How is it that Saddam Hussein managed to stay in power for so long? 25 years in all. What was his secret, in the wake of a history that witnessed a new Iraqi leader every year or two? Iraqi governments have never really managed to go beyond an obsessive focus on maintaining their own power, to the point where any seeming link between the common Iraqi citizen and the government seemed non-existent. Corruption, sectarianism and an ever shifting patronage system seem the hallmark of Iraqi political history, not to mention coups and resignations. How is it that Saddam managed to secure his position for such a substantial period of time?
The answer is simple. No other leader was able to set up such a robust system of patronage and fear. In other words, no leader was as cunning and ruthless as Saddam in securing his position as a dictator. To be sure, he made some mind-bogglingly bad decisions, like invade countries and lose, but he always managed to hold on to power even after such failures, either by buying people off or destroying them altogether. That is of course until 2003.
It depends who you talk to which period was preferable - the brutal dictatorship of Saddam or the chaotic civil war that followed his downfall. But then, it always depends who you talk to in Iraq, given the countries sectarian divides. The Kurdish people obviously weren't fond of Saddam's regime, nor were many Shia Iraqis in the south, particularly those bold enough to question the regime. The average Sunni farmer probably didn't appreciate the crippling sanctions imposed by the United Nations in the attempt to curb Saddam's maniacal leadership, though that was probably preferable to the conditions that existed under sectarian anarchy post 2003. If you were part of Saddam's clan on the other hand, or at least within the circles of his favour, you were probably quite content.
What happened in Mosul at the beginning of June was nothing new for the Iraqi people. But for me it was new. I was 50km away from one of the most savage groups in the world. My first instinct was for the safety of myself and those close to me. Would this group come to Dohuk? Were they here in some capacity already? Would they target westerners? Should I leave now? After a couple of days of such self-absorbed thinking and relentless news watching my thinking began to shift somewhat. If this is how nervous I am, what about those who are actually in the midst of this group, unprotected from the Peshmerga? I was closer than I had ever been to such violence, but I was still a world away in comparison to others. And if this is me after two days, what about those who have had this their whole lives? Who have lost loved ones and don't know anyone who hasn't lost a loved one. How do you live like that? It was all good and well for me, in possession of a passport out of town, but what about those who were dealt such a hand that they must live their whole lives in a war-torn country? In a country in which a group like ISIS runs rampant and practices what seems like one of the purest definitions of evil one can find.
And its everywhere. Obsessive compulsive viewing of the news can only show you that such treatment of human beings is happening on a large scale. How does one actually live in a country like the Democratic Republic of the Congo? I felt like I had more of an idea than I had ever had, but that I still had no idea. The media discuss Iraq like its a big game of risk. Which is all good and well until you remember the suffering and terror involved for actual people. The Kurds are apparently the winners of the new Iraqi war. They claimed Kirkuk with great military success. The Kurds I talked to were scared and sad. They were 50km away from a group of terror. I don't like the word terrorism, but I can't begin to describe the kind of terror that a group like ISIS inflicts on the people around it.
Saddam stayed in power because he was the most successful practitioner of Iraqi politics, which is distinctly sectarian and foreign to ideas of nation state and democracy. Its not the borders drawn up by Sykes and Picot that are a problem, it the very idea of creating nation states in the Middle East in the first place, not that we can do anything about that anymore. The political situation has a long history and its complicated and its important and we can all read about it and understand it better and that's important and we can discuss different groups and who is doing what and why and who is to blame and what the solution might be. We can discuss politics. In our living rooms. 50km away from war even. But the incredible suffering of the individuals involved must never cease in being the most significant reality of the situation. We must always remember that we cower whenever we try to understand what it could be like for one of those people.
On the 19th of July I left Kurdistan, 2 weeks after the start of the conflict.It was the date I had always intended to leave. I said goodbye to the Kurdish and expat friends I had made and got on a bus. It was a strange feeling.
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