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- Volume 11, Issue 1, 2017
International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies - Volume 11, Issue 1-2, 2017
Volume 11, Issue 1-2, 2017
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What the Chilcot report teaches us
By Richard FalkAbstractAfter six years the United Kingdom embarked upon an official inquiry into its participation in the 2003 attack on Iraq and role in the subsequent occupation up until 2009. The inquiry, known by the last name of its chair, Sir John Chilcot, produced an exhaustive report that contains many details of great interest, but it is disappointing when it comes to the bigger questions relating to the culpability and accountability of Tony Blair, the relationship between Britain and international law in war–peace contexts, and a considered analysis of the proper show of respect for the authority of the United Nations by a member State. This article offers a critical appraisal of the United Kingdom’s 2016 Iraq Inquiry.
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Entrenching sectarianism: How Chilcot sees Iraq
Authors: Tareq Y. Ismael and Jacqueline S. IsmaelAbstractThe 2003 invasion of Iraq by a coalition led by the United States and United Kingdom brought about a regime change that saw the imposition of a sectarianized political order in Iraq. Never before experienced by Iraqis, this politicized the social phenomenon of sectarian identity and prejudice. In spite of the countless references to the role of sectarianism by witnesses appearing before them, the 2016 Iraq Inquiry Report largely accepted the phenomenon as Sui generis – originating from within the Iraqi social setting and therefore accepted it as a rational and pragmatic modality around which to structure the new political order. This assumption saw the Inquiry adopt the assumption held by those they were meant to interrogate – the British officials and government decision makers who led Britain to war in 2003. The article argues that the new regime imposed through the US–UK occupation was not reflective of a bottom up desire for communal representation but rather a top down imposition by the occupation. This resulted in the expression of conflict in predominantly sectarian terms since 2003, the institutionalization of sectarianism in the constitution and government apparatus, as well as a denial of Iraqi self-determination and the opening of the country to excessive foreign influence, extending the bloodletting and impairing economic growth and social comity.
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Learning from the Chilcot report: Propaganda, deception and the ‘War on Terror’
More LessAbstractThe 2016 Iraq Inquiry Report (the Chilcot report) was highly critical of the British government and its involvement in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation. Drawing upon the authoritative material in the report, this article provides the most comprehensive and conceptually grounded post-Chilcot assessment of the empirical evidence now available regarding whether deception and propaganda were used to mobilize support for the invasion of Iraq. Employing a conceptual framework designed to identify deceptive organized persuasive communication (OPC), it is argued that the Chilcot report supports the thesis that, through distortions and omissions, deceptive OPC campaigns presented a misleading impression of both the threat posed by Iraqi WMD and Britain’s commitment to a peaceful resolution via the ‘UN route’. Moreover, based upon UK-US communications in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the Chilcot report also provides suggestive but highly significant evidence of a broader and covert geo-strategic policy, including action against Syria and Iran, and which was underpinned by a ‘close knit propaganda campaign’. In light of this, it is argued that a major expansion of scholarly inquiry is necessary involving sustained analysis of the establishing phase of the ‘War on Terror’, the role that deception and propaganda might have played with respect to its enablement, and, more broadly, the implications of this for our understanding of propaganda and deception in liberal democratic states.
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The Iraq Inquiry: UK interests in Iraqi oil
More LessAbstractThe main official reason given by the Allied powers for invading Iraq in 2003 was to destroy Iraq’s alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction. There was hardly any mention of the role of oil in the war. Iraq’s crude oil reserves are among the five largest globally. This fact did not escape the attention of allied politicians. The Chilcot Report made it clear that public statements on the war should focus on the Weapons of Mass Destruction, and that no mention should be made of oil interests, in order not to antagonize Iraqi public opinion and raise the suspicion that the war is about western control of Iraq’s oil. The Report revealed that scores of meetings took place between UK government officials and leading British oil firms such as BP and Shell to ensure that the firms received a sizeable share of the upstream contracts following the war. The Report also showed concerns raised by British officials of US attempts to stop Russia’s negative position towards the war in the UN Security Council by promising upstream oil contracts to Russian firms. British officials also complained that the United States kept the oil file strictly under its domain, particularly after the war ended. The Report documents beyond doubt the role of oil interests in the war, despite the fact that the subject was not raised publicly by the Allied officials.
