Amidst the ongoing tumultuous events in the Middle East, Iraq has recently attracted little coverage within the international news media and, save for some macabre event like a mass casualty suicide bomber attack or the capture and murder of foreign hostages, rarely features on our television screens. Yet, a recent surge in terrorist attacks manifestly suggests that taking Iraq off the radar may turn out to be a reckless and complacent endeavor. The bomb in Baghdad’s Sadr City at the end of June which killed more than 70 people exemplifies the threat. Therefore, a number of key areas must therefore be re-visited and assessed to determine where Iraq’s future lies. The so far intermittent, but increasingly frequent attacks, should serve to provide a stark warning that leaving Iraq’s still nascent security and democratic institutions to fend for themselves in the drawdown of foreign troops could prove to have unexpected consequences.
Dr Ranj Alaaldin is a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Doha. He specialises in intrastate conflict, governance and human security issues in the Middle East.
