US warns Baghdad against suppression of determined Iraqi protesters

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The US Ambassador to Iraq warned Wednesday of indiscriminate killings, kidnappings and protester disappearances at demonstrations, expressing doubt about the level of Iraqi government control of violence as the country remains subsumed in unrest.

After a week of anti-government protests in early October subsided as Iraqis observed the Shiite religious ceremony of Arbaeen , a second, even more fervent wave of protest engulfed Iraq’s south and centre from October 25.

Security forces have responded to protest with the firing of live ammunition rounds and military-grade tear gas canisters, to deadly effect. Over 250 people have been killed since protests began on October 1; 13 people were reported killed on Tuesday alone.

Ambassador to Iraq Matthew H. Tueller was asked to explain US policy with regards to ongoing protests while speaking at a Middle East Research Institute (MERI) panel event in Erbil on Wednesday.

“We have … repeatedly stressed how important it is that in responding to this type of protest that the government respect international norms of human rights,” the ambassador said to an audience of diplomats, aid workers and Iraqi and Kurdish politicians. “In terms of indiscriminate killings, kidnappings, some of the things that deeply, deeply concerned Iraqis themselves in the first wave of protest and even now in the second wave of protest, we see really unacceptable levels of deaths.”

Tueller expressed doubt as to whether or not the Iraqi government is in full charge of the situation.

 “…increasingly, I do sense there are some activities going on that aren’t under full control of the government or anybody else but some protest leaders, figures, activists who are disappearing or are receiving intimidation, extortion.” 

Among the unknown number of missing is Saba al-Mahdawi, a medic and well-known activist who disappeared on her way back from a protest in Baghdad on Saturday night.

With the second wave of anti-government protest showing no sign of abetting, the US embassy in Baghdad on Wednesday urged the Iraqi government in strong terms to engage seriously and urgently with Iraqi citizens demanding reform.

 "We deplore the killing and kidnapping of unarmed protesters, threat to freedom of expression, and the cycle of violence taking place," the embassy said in a statement on its website. “There is no path forward based on suppression of the will of the Iraqi people.”

A UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) report based on 198 interviews held Iraqi security forces responsible for serious human rights abuses during the second wave of the protests.

"The preliminary findings indicate that numerous human rights violations and abuses were committed, including the use of lethal force against demonstrators, the unnecessary, disproportionate and/or improper use of tear gas and stun grenades, continued efforts to limit media coverage of demonstrations, abductions and multiple arrests," the report by UNAMI’s Human Rights Office said on Tuesday.

Seen as a reformer before the protests began, Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi has come under serious criticism for the ruthless manner in which his security forces have handled protest.

The government has taken some half-measures to quell the protests, pledging to end corruption, deliver more job opportunities, and provide welfare support to Iraqi society’s poorest. Abdul-Mahdi announced a new “package” of unspecified reforms on Tuesday, and a measure to hire  academic year 2018-19 graduates of oil training institutes at the Ministry of Oil.

While Kurdish areas in the north of the country have not hit by the protests, the Kurdish parties have convened in Erbil on Tuesday to negotiate a united stance. President Nechirvan Barzani said the Kurds would do everything in their power to play a positive role, but added he believed blaming Prime Minister Abdul- Mahdi for the ills of the country is unfair.

"We have to bear in mind that… the Prime Minister is not responsible for the bad situation gripping the country,” Barzani said during a Tuesday session of the MERI conference.  “Rather, the whole political system of Iraq is responsible, from 2003 to date." 

Protester calls for the improvement of the services and tackling of corruption have morphed into demands for government resignation and an end to foreign influence in the country. They have leveled particular blame at Iran, calling for an end to the country’s influence on Iraqi politics. However, officials in Tehran have said that while the protesters have some legitimate concerns, demand for change could make Iraq fertile ground for US and Israeli interference. 

Iran denied claims Iranian-backed Shia militias or Iranian advisers were behind the killing of protesters. It also denied a visit was made by General Qassim Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) elite Quds Force had been in Baghdad to discuss quelling of the protests, as had been reported by AP and Reuters.

In spite of Iranian denial, the US government claims Tehran has played a role in the suppression of protest, and views unrest in both Iraq and Lebanon as an outcry against Iranian meddling in their affairs.

 President Donald Trump retweeted a video of the burning of the Iranian consulate in the city of Karbala on November 3, while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took to Twitter to blame Iran for the violence that has engulfed both countries.

“The Iraqi and Lebanese people want their countries back. They are discovering that the Iranian regime's top export is corruption, badly disguised as revolution. Iraq and Lebanon deserve to set their own courses free from @khamenei_ir's meddling," Pompeo tweeted in the early hours of Wednesday. morning.

As protesters seek the end of foreign interference in Iraqi affairs, Tueller warned heavy-handed government response could dent international support for Iraq’s continuing post-war reconstruction. 

“…this is the type of thing that particularly for Iraq as it continues now through the 16th year challenge of moving out of a post conflict society into the type of prosperous , stable state that Iraqis themselves want , it is exactly the wrong direction to go,” Ambassador Tueller told the audience in the Kurdish city of Erbil.

“Not only will it lose the critical international support upon which Iraq relies but frankly I think it also threatens the legitimacy and the connection that must exist between the people and the government particularly people that have endured so much…”