the downfall of Muqtada al-Sadr’s al-Mahdi militia, and ethnic separation by walls and population movements. Parallel to all this, moreover, is the threat to Kurdish and Sunni Arab fortunes in an Iraq ruled by a strong al-Maliki, Shiite-backed government. Dr. Ahmed details and analyses all this in a fast-moving narrative that will prove most useful to government practitioners, scholars, and the lay public.
Michael M. Gunter
July 29, 2009
Introduction
Andrew H. Card, White House chief of staff, quietly approached President George W. Bush while he was reading to second grade children at the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, and whispered in his cars the news about the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. The President, who was shaken by the news, folded the book in his hands and quietly left the classroom. He told the reporters that, “Terrorism against our nation will not stand.”1 Following the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, President Bush divided the world into two camps, those who agreed with the United States and those who did not. The terrorist attack on the U.S. on September 11, 2001 provided President Bush a high moral and political ground to declare war on the Taliban who sheltered and aided the al-Qaida and their leader, Usama Bin Laden. U.S. intelligence also pointed a finger at Saddam Hussein’s secret agents for having met with Mohammed Atta, the terrorist leader who attacked the U.S. in Europe. The Bush administration also accused Saddam Hussein of pursuing weapons of mass destruction, which they considered a threat against the U.S. and its allies in the Middle East.2
President Bush's allies and friends advised him to exercise caution in dealing with Saddam Hussein, who was practicing cat and mouse tactics to break up the United Nations’ embargo imposed on his country for invading Kuwait in August 1990. In view of the ineffectiveness of the United Nations embargo to …
1 Bob Woodward, Bush at War (New York: Simon & Shuster, 2002), pp. 15-20.
" Kenneth M. Pollack, The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq (New York: Random House, 2002); and Peter W. Galbraith, Unintended Consequences: How War In Iraq Strengthened America's Allies (New York: Simon & Shuster, 2008), pp. 1-13.
Mohammed M. A. Ahmed
America Unravels Iraq
Mazda
Mazda Publishers, Inc.
America Unravels Iraq
Kurds, Shiites, and Sunni Arabs
Compete for Supremacy
Mohammed M. A. Ahmed
(Hama Jamal)
Mazda Publishers, Inc. Costa Mesa,
California 2010
Mazda Publishers, Inc.
Academic publishers since 1980
P.O. Box 2603, Costa Mesa. California 92628 U.S.A.
www.mazdapub.com
A. Kamron Jabbari, Publisher
Copyright © 2010 by Mohammed M. A. Ahmed
All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted by any form or by any means without written permission
from the copyright holder except in the case of brief quotations embodied
in critical articles and reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ahmed. Mohammed M. A.
America Unravels Iraq: Kurds, Shiites, and Sunni Arabs Compete for
Supremacy / by Mohammed M.A. Ahmed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 13: 978-1-56859-277-0 (alk. paper)
ISBN 10: 1-56859-277-9
1. Iraq War, 2003- 2. Iraq War, 2003—Social aspects. 3. Iraq War,
2003—Political aspects. 4. Iraq—Politics and government—2003-
5. Insurgency—Iraq. 6. Military planning—United States. 7. Iraq—
Strategic aspects. 8. United States—Military policy. I. Title.
DS79.76.A365 2009
956.7044'31—dc22
2009043247
About the Cover:
A member from the 621st Air Mobility Group Tanker Airlift Control Element for a
C-130 to take off April 4, 2003 at a forward deployed location in
southern Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. C-130s are bringing
in cargo for personnel and operations at the base.
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo.
