Days after the US forces with the support of the United Kingdom invaded and captured Baghdad, Tony Blair appeared on Iraqi television to reassure citizens and offer them hope.
Then British Prime Minister Tony Blair said: “My experience of people the world over is that we all want to be able to live our lives in peace and security. For years, that chance has been denied to you [Iraqi people]. Millions of your countrymen and women have been forced to leave. Many thousands have been murdered, tortured, brutalized by the regime”.
“We want to give you the chance to rebuild your country; to rebuild your lives; to give your families a chance of a better future. It is in the spirit of friendship and goodwill that we not offer our help”.
But after two decades of America’s invasion of Iraq, some Iraqis and refugee organizations feel that the promise that British government made to the people has been either forgotten or abandoned. Since America’s invasion hundreds and thousands of Iraqis fled sectarian violence and persecution in the intervening years. A large number of Iraqi citizens have sought refuge in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, only few have been able to begin a new life, despite Tony Blair’s promise.
According to Emad Ebadi, director of Iraqi Welfare Association, a charity established in 1991 to support Iraqis integrating in the UK, once Iraqis arrive in the United Kingdom, they face a whole new set of challenges and adversities. Emad Ebadi himself came to the US as a student in 1977. He never intended to stay, but was compelled to stay in UK as the war broke out between Iraq and Iran in 1980.
Emad Ebadi said, “I wanted to go back but my family said: If you return, you will be killed. Many of my peers died during those years”.
Ebadi has been witness to a successive wave of migration to the United Kingdom in 1990 and 1991 during the First Gulf War and Shia and Kurdish uprising against Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein. But it was the US-led invasion in 2003 that was the turning point.
“Iraq was a rich country; people had no reason to leave before the [2003] invasion. But the war left a terrible legacy, it has really destroyed the infrastructure of the country. This in turn, has affected the well-being and the mental health of the population.
“Every time I visit, I’m reminded how beautiful the country is, but people don’t have hope. There is a high rate of unemployment and corruption. My two daughters spent five years at university studying dentistry and now that they’ve graduated – one a year ago and the other six months ago – they can’t find work” Ebadi said.
Meaning, the US invasion of Iraq has turned a wealthy, peaceful and beautiful country into mere ashes, thus pushing lives of innocent people towards mere nightmare.
Since America’s invasion, more than 51,661 Iraqi nationals have applied for asylum in the United Kingdom. In 2022, more than six thousand Iraqis arrived Britain by crossing the Channel on small inflatable boats – taking risk of their lives. Unfortunate fact is – the majority of Iraqi asylum claims since 2003 have been regularly refused by the UK authorities. Only a fifth (11,647) have been either granted some form of leave to remain in Britain and just tenth (6,097) have been granted refugee status.
According to journalist Savan Qadir, UK Home Office’s high-rate of asylum claim refusals was based on a delusional belied that Iraq is a safe country.
He said, “In [the government’s] definition, Iraq is safe now just because Saddam Hussein is gone, but there are powerful people just like him. The economy is totally damaged… If you’re living in a country [where] you cannot feed yourself or your children, then you’re not safe.
“It breaks my heart that the UK is washing its hands of its responsibility to Iraq. Britain has always been like that, look at the history of slavery and colonization. They ruled the world. They divided countries and changed their culture. And now, we can’t even talk about it…. There’s no responsibility. There’s no accountability for what they’ve done in history. And recent history in 2003, included”.
While Iraqi asylum seekers are facing extreme adversities in the United Kingdom and several Western nations, according to experts, situation in Iraq should have reached to normalcy and the country would once again march towards progress and prosperity, if it was not slipped into the grips of Shia rulers, who are engaged into rampant loot of Iraq’s wealth and massive corruption.
Analysts said, Iraq is a resourceful country and it was not hijacked by Shia rulers, it would emerge into one of the most prospective countries in the Middle East.
If the Western nations and leader of the GCC countries are sincere about seeing normalcy returned in Iraq and the country moves towards progress, peace and prosperity, it is essential for exerting pressure on the Shia regime and salvage Iraq from the evil clutches of these notorious elements. An Iraq ruled by leadership belonging to its majority of the population is the only solution to the existing crisis.
