History of Sunni-Dominant Politics
Iraq's history is constantly shrouded in multiple layers of ethnic conflict, at times escalating to genocidal levels. Iraqi politics of ethnicity have dominated the country, especially since Hashemite Faisal of the Hijaz was crowned king in 1921. As King Faisal pursued policies of pan-Arab nationalism, a network of Sunni Arab elites dominated the politics of the years surrounding Iraq's independence in 1932. Only 4 out of the 23 individuals appointed as premiers in the two decades after independence were of Shi'a background.
After the monarchy was overthrown in 1958, the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (also known as the Ba'ath party) staged a coup and took control of the Iraqi government. In a subsequent coup d'etat, the Ba'ath party regained power in 1968 under the leadership of General Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr and his deputy, Saddam Hussein. As the Ba'athist regime came to dominate Iraqi national politics and policy, the Sunni elite, comprising only 15-20% of the country, began to repress and discriminate against the Shi'ites, who make up nearly 60% of the Iraqi population.
Ethnic Cleansing in Iraq: The Anfal Campaigns
As the Sunni Ba'athist regime gained power, other minority groups such as Kurds, Christians, and Turkmen were marginalized alongside the Shi'a. One of the most appalling examples of Ba'athist minority repression was the Kurdish genocide of the late 1980s.
Kurdish people have inhabited significant portions of Iraqi territory since the 12th century. Unfortunately, due to Ottoman and Persian colonization, the Kurds have never consolidated their own autonomous state. Following World War I and the 1920 Treaty of Sevres, the Kurds found their homeland divided up between Turkey, Syria, the Soviet Union, Iran, and Iraq. Until the 1980's, Kurds comprised the largest ethnic minority in Iraq, approximately 23% of the population.
Beginning with the ascendency of Saddam Hussein, the Ba'ath party began to systematically push for the destruction and displacement of the Kurdish population in Iraq. Kurds posed a political and demographic threat to the Sunni Arab ruling party, while Iraqi Kurdistan sat atop a number of valuable oil fields. The Iraqi Army began to regularly shell and invade Kurdish territories. These invasions caused entire villages to move into nearby caves.
Between 1987 and 1989, the Iraqi military launched a series of offensives known as the Anfal campaigns (Anfal refers to "the Spoils" in the eighth sura of the Koran) led by General Ali-Hassan al-Majid, also known as Chemical Ali. Documentation clearly establishes that Iraqi soldiers were explicitly ordered that "all prohibited villages must be destroyed" and "no house was to be left standing." The Anfal campaigns resulted in mass executions and disappearances, the widespread use of chemical weapons, the wholesale destruction of some 2,000 villages, forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of villagers, and the destruction of the rural Kurdish economy and infrastructure.
This violence against the Kurds illustrates the methods that Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime used to consolidate its power. Throughout the 1990s, the regime's repression of these groups left deep scars in Iraqi society.
Dynamics of Current Conflict in Iraq
Since the US-led invasion Iraq in 2003 that ousted Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime, ethno-sectarian groups throughout the country have launched attacks against opposing groups in order to gain power and influence in certain regions of the country. Historical grievances, including Ba'athist repression and Sunni favoritism, came to the forefront as violent conflict spread throughout the country. The core of the violence gradually shifted from a resistance to the US intervention to a targeting of different Iraqi groups to reinforce each group's territorial, economic, or political claims.
In February 2006, the bombing of the Shi'a al-Askariyya shrine in Samarra triggered a sharp increase in ethno-sectarian violence. Immediately after the bombing, Shi'a militiamen stormed through Baghdad and other Sunni towns assaulting Sunni mosques and massacring civilians. In response, Sunni insurgents retaliated in a similar manner. These cycles of violence continue to devastate Iraq and terrorize its civilians. Such incidents occur between Sunnis and Shi'as as well as Kurdish, Christian and Turkmen forces.
