The Erickson Report, Page 8: Iraq

The Erickson Report, Page 8: Iraq

In early October, protests erupted in Iraq, including in Baghdad and several Shiite provinces in the south over unemployment, government corruption, and the lack of basic services such as electricity and clean water.

The initial six-day wave of protests was met with brutal repression that left at least 157 dead, most of them protesters shot dead by security forces in Baghdad.

After a lull, protests resumed on October 24 with even greater energy. Again, they have been met with lethal violence. The deaths have doubled to over 300; the number of injured has neared 15,000.

On October 31, in the face of protesters' demands for new elections, Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi agreed to resign - but only on the condition that a successor is agreed to replace him. There still hasn't been; instead, at the end of the first week of November, competing political blocs rallied around him, as populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who initially sided with the protesters, has turned to supporting Mahdi.

The result has been an agreement to end the protests by "any means necessary," according to a high government official quoted by AFP, leading to a brutal crackdown beginning on November 9 as security forces cleared protest sites in Baghdad, Basra, and Karbala using live ammunition, tear gas - including firing tear gas canisters directly at protesters and encampment tents - and sound bombs, aka stun grenades. Among those targeted: medics volunteering to help with the wounded.

Officials are now promising to move on a series of reforms, including hiring drives, welfare plans, a revamp of the electoral law, and constitutional amendments, but it remains to be seen if they have crushed the protests and, perhaps more importantly, if these new promises prove to be any less empty than the string of promises which preceded them.

Oil-rich Iraq is OPEC's second biggest producer, but according to the World Bank, 20% of its people live in poverty and youth unemployment is 25 percent. It is ranked the 12th most corrupt country in the world, according to Transparency International.