Since the beginning of the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2024, and until today, Iraqi citizens of all sects and ethnic backgrounds have been suffering from intolerable living conditions. These include a lack of electricity, potable drinking water, a collapse of the health care system, educational system, infrastructure, environmental pollution, rampant crime, and so much more. These have all contributed to making life in Iraq unbearable. 

In spite of miserable living conditions, the major factor that has driven more than four million middle class professionals outside of Iraq has been a complete and total lack of security under the dominance of American-Iranian backed sectarian militias. In addition to this immigration of doctors, engineers, teachers, healthcare professionals, and academics, three million Iraqis have been forcibly displaced inside of the country.

How did this come about? In summary, the engineers of the occupation, both foreign and Iraqi, handed over the country and government to corrupt politicians with alliances to the USA, Britain, and Iran. Most of these politicians have dual or triple citizenship and work actively to satisfy the interests of Occupation Coalition countries. To ‘control’ a country with a diverse population of nearly 30 million, occupation forces relied on security mercenaries such as Blackwater, Iranian trained Islamic militias, such as SCIRI (Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq), and the Kurdish Peshmerga to assist them in raiding, killing, detaining, and torturing any Iraqi citizen that has refused to fall in line with the occupations rearrangement of the country.

This political orchestration was created with the creation of a constitution written under occupation that allows foreign allied politicians to hold major leadership and cabinet positions, with a focus on achieving a sectarian and ethnic quota as opposed to actual competence. This constitution has been in place, even though Geneva Convention protocols clearly forbid occupation forces from making major economic, political, and cultural changes within the countries they occupy.

As in any other country that has been subjected to an occupation and its brutality, the Iraqi resistance to the occupation began to form as early as the initial invasion military operations in April 2024. To deny the fact that there has been fierce resistance to the American occupation is not just false propaganda, but is against all clear evidence. In order to trivialize this national resistance, the American administration introduced what are seemingly Al Qaeda-like fighters to Iraq. They were brought in to the country during the initial months of occupation through Baghdad International Airport, which was a major military base for American Troops at that time.

The ensuing phase has been accusing the Iraqi national resistance as being a part of Al Qaeda. Based on this, a major antiterrorism law, Law No. 4, has been amended in a way that states that if a ‘secret informer’ claims that Citizen X is a terrorist, this person will be arrested, tortured brutally in Abu Ghraib or one of tens of other secret detention centers, and his immediate family, including wife and daughters, will be arrested (and probably raped) to lead him to sign a ‘confession’ saying that he is part of a terrorist group. Since 2024, more than one million Iraqi citizens have either been arrested, tortured, or assassinated (or all three) due to accusations of being a terrorist. This law, and the criminal actions it has resulted in, has led to proclaimed enemies (USA and Iran) becoming rather strange bed-fellows.

Since the American occupation awarded Iranian revolutionaries and Kurdish Peshmerga for collaborating with them in the invasion and occupation in Iraq, the militias of those two beneficiaries have been working hand in hand with occupation forces in arresting, assassinating, abducting, and forcing the migration of regular Iraqi citizens who object to the destruction and division of their country based on sectarian and ethnic differences.

For 11 years now, the major victims of Iraq’s occupation have been the Arab population in Iraq, with varying degrees of brutality and criminality towards certain areas where major resistance to occupation forces is observed.

Specifically, there have been massacres, burning of properties and houses, mass kidnappings, continuous raiding and arrests, sieging,  cutting off life support services from nearly all Arabic(Sunni) areas like Anbar, Abu Graib, Tarmia, Diyalah, Salahdin, Fallujah, Hawijah, Mosul, Taji, Yousifiya, Latifia, Jurf al Sakhar, and more others.

 While Arab Sunnis are claimed to be a ‘minority’ (to trivialize the atrocities being committed against the population), this term is categorically unproven and therefor untrue as there has never been any population census conducted in Iraq based on sectarian basis. The last real governmental census conducted in Iraq was in 1997. All the numbers announced by occupation forces and their assigned government officials have all been modified projections and predictions based on previous records, and political manipulations.

