montrealiraqi.com

Call to the US President for a Reformist Policy for Iraq

Many Iraqis expressed their gratitude in April 2003 to the American soldiers who liberated their country from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, some gave their lives in order to bring a pluralistic electoral democracy and to secure stability and prosperity, but people's gratitude cannot make up for policy errors.
The political reality in Iraq since 2003 was that the US and the Islamic Republic of Iran were in tacit agreement over events to secure their interests, the event which demonstrates that best is the bombing of Al Askari shrine in Samarra on 22 February 2006, recognized by credible political and media research organizations as the pivotal starting point for unprecedented wide sectarian violence in Iraq.
Al Askari shrine is located in the crowded city center of Samarra with people in the vicinity all day and night. The Iraqi government's theatrical search for culprits was foggy and excluded eyewitnesses who saw the assailants in Iraqi military uniforms at the time of bombing and heard them speak. The assailants went on carefully planting explosives without a shot being fired or guards raising the alarm or calling for reinforcement.
The official government of Iraq version was that Sunni extremists were responsible for the bombing of this important shrine. No Sunni organization claimed responsibility. A Sunni militia leader was caught, his confession for responsibility was published on government-friendly media, then soon after he died in prison under mysterious circumstances.
Iraqi media were intimidated by local militia and stayed away, the only brave Iraqi reporter who interviewed eyewitnesses and attempted to report their testimony was brutally murdered with her team in broad daylight within sight of the shrine.
US news agencies were also intimidated by the militias. As evidence of complicity, the media were asked by a US government agency to refrain from publishing contrary testimony which they had. They complied and did not publish any contrary account.
The president of the United States at the time, George W. Bush, publicly supported the Iraqi government version and stated that the culprits were "Al Qaeda terrorists and Sunni insurgents", thus the US actively impeded the media from performing their duty in publishing the truth and knowingly adopted the official catastrophic untrue version. Some believe that the short term motive was to protect deployed US soldiers.
Many Iraqis, including eye witnesses and on-duty soldiers, believe that the explosions of Al Askari shrine were an inside job, therefore US support for the untrue version caused, in their judgement, the needless killings of thousands of innocent Iraqis and was a significant factor in increasing polarization of sectarian attitudes, rendering democratic institutions ineffective.
Recent events, including the popular uprising of October 2019, questioned the legitimacy of the state elections and indicated that the US maybe re-assessing its tacit agreement with the Islamic Republic. However, damage to the Iraqi state and people is so extensive that a reformist policy must start from zero: Therefore we call on the United States president to adopt a clear reformist policy for Iraq that:
1- US full disclosure of its role in cover up of sources of violence since 2003, including the Samarra bombing, and to compensate the families of the victims through UN institutions.
2- Adopts a policy for UN run plebiscite and census to determine the future of Iraq, followed by UN run elections.

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Call to the US President for a Reformist Policy for Iraq