Is What Happened in Iraq After the Occupation a Common Security Problem?

Abstract

The US carried out the Iraqi occupation quickly, easily and with few casualties. It put an end to the security bureaucracy in the name of building new Iraq after the war. After a short while it faced unexpected resistance in the regions where Sunnite Arabs live. The insurgents could organize quickly because of effective tribal order, power of old security bureaucracy which kept its integrity after the war and refusal of foreign occupation. Insurgents want to control the public in order to get rid of weakness. Therefore, the key point of contention is who will control the public. While insurgents commonly use "terror" and "violence", occupiers try on the one hand to make insurgents ineffective, on the other, to win the "heart and brain" of the public. Security questions may spread to whole country in Iraq where there are ethnic and religious struggles. Iraqi Shiites may be involved in the conflict. Kurdish claims on Kirkuk may bring an ethnic conflict to the agenda. If the US administration can't provide stability in Iraq as soon as possible, Iraq may drift into a civil war.

Keywords

Insurgency, Iraq, Occupation, US, Guerilla

Citation

Özcan, Nihat Ali, "Is What Happened in Iraq After the Occupation a Common Security Problem?", International Relations, Volume 1, Issue 1 (Spring 2004), pp. 93-118.

Affiliations

• Nihat Ali Özcan, Dr., Researcher