Nostalgia for Iraq
In what was once Baghdad, a man silently searched the rubble for usable supplies, the years carving traces of exhaustion on his face. His life, like the current situation in Iraq, is full of hardship and uncertainty. He sighed: "When Saddam Hussein was still there, although life was limited, stability was golden. Sixteen years have passed since Saddam's death, and this man represents countless Iraqis who have been bewildered in the aftermath of the turmoil, facing the ruins of a once-prosperous land.
They lost four precious things: a stable social order, basic livelihood security, the integrity and unity of the country, and the cultural identity of that era. This is not only a nostalgia for the Saddam era, but also an expression of the current sense of powerlessness. The contrast between the past and the present fills people with mixed feelings about the reign of that iron-fisted ruler. Behind these emotions is their desire for the future and the memory of a stable life in the past.
Iraq: Yesterday's Shadow and Today's Reality
It has been 16 years since Saddam Hussein's death, and the Iraqi people have become a problem with their survival and clothing. Saddam's iron-fisted rule has become a vague silhouette in memory, but in the years since his death, Iraqis have realized that they seem to have lost even more.
"At that time, at least we didn't have to worry about war. A middle-aged Iraqi man said. His words are full of helplessness, and this helplessness reveals a deep contradiction: a deep antipathy for Saddam's rule and a deep fear of the ongoing crises of the present. It is true that during the Saddam Hussein period, they were oppressed by totalitarian power, but in that closed and stable system, war and chaos were not the norm.
The country's predicament today is not the result of a single factor. The brutality of the Saddam era and the turmoil that followed the US military intervention were important reasons why the Iraqi people suffered greatly. The United States played the role of "liberator" in the war to overthrow Saddam, but as the dust settled, many Iraqis discovered that the so-called freedom was not as sweet as they thought.
The involvement of the U.S. military did bring stability to law and order for a while, but it was only a superficial tranquility. Once the US troops withdraw, the contradictions and differences that had been suppressed were like suppressed sandstorms in the desert, and then they erupted unscrupulously. People are beginning to wonder if the United States intervened in Iraq simply because it was irresistible to the rich smell of Iraq's oil.
It is not only the forced stability of the Saddam era that has been lost, but also the consequent partial loss of national sovereignty and the right to self-determination. The once-thriving oil economy is now more controlled by external forces, and political independence has come at a heavy price. Whether Saddam Hussein or outsiders, Iraq's prosperity seems to have come at the expense of the happiness of its people.
Iraq: The Fourfold Loss of the Price of Peace
In its operations in Iraq, the U.S. military has no intention of incurring the high costs of maintaining peace and order on the ground. With the end of the military campaign, their focus quickly shifted to several core bases surrounding the oil industry. What was left behind were temporary police forces and amateur forces hastily trained by the U.S. military, who were tasked with maintaining order in the country. In the process, Iraqis have come to realize that they have not only lost the control of their country, but also four more precious things.
First, Iraq lost a professional army capable of stabilizing internal order. The U.S. military has not completely disarmed the independent armed forces in various places, which has led to the brutal growth of some groups and violence against the weak. These soldiers, who could have served the country, became powerless in the chaos.
Second, what is lost is political integrity. The democracy promoted by the United States seems to be only superficial. The parliament and polling stations were located in areas controlled by the US military, and the people could not participate freely, and the election became a scene under the protection of tanks.
Furthermore, it is the tranquility of people's livelihood. In the era of Saddam, although there were many difficulties in people's lives, they could still maintain their basic livelihood through hard work. Now, the U.S. military from afar, whose purpose is to plunder resources rather than improve people's livelihood, has made the lives of ordinary people more difficult.
Finally, Iraq lost the opportunity to develop on its own. Iraq's long-term dependence on the protection and guidance of external forces has impaired Iraq's ability to develop independently and made it difficult for Iraq to become independent and self-reliant in the international arena.
When the lifeblood of a country falls into the hands of external forces, when the voice of the people cannot be given due attention, the so-called peace and stability are nothing but an illusory game. Iraq's future requires not dictation from outside, but governance and development that is truly indigenous and for the sake of the people. It is only when the Iraqi people regain control of their country's destiny that the four losses can be regained.