Since 2003, the ongoing violence has killed up to 100,000 civilians as the one of the world's worst displacement crises causes serious regional consequences. Tens of thousands of Iraqis leave their homes each month. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights estimates that more than 2 million people are displaced within Iraq and more than 2.2 million Iraqis have sought refuge in other countries, such as Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Unfortunately, some of these countries lack the capacity to take in such a high number of refugees. Due to the scope of the refugee crisis, the Iraqi conflict possesses significant, regional dimensions which need to be immediately addressed by the international community.
The extreme sections of both the Sunni and Shi'a groups are currently driving the ethno-sectarian violence against Iraqi civilians.
- Sunni Groups. Radical groups such as the Association of Muslim Scholars and the Iraqi Islamic Party have allegedly fostered attacks against Shi'a and other minority groups.
- Shi'a Groups. Radical groups such as the Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army as well as the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council have led attacks against Sunni and other minority groups.
- Other Minority Groups. Kurdish and other minority groups have retaliated against Sunni and Shi'a attacks and have also instigated attacks to reinforce territorial claims.
- US and Iraqi government forces. As a result of counterinsurgency operations, both US and Iraqi forces have harmed innocent civilians.
As of the last quarter of 2007, the situation in Iraq remains unstable and dangerous for non-combatant civilians. With bombings and indiscriminate killings continuing on a day-to-day basis, tensions between different ethno-religious sects have resulted in the deaths of up to 100,000 civilians since the 2003 US invasion. In the month of June 2007 alone, at least 1,227 Iraqi civilians were killed. Despite a downturn in violence between September 2007 and April of 2008, approximately thirty civilians die daily as a result of violent conflict.
Meanwhile, more than 2 million Iraqis are displaced within the country as a result of the violence. Another 2.2 million have fled to neighboring countries, leading to the largest refugee crisis in the world.
In October 2007, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction testified before the US Congress stating that Baghdad fears "a new outbreak of ethnic cleansing between Sunnis and Shi'ites next year." Despite these fears, violence in Iraq is decreasing and there is hope that these security gains will alleviate civilian suffering in the country.
Violence generally occurs in areas where mixed communities continue to coexist. In these regions, according to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), "both Sunni and Shi'a armed groups carry out direct attacks on civilians through suicide bombings, abductions and extrajudicial executions while making no distinction between civilians and combatants. Such systematic or widespread attacks against a civilian population are tantamount to crimes against humanity and violate the laws of war, and their perpetrators are subject to prosecution." UNAMI and other organizations have listed a large number of crimes that have affected Iraqi civilians on a large scale. These crimes often fall along the lines of what is deemed "soft" ethnic cleansings - one ethnic group trying to purge the territory of another ethnic group, due to political, economic, and/or other historically-rooted reasons. Some crimes that continue to affect Iraqi civilians today include:
- Indiscriminate, extrajudicial killings and summary executions
- Forced expulsion of entire communities
- Large-scale displacement throughout the country
- Car bombings and suicide attacks
- Ethnic intimidation (e.g. death threats that provoke displacement)
- Abductions
- Arbitrary arrests
MSF documents Mouna's story, as the young Iraqi girl learns to walk again. Part 1 [23], Part 2 [24], Part 3 [25], Part 4 [26], and Part 5. [27]
Fighting in Iraq has displaced more than 4 million people [28], many of whom have fled to neighboring countries.
Go Inside Iraq and find out more about the sectarian militias that target civilians, Part 1 [29] and Part 2 [30] and about the militia death squads [31].
Learn more about the politics in Iraq that may be driving the social bifurcation of the country, Part 1 [32] and Part 2 [33].
Visit Baghdad, five years after the US-led invasion, Part 1 [34], Part 2 [35], and Part 3. [36]
UNHCR documents Iraq's Exodus of Pain [37], and journeyman pictures presents their own view of this Exodus [38].
Violence in Iraq has spiraled into a vicious cycle of ethnic cleansing [39] and revenge attacks.