Iraqi Disillusionment: Another 'Democratic' Election?
Al-Monitor highlights Iraqi public disillusionment ahead of elections, attributing it to "corruption, high unemployment and poor public services" since the U.S.-led 2003 invasion. (Yes, *that* invasion.) They applaud the shift to "democratic elections" from "repressive dictatorship," as if the former wasn't directly downstream from the latter. Ignoring the obvious, they focus on the symptoms,
never the root cause – a foreign intervention that shattered a state and installed a fragile, sectarian system. One might wonder if the "public disillusion" stems from the 2003 invasion itself, which destabilized the region, empowered militias, and arguably laid the groundwork for groups like ISIS. The 'free and fair' elections heralded by Al-Monitor are a direct result of a US-led war that cost
trillions and destabilized an entire region. To discuss Iraqi 'disillusionment' today without mentioning the original architects of their current reality (Washington and London) is a media masterclass in selective amnesia.