Iraqis watch Egyptian protests with sense of irony

Demonstrations come as Iraqi prime minister grapples with complaints that he has failed to provide basic services and security.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Iraqis watch Egyptain riots 311 (photo credit: AP)
Iraqis watch Egyptain riots 311
(photo credit: AP)
BAGHDAD — Iraqis who have long suffered from high unemployment, poverty and endemic corruption, the catalysts of unrest spreading in the Arab world, called on their own government to take notice.
Many watched footage of riots and looting on the streets of Egypt, the region's traditional powerhouse, with a sense of irony, as such scenes brought back memories of similar mayhem in Iraq years ago.
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The demonstrations come as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki grapples with complaints that he has failed to provide basic services and security as he begins a new four-year term with a fragile coalition.
"I wish similar demonstrations would take place in Iraq against the government," said Najat Shaiyal, the 31-year-old owner of a tea stand in central Baghdad.
"Besides being sectarian and biased, the government does not provide jobs or services. We are still suffering from a lack of electricity," he said, smoking a cigarette as he served customers in the mainly Shiite neighborhood of Karradah.
Analysts and many Iraqis said people in the war-weary country were not likely to take to the streets en masse.
Click here for full Jpost coverage of unrest in Egypt
Click here for full Jpost coverage of unrest in Egypt
But Shiite hard-liner Hakim al-Zamili warned that the events unfolding in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and even Jordan show that all rulers must eventually answer to their people, and that the lack of jobs and services could prove the tipping point.
"Everything has an expiration date and the Arab regimes that neglected their people for decades have reached theirs," he said. "These outdated regimes have offered nothing to their people."
He urged restraint region-wide, noting the damage done by widespread looting and chaos after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
"The region is moving toward chaos, not stability," he said. "Surely, what is happening in the Arab countries will expand to include Iraq if the Iraqi government fails to fulfill its promises and pledges given before the elections."
Many Iraqis from Baghdad to the semiautonomous northern Kurdish region said they were inspired by the uprisings and prepared to join protests at home.
"I wish the young people here would stage demonstrations and make an uprising — something that I would like to call the jobless revolution," said Hazim Kadhim, a 27-year-old arts graduate who has been unemployed for four years.
Jameel Ahmed, a 40-year-old government employee in the former Sunni insurgent stronghold of Azamiyah, however, pointed out that Iraqis had been isolated for nearly three decades under Saddam's iron-fisted rule and had not risen up. Widespread protests against a lack of electricity last summer also failed to take root.
"The Iraqis do not have the culture of change that other nations have," he said. "Besides that, Iraqis have been through a lot of disasters and they won't risk having more disasters by asking for change."
Al-Maliki has come under widespread criticism for the state of the country nearly eight years after Saddam's ouster, and Iraqis remain bitter over months of political deadlock that followed an inconclusive March 7 election.
The prime minister seated a Cabinet on Dec. 21 but has yet to fill key security posts, including the defense, interior and national security ministries. Anger rose after a wave of bombings over the past two weeks that killed more than 200 people.
In his first public comments on the situation, al-Maliki said the Egyptian government and other regimes need to give people space to express their views instead of punishing them.
"The best way to do that is the return to democracy and real and honest elections and transparency," he said in an excerpt of an interview with Iraqi state TV to be broadcast in full later Sunday.