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The criminal conspiracy of the Bush administrations and the protection of Iraq’s children
More LessAbstractUS/UK efforts led to the devastation and ruination of Iraq from 1991 through aerial bombardment and economic embargo and then military invasion and occupation (2003–11) which led to the deaths and ruination of large numbers of Iraqi civilians. This period (1990–2011) witnessed the US/UK policy viz. Iraq abrogate the Nuremberg Charter, Judgment and Principles, a repudiation of the very legal mechanisms and norms intended to constrain such state actions. It is suggested that, following such mass casualties, that all US and UK government officials should be held fully accountable under international law for the commission of such grievous international crimes.
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Advanced medicine and modern Iraq: Dr Abdul-Mujib and the rise and fall of Iraqi surgical capacities
More LessAbstractContinuing with our series acknowledging the recollections of Iraqis of their experiences in the country, we present Dr Abdul-Mujib Cadili. Following an examination of the founding of the Iraqi Royal Medical College (IRMC) and its standing as the first such Institution in Iraq, Dr Cadili recounts his own experience of attending the programme from 1968 to 1974 – from recollections of his time at IRMC through residency, military service and emergency surgeries in the internecine wars of 1970s’ Kurdistan, before working in the UAE and the United Kingdom in an effort to advance his training before settling in the United Kingdom to work as a surgeon and begin his family with his wife Sawsan. Returning to Iraq Cadili founded the Al-Rafidain hospital in Baghdad where the first kidney and gall bladder surgeries in Iraq were performed, as well as the (smuggled!) introduction of a laparoscopic machine under the sanctions regime. Cadili describes meeting with Saddam Hussein, service in the Iran–Iraq War, before suffering through the 1991 Gulf War, which was launched by the US-led coalition in 1991. After run-ins with Ba’thist superiors Cadili left Iraq and re-started his surgical career following immigration to Canada in 1997. Cadili found a calling through medicine, remains a leading surgeon in his adopted country and stands out as a standard bearer for Iraqi medicine. An Iraqi surgeon currently living in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, recalls attending a lecture Dr Cadili gave in Baghdad around 1995. Dr Cadili was presenting the results of his first 300 cases of laparoscopic surgery and the Calgary-based Iraqi surgeon was one of about 200 physicians attending the talk in Baghdad. He remembered how all in attendance were dazzled by Dr Cadili’s knowledge and ambition. They were amazed at how a lone surgeon had managed to revolutionize surgeries while under economic embargo, travel restrictions and the many other challenges imposed on Iraqis. He saw Dr Cadili as a glimmer of light in the darkness for a new generation of doctors. We are pleased to present Dr Cadili’s recollections in IJCIS.
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Review Essay
More LessAbstractReactions to the US invasion of Iraq and its aftermath
And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East, Richard Engel (2016) New York: Simon and Schuster, 240 pp., ISBN: 9781451635119, h/bk, $27.00
The Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan, J. Kael Weston (2016) New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 585 pp., ISBN: 9780385351126, h/bk, $28.95
The Terror Years: From Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State, Lawrence Wright (2016) New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 366 pp., ISBN: 9780385352055, h/bk, $28.95
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Book Reviews
Authors: As’ad AbuKhalil and Kathryn A. SchwartzAbstractIs it Fitnah or the rope? Kanaan Makiyya returns
The Rope: A Novel, Kanan Makiya (2016) New York: Pantheon, 336 pp., ISBN-10: 1101870478, ISBN-13: 9781101870471, h/bk, US$17
Anatomy of Authoritarianism in the Arab Republics, Joseph Sassoon (2016) New York, Cambridge University Press, 325 pp., ISBN: 9781107043190, h/bk; ISBN: 9781107618312, p/bk, $29.99
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