Ready To Give Up On Iraq

The middle class is losing heart amid a political deadlock that threatens a return to uncertainty, fear and sectarian violence.

Borzou Daragahi, The Los Angeles Times | Full Story | BAGHDAD—When American tanks tore through her neighborhood, ripping up the roads as they uprooted a nation, she stayed put, refusing to move abroad like many of her wealthy friends.

When the black-clad gunmen took over her religiously mixed west Baghdad neighborhood, turning it into a killing field, she wouldn’t let them drive her out of the country she loved. Advertisement

And even when they killed her husband, gunning him down as he left work, she fought through her grief, staying in Iraq and hoping for better times.

But as a postelection political deadlock threatens to pull Iraq back into violence and uncertainty, Ibtisam Hamoody has had it. Within months, the 56-year-old former engineer and women’s rights activist plans to take her savings, her family heirlooms and the youngest of her three daughters and settle in Jordan or Syria.

"I know what’s going on. It’s not possible for there to be a good outcome," she said. "This time, I know it’s going to be worse than before."

Over the last 30 months of relative security and economic progress, Iraq’s middle class and intelligentsia had emerged from the shadows of war and exile, strutting around town without head scarves or cruising through gleaming new shopping districts.

But now, as they watch the camp of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, whose allies control the nation’s security apparatus, jostle with that of Iyad Allawi, backed by some of the same Sunni Arabs who support the insurgency, they are preparing to dash back into hiding.

Already, the crisis has changed the character of a country that was bristling with hope just a few months ago, not least, Iraqis say, because the imminent drawdown of U.S. troops might create a vacuum that will leave the political drama festering for years.

Years of immense suffering have also conditioned Iraqis to brace for the worst, if only to protect themselves from disappointment. >>

Published 10.05.21 12:05:38 -0500 GMT | Posted by Andrew Garib on 10.05.21 | |