Imagine You were an Iraqi!

02 January 2017

By Tariq Alhomayed

Imagine you were a Sunni Iraqi citizen who believes in his nationality and dreams of a time better than that of the dictator, Saddam Hussein.

Picture yourself a moderate Shiite who doesn't see Iraq as an Iranian district, but rather a unified country that respects individual's dignity regardless of his sect or religion.

Envision you were a patriotic Kurd who dreams of a diverse Iraq, or a Christian who views Iraq as his home land.

Now imagine you were all of that and you had to witness the Iraqi Prime Minister proudly say that he was notified by the Europeans not to care about human rights in the offensive to retake Mosul from ISIS.

So, picture this: you are an Iraqi and you hear Haidar al-Abadi saying that Patrick Simonnet EU Ambassador to Iraq had informed him not to consider Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch's reports about Iraqi forces and Popular Mobilization militias' violations against human rights.

Abadi said, live on TV, that the EU Ambassador told him not to care about those reports because they have their own reasons.

How would you, as a patriotic Iraqi, react to such news, irrespective of your religion or sect? You – who dreams of a country with no dictatorship, or violence or suppression or extremism.

You will surely feel that Iraq is now full of barbarism, starting with the dictator Saddam, then the terrorist Zarqawi, to Nouri al-Maliki and his extreme opinions, passing with the terrorist Abo Baqer al-Baghdadi and now the bragging Haidar al-Abadi who doesn't care about human rights and has historical immunity given by EU Ambassador, according to what he said.

Abadi's statements, which take no regard of human rights, mean thT we have reached an immoral yet internationally legalized stage granted by the prestigious countries that sponsor human rights.

EU Ambassador to Iraq supports and accepts that human and civil rights are violated in the country that is supposed to be democratic, fighting terrorism, and backed by European tax payers. I can't find a greater travesty than this!

As long as there hasn't been a clear definitive refutation issued from the EU and its representative in Iraq to what Abadi said, which could be taken out of context or – the representative's first statement, then we are faced by an EU suspicious political and dangerous hypocrisy towards human rights in Iraq.

This raises doubts concerning EU's statements in Syria too, especially with Assad's and his Iranian allies' crimes.

It is also suspicious regarding EU's positions of human rights in the region, as it is clear now that they are lenient when it comes to Iraq, while stricter in other areas of our region.

This indicates that we are met by eclectic positions and not moral, ethical and legal ones.

Therefore, either a decisive European rejection is issued, or an adequate explanation. Otherwise, we are faced by a moral political catastrophe and we are in real trouble.

The statement of the EU which Abadi spoke of, suggests that Iraq's democracy is just a lie, and also signifies that we will have more violence, terrorism and extremism in Iraq, Syria and other countries.

Tariq Alhomayed is the former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat. Mr. Alhomyed has been a guest analyst and commentator on numerous news and current affair programs, and during his distinguished career has held numerous positions at Asharq Al-Awsat, amongst other newspapers. Notably, he was the first journalist to interview Osama Bin Ladin's mother. Mr. Alhomayed holds a bachelor's degree in media studies from King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah. He is based in London. 

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