U.N. has no right to meddle in anti-government protests in Iraq

U.N. has no right to meddle in anti-government protests in Iraq By Fatih Abdulsalam uruknet.info

February 10, 2013 When did the U.N. interfere in the protests and uprisings of Arab countries as part of the events known as 'Arab Spring’ with international authorization? When did the U.N. assume the role of a mediator to settle issues dividing Arab nations and their governments? But it seems Iraq, and specifically Baghdad, are a different case. Thus, Iraq is the only Arab country where the U.N. envoy meddles in its anti-government protests without permission from the international community. But it is Iraq where the U.N. is known to have played the role of the false witness, a role it carried for 10 years – the time the country was under U.S. military occupation following an illegal invasion. This invasion and subsequent occupation, which took place without U.N. authorization, have led to imbalances in the Iraqi society which are reflecting negatively on the country’s stability and peace. Iraqis had hoped that the U.N. would prevent the illegal invasion of their country and work hard not to let them spend so many years under unjustified occupation. But even when the occupation ended, distress and pain continued. Instead of the U.S. occupiers’ hard hand and coercive force, Iraqis were passed to another rule no less coercive. The Iraqi governments that followed the occupation turned Iraqi citizens’ life into hell, sending tens of thousands of suspects without trial to jail not because they had committed a crime but on whims and on grounds of sectarian divisions, the legacy the U.S. left behind. What role does the U.N. envoy envisage to play? Who gave the U.N. the authority to meddle in Iraqi internal affairs? Iraqis want to be delivered from sectarianism, detention centers, jails, arbitrary arrest and laws tainted with discrimination. The U.N. is aware of how difficult conditions have become but is it really serious to deliver the country from its predicament after more than a decade of silence on the atrocities of the occupation. The U.N. has been idle for so many years and the protestors are right to see its current meddling in Iraq affairs as unfair and biased. Instead of calling for an independent investigation of violations against Iraqi prisoners, the U.N. envoy adopts government logic, which many Iraqis see as the reason for their suffering. Azzaman