People Affected by Iraq War

The war in Iraq is one of the most important events of the new millennium. The 2nd Gulf War affected a wide range of people, whether they lived in Iraq or far across the world. It has both united and separated people. The war brought huge consequences for the American administration, World Leaders, people of Iraq, Americans, and people around the globe. But most importantly, the war affected most those who were at the forefront of the battle like soldiers, and Iraqi civilians in the midst of a firefight. For some the war may bring good news, but for others it may be the loss of loved one. This paper will cover perspectives of two different people and how they viewed the war in Iraq, along with an expert opinion.

Vanessa is like any other college girl in United States. In fact, she was born and raised in United States. The odds are, at the first impression you wouldn’t even think or distinguish her any different. You may believe that her opinion of the war in Iraq would be indifferent compared to others of her age, or at most she would either support the war or be against it. But upon further familiarity with her, you would know that the war in Iraq affected her deeply, so deeply that the war threatened her beloved families in Iraq. Vanessa is an ethnic Iraqi, a Chaldean. Her parents moved from Iraq to United States in search of greener pastures.

As an ethnic Iraqi, her opinion of the War is strongly different from others. For her, the war affects her far closer to home. When inquiring upon her opinion of the recent war in Iraq, she was quite blatant in her opposition to the war. According to Vanessa, “the war in Iraq was absolutely wrong”. She feels that the war in Iraq was waged on absolute pack of lies and that it was nothing more than President Bush’s way to take revenge on Saddam for plotting to kill his father. Vanessa views President Bush quite negatively, in fact she finds Saddam to be a better person than President Bush. Upon further questioning she justified her reasoning saying that Bush screwed up the whole nation, with economy in recession and people not being able to provide for themselves. She further pointed out rising living costs, scarce jobs, and increased tuition. On the other, she feels that Saddam at least cares for his populace and is not giving away money to the rich as President Bush.

People Affected by Iraq War Contd.

Her strong opinion against Bush is of course due to the deteriorating situation in Iraq that is getting worse everyday. Her frustration partly lies with the fact that some of her close family members are still living in Iraq, and the war just made their already harsh lives completely unbearable. Vanessa’s maternal aunt and uncle led quite a modest life in Tel Kaif, but ever since the war they had to struggle a lot. The life as Vanessa described was so harsh that there would be no electricity at all for a few days. Running life without electricity is harsh enough, but life without constant running water is completely unbearable. Vanessa described how without water, their relatives aren’t even able to prepare proper meals. The life has become so harsh, that it has forced her uncles and aunts to leave their homeland and move to United States. Her relatives are now currently in Jordan waiting for process of their Visa’s so that they can escape the harsh realities of war which was waged by President Bush. Vanessa strongly feels that President Bush is to be blamed for all these troubles that her family members have had to suffer. Upon asking how she felt about the recent elections, she felt a bit optimistic but did fear rise of Islamic fundamentalism. Vanessa stressed that Christians under Saddam lived a very comfortable lives and felt very safe, in fact according to her one of the most successful people in Iraq are Chaldeans, who happen to be Christians. But then, she denounced President Bush for breaking that harmony. She now believes that the recent war gave rise to Islamic extremism, which now threatens the social fabric of Iraqi society.

Faisal (anonymous name) is an Iraqi citizen living in Iraq. I was able to interview Faisal after coming across one of Iraqi message boards. Faisal, unlike Vanessa holds President Bush in favorable light. Faisal is an Iraqi Shiite and according to him he lived a pretty harsh life under Saddam Hussein. Constantly under threat from B’aath party members, Faisal lived under constant fear, but the “liberation of Iraq” as he put it gave him a positive outlook on life. According to Faisal, Saddam Hussein was a murderer and he hates him more than anything in the world. Faisal apparently lost many members of his family at the hands of Saddam Hussein, and he partially blames their loss on the world for sitting idly by. Faisal feels that if America hadn’t come, he would have lost even his own life. Faisal is grateful that America liberated his country, but he has his apprehensions. He sometimes feels that America didn’t come in to liberate them, but rather they came in to take over Iraqi oil and he feels that this may be true. Whatever the case, Faisal is content that Saddam is gone. Upon inquiring about his opinions on the so called “freedom fighters”, Faisal shot back saying that they were all terrorists and were bent on destroying Iraq. He further feels that they are all B’aath party loyalists and Sunnis, who do not want the Shiite’s in power. Faisal strongly believes that there is a great future for the new Iraq. In fact, he feels that the new constitution could be a secular Iraq, but he would rather prefer to live in an Islamic Iraq with equal rights to minorities.

When asked about the recent elections that took place, Faisal was both happy and sad in his response. Faisal was not able to vote in the recent elections, as the chances of terrorist threats were too high. According to him, terrorists warned everyone not to participate in the elections or they would face severe repercussions. Fear of being hurt or even killed, Faisal decided not to participate in the elections. He does regret his actions now but feels that there is nothing can be done about it, but he is optimistic about voting in the next elections for sure and will not back down even if the terrorists started knocking on his door.

My third interviewee was Kyle, Founder and President of Students for Democracy at University of Michigan. Kyle is an avid follower of events in Iraq and has helped form members of his group opinions about the current progress of democracy, terrorism, internal security in Iraq along with future of Iraq and its’ development.

According to Kyle, Iraq is at a very critical stage and if the situation isn’t handled properly it will create more than enough problems to completely destabilize the region that would completely hinder President Bush’s vision of a stable and free Middle East. Kyle feels that the problems that will arise from instability of Iraq include rising tension with neighbors that could start a new war. Since the new Iraqi governing council is Shiite, it would keep it at odds with the rest of the Middle Eastern nations that are Sunnis. Kyle feels that an emerging Shiite Iraq along with Iran can threaten the dominant Sunni influence in the region, thus prompting Saudi Arabia and other nations to take action against it. Kyle further adds that a stronger or unstable Iraq (if not secular) can also threaten the security of Israel and Turkey, which may very well make the situation in the region a lot worse than it already is. According to Kyle, the Bush administration should put a democracy in Iraq as quickly as possible and make sure that the minorities like Sunnis thoroughly participate in the election. If not, it could pose serious problems not only for Iraq, but neighboring nations as well.

Kyle strongly believes that democracy in Iraq is possible but he also believes that Democracy should not be imposed on a nation, but instead must be brought about by the people. If a democracy is imposed there is a strong chance of it being collapsed as people have too high expectations from the new form of government. When the government fails to provide what it promises, resentment will topple the democracy. As such, a democracy should never be imposed on other nations.

Judging from the interviews it can be said that the opinion about the war in Iraq differed among Iraqis themselves. There are still some fundamental questions that need to be answered, like how soon will Iraqis be able to govern themselves? Or will terrorism slow down once Iraq becomes a full-fledged democracy and will a new Iraq lead to more democracies in Middle East as the Bush Administration hopes?