On September 26, as the plane dipped towards the landing strip in Baghdad International Airport, I looked out over the expanse below me. My first living memory of the city back in 2003 was not a fond one. I still vividly remember a muezzin weeping out the words of the azaan, as the US coalition rained bombs all around. This was my first actual visit to the city for the Al-Rafidain Center For Dialogue Conference 2022. The year’s theme was ‘The World is Changing’.
Ironically, it seemed nothing had changed for Iraq, unless one counts the country’s rapid deterioration on multiple fronts. It would not be wrong to say that the people of Iraq have never recovered from the ‘illusory’ US hunt for WMDs and have instead been at the receiving end of one setback after another — ISIS, proxy wars and domestic corruption to name a few.
During my trip, I came to three conclusions.
My first takeaway is that chaos is good for business and is used as a tool for justifying the need for greater defence spending. This of course in turn aids internal actors who profit from war since commercial interests operating without a moral dimension are the alpha and omega of arms production and trade. It is common knowledge that each year, corporations and governments make billions from international arms trade. The contemporary world, it seems, operates on propaganda, optical illusions, deceit and lies.
My second takeaway is that in the grand scheme of things, it does not matter, if several dozen young women burn themselves to death. For women, conflict is multifaceted. It means separation, loss of family, physical and economic insecurity, an increased risk of sexual violence, wounding, detention, deprivation and of course the ever imminent — death. After interacting with Assyrian Christians who had fled from Mosul when ISIS took over, I am now of the firm belief that without a doubt, women and children will always be the ones who will have to shoulder the responsibility of getting out of war zones and who more often than the men, keep families and communities together. Given the chance it is they who will have to rebuild lives in order to restart again.
My third takeaway is that integration is a myth. It is a mirage which everyone likes to talk about endlessly, but one no one is willing to implement. For instance, with reference to the Middle East, this part of the world is replete with oil and other natural resources and is a region of geostrategic importance to many actors, but intraregional trade in the Middle East is among the lowest in the world. This limited integration has stifled the region’s significant potential for economic growth and as a result opportunities for the burgeoning youth base.
For years, international relations theory has provided rationales for optimism. For instance, the liberalists argue for the plausibility of cooperation in a war-torn world. However, suffice to say that the post-cold war order is no more. Unipolarity has transformed into multipolarity with many regional powers emerging on the political canvas. Despite sharpening geopolitical tensions, there is a concurrent complex interdependence amidst which isolation is not an option.
In fact, the connection between economics and security will determine the future which in essence means that the power of deficits, debt and economic trends will help shape the security architecture. In such an environment, permitting and tolerating situations where existing laws are not enforced, leaving victims unprotected, sends out a negative message to the general populace that the new order is either unwilling or unable to enforce its purported laws and values. That is the moment when they decide to take things in their hands and destruction ensues.
Henceforth, in an unpredictable arena, while one cannot construct equality one can (and must) create fairness.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 12th, 2022.
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