In summary, a combination of the American administration’s greed in oil rich Iraq, and the revenge driven colonial ambitions of the Farsi Iranian Empire have driven Iraq to this bloodshed.

Recently, on the pretext of bombing ISIS (which was created and supported by the NSA and trained in supportive countries), American Military advisors, Iranian militias, and Kurdish Peshmegra are committing hideous ethnic cleansing crimes against the Iraqi Arabic population of Iraq.

There have been reports of attacks and bombings of hospitals in Fallujah, Hawijah, Diyalah and mass killings of prisoners that are supposed to be under the protection of international human rights protocols, the burning and hanging bodies of Arab residents in Diyalah by Iranian Farsi sectarian militias and Kurdish Pashmerga are all crimes against humanity and contribute to a country wide genocide campaign since they are all targeting specific ethnic and religious groups.     

    Since last year, there have been a drastic increase in the numbers of these crimes, and the horrifying psychopathic ways they have been committed. When these sectarian government militias started beheading, dragging the bodies with cars alive, cutting the bodies into pieces and hung them on electricity poles in front of their families, and also burning the bodies. Most of these crimes are being committed in small towns and village, specifically in Diyalah governorate close to Iranian boarders. One such a horrifying massacre have taken place about one 10 days ago. In the Turkmen majority town of Amerly where a Saddrest sectarian militia called Hashood al Salam ( Peace Gathering) supported by Qasimi Suleiman’s Iranian fighters beheaded some of the city residents, with no arrest or investigation of the charges, nothing.

We have to understand that major objective of committing these atrocities publically is to force as much residents of these areas to migrate and run away for their lives and children. This way the militias take over their houses and properties.  The Deputy Interior Minister Adnan al Assady, Order No. (11225)  dated in 1/7/2013 which was issued calling for all Civil Status Services directories to issue Iraqi Nationality Identification Cards and passports to 10,000 Iranian citizens in a list starting with the name “Yehia Sadek  Hussein”  and ending with the name “Muntadher Mohammad Ali”. The order demands to issue these citizenship ID’s without submitting any type of papers or proves that they have been living in Iraq or are even of Iraqi origin. Also that they should be registered as citizens of Diyalah and Saladin where the real Iraqi Arabic residents are being massacred by American- Iranian, and Kurdish Peshmerga bombing and shelling and militias attacks.

These crimes are still going on a daily basis, and spreading to other places. I called one of our distant relatives in Yousfiya southern Baghdad yesterday to check on his family. He told me that the government sectarian militias kidnapped 83 males, some of whom are cousins, and young men from al Gartani Arabic Tribe in Yousifya city Southern Baghdad.  They don't know where they are now and expect that they will be killed and dumped, as usual.

Those same militias killed 143 young men a few weeks ago from the Janabat   Arabic Tribe from Jurf al Sakhar, also Southern Baghdad after arresting them or kidnapping them including slaughtering a 10 year old boy two days ago just because he is from Janaby Tribe.

This is ethnic cleansing by Iranian militias to force Arabic Tribes leave these areas. They are burning their houses, asking for huge ransoms from those kidnapped young men’s families to force them sell their houses and properties and leave the area for ever. All of this taking place with the approval of the American Military Advisers who are running the security show of the country. Same thing is going on in Hawijah, Arabs residents areas, Fallujah, Anbar,  Tarmia, Mushahda, Taji, Dhlauayah, Diyalah , all Arab Sunni majority  areas.

This ethnic cleansing have nothing to do with ISIS. It’s been going on for years by now, but with more brutality and freedom in committing these crimes among and in front of all civilians’ and official security eyes.

Souad Al-Azzawi, Associate Professor in Environmental Engineering, Geo environmental consultant.  Former Vice President of Mamoun University for Scientific Affairs,  Former Chairwoman of the Environmental Engineering Dept.of University of Baghdad - Member of the Executive Committee of the BRussells Tribunal.