IraqIraq and its extremist problem: what now for the troubled state?
The number of deaths in Iraq from attacks by extremist groups operating under the banner of Islam has been growing steadily since the withdrawal of American troops in 2011. In 2013, nearly 8,900 people died in extremist attacks. The level of casualties has been taken as an indicator of extremist political and military strength. This dreadful statistic is not just the result of the loss of American military, intelligence and political support. As evidenced by recent insurgent activity in Fallujah and Ramadi, Iraq now faces an assault on its sovereign integrity that is testing the organs of the state.
The number of deaths in Iraq from attacks by extremist groups operating under the banner of Islam has been growing steadily since the withdrawal of American troopsin 2011. In 2013, nearly 8,900people died in extremist attacks. The level of casualties has been taken as an indicator of extremist political and military strength.
This dreadful statistic is not just the result of the loss of American military, intelligence and political support. Given the circumstances, Iraqi security forces have shown considerable professionalism in responding to the extremist challenge. But neither is it just “a fight that belongs to the Iraqis,” as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry claimed recently. The violence experienced by Iraqis since 2011 is closely linked to the ill-conceived and poorly executed American occupation of the country in 2003.
As evidenced by recent insurgent activity in Fallujah and Ramadi, Iraq now faces an assault on its sovereign integrity that is testing the organs of the state.
The fall and rise of Islamic extremism
After the apparent demolition of al-Qaeda in recent years, including the killing of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawiand Osama bin Laden, the impetus seemed to have gone out of the extremist movement. However, one of the consequences of the (at best) mixed results of the Arab revolts of 2011 has been a revival of the movement.
While al-Qaeda itself may have suffered terminal damage, many extremist groups have taken up its message to pursue revolutionary change in the region. The number of these groups has swelled over recent months, as has their capacity to inflict damage and provoke chaos in Iraq, Syria, and beyond.
Several factors have contributed to this surge of extremist influence. One, which is not yet directly linked to Iraq, is the Egyptian army’s disastrous overthrow of the country’s elected president Mohammed Morsi, and its subsequent persecution of the Muslim Brotherhood and reformist elements in the country. This has sent a clear warning that the power elites across the Arab world will not tolerate democratic change and that more violent measures are needed.
Regional factors
A more immediate factor in al-Qaeda’s rise has been the ongoing civil war in Syria, in which the government in Damascus has effectively ceded large parts of north and northeast of the country to the extremist-dominated opposition. This has given the extremists a secure base from which to organize attacks on both governments and has seen Iraq’s Anbar and Syria’s
