AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF WAR, WHAT DO IRAQIS THINK?

San Diego’s East County is home to the largest population of Iraq War refugees in the U.S. and the second largest Iraqi immigrant population the nation. In a special assignment for East County Magazine, Nabil Taha interviewed local Iraqis and also translated Iraqi TV reports to learn Iraqis’ views on withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

By Nabil Taha

Many Iraqis have come to the United States of America as result of the war in their homeland. While every war has its own circumstances, the one thing all wars have in common is that someday they will end.
 

At the end of 2011, when U.S. troops are withdrawn, the war in Iraq will become history. After eight years of war, was the mission accomplished? Many Iraqis think that it was, many others think not.

The U.S. insists that Iraqi security forces are continually improving. In a statement, U.S. embassy spokesman David Ranz in Baghdad said, "Iraqis’ ability to chart their own future is a direct rebuke to those who would rule by fear, intimidation and violence. The United States will stand with the Iraqi people as they continue to demonstrate courage and resolve in the face of brutal attacks and tragic losses."

That is little comfort to many locals. "The Iraqi people are eager to have a sovereign country, but at the same time they do not want the Americans' departure to lead to the spilling of Iraqi blood. No one here wants to see the return of sectarians violence,” Baghdad trash collector Ali Nasar, 26, asid on an Iraqi news channel.
 

Nasar has a unique perspective on a view held by many Iraqis. "When the occupation forces came to Iraq, it was good they got rid of Saddam [Hussein], but in fact everything got worse: security, electricity, water and garbage — which is good for me. But when they leave, nothing will be improved or return to the way it was," he reflects. "No matter if the Americans are here or not, Iraq is a ruined country."

But what do the Iraqis who live in the United States say?

Ammar Alhafidh, an Iraqi refugee in El Cajon, believes that Iraq will never go back as it was because of the Iranian interference. A Sunni Muslim, he adds, “I am really worried about my country after U.S. troops withdrawal from Iraq, simply Iraq will be an Iranian city and Iraqi Sunnis will suffer a lot and will have to leave Iraq because of the sectarian Iraqi government supported by Iranians.”

An Iraqi woman living in the city of El Cajon thinks that the situation will be seriously bad after the US withdrawal. “I am really worried that the women will have no rights after the U.S. withdrawal because of the militia’s control of the new government and its administrations,” says the woman, a Chaldean Christian who asked that her name not be published. “The woman is barely getting her chance, that is now,” she concludes. “So what will happen after the withdrawal?”
 

Nabil Taha is an Iraqi immigrant and translator living in San Diego. He served as a translator with the U.S. Army and as a cultural advisor for two U.S. Army commanders from 2008 to 2010.