It is worth bearing in mind that in 2003, the US with the support of the UK and the 'coalition of the willing' launched an invasion of Iraq. The Peshmerga (Kurdish military force in Iraq) were part of this 'coalition'. There followed almost immediately the policy of 'de-Ba'athification' which effectively excluded Sunni Arabs from being a part of the government/public service and indeed even the 'democratic' process in general. The US then instituted and ran so-called 'Shi'a death squads' who engaged in sectarian killings and torture.
From the start of the war until (just) June 2006, the only epidemiological study thus far conducted (and published in Lancet) found that about 601,000 excess violent deaths had occurred in Iraq, most of them civilians (an astonishing 2.5% of the population). Many more were casualties not to mention the many victims of torture and rape. Much of Iraq was reduced to rubble.
It is no wonder that sectarian conflict ensues and the cycle of violence will take a long time to die down. But the majority of the blame lies not in the hands of Iraqi politicians like al-Maliki nor in the hands of fundamentalist militants like ISIS. It lies firmly in the hands of the instigators and perpetrators of the mass killing in the first place - the US.
From what I have read of the author's work, he would no doubt agree with me here but the article as written creates a different impression. This is probably due to trying to limit the scope of the discussion to internal Iraqi politics but, nevertheless, the point I have made should not be forgotten in any discussion on Iraq. Just because US troops have now pulled out, it does not absolve the US of responsibility for the unimaginable amount of human suffering that their actions have caused and continue to cause well into the future.
A BBC and The Guardian documentary "James Steele: America's mystery man in Iraq" which you can even view on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ca1HsC6MH0
It is worth bearing in mind that in 2003, the US with the support of the UK and the 'coalition of the willing' launched an invasion of Iraq. The Peshmerga (Kurdish military force in Iraq) were part of this 'coalition'. There followed almost immediately the policy of 'de-Ba'athification' which effectively excluded Sunni Arabs from being a part of the government/public service and indeed even the 'democratic' process in general. The US then instituted and ran so-called 'Shi'a death squads' who engaged in sectarian killings and torture.
From the start of the war until (just) June 2006, the only epidemiological study thus far conducted (and published in Lancet) found that about 601,000 excess violent deaths had occurred in Iraq, most of them civilians (an astonishing 2.5% of the population). Many more were casualties not to mention the many victims of torture and rape. Much of Iraq was reduced to rubble.
It is no wonder that sectarian conflict ensues and the cycle of violence will take a long time to die down. But the majority of the blame lies not in the hands of Iraqi politicians like al-Maliki nor in the hands of fundamentalist militants like ISIS. It lies firmly in the hands of the instigators and perpetrators of the mass killing in the first place - the US.
From what I have read of the author's work, he would no doubt agree with me here but the article as written creates a different impression. This is probably due to trying to limit the scope of the discussion to internal Iraqi politics but, nevertheless, the point I have made should not be forgotten in any discussion on Iraq. Just because US troops have now pulled out, it does not absolve the US of responsibility for the unimaginable amount of human suffering that their actions have caused and continue to cause well into the future.