Many Arabs saw Saddam Hussein as a strongman who stood up to the West, but most Iraqis despised his brutal authoritarianism. Twenty years after the 2003 United States-led invasion of Iraq which, in former US President George W Bush’s words, aimed to “free Iraqi people” of their ruler’s oppression, Saddam’s memory remains divisive and polarising. Arab ‘strongman’ and Gulf wars …
Initial results amid record low turnout suggest that the grievances that drove people to the streets in 2019 are unlikely to be addressed. Shia Muslim religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr’s party is set to be the biggest winner in Iraq’s parliamentary election, increasing the number of seats he holds, according to initial results, officials and a spokesperson for the Sadrist Movement. …
