Why Is Terrorism Growing in Iraq?
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Terrorist operations are often launched after the Iraqi political groups achieve positive results or make agreements, which means the terrorists and their masters are unhappy with the success of the Iraqi democracy, a member of Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq said Tuesday.
“All these acts (of terrorism) are arranged to destroy the Iraqi government and the new system in that country -- which are based on elections and a democratic process -- and to put the country on a slippery slope to a Saddam-like era,” Majed Ghamas told the Tasnim News Agency.
According to him, some circles in the region are deeply concerned that democracy is taking root in Iraq and hate to see the Shiite majority come to power in the country.
“The democratic process in Iraq is not to the liking of many countries, both in the region and beyond,” added Ghamas.
He blamed the Takfiri groups for the rising levels of instability and unrest in Iraq. “Unfortunately, the Arab society nurtures such trends which have made every effort to clandestinely stir public opinion against the nascent governments in countries such as Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and even Syria so as to impede a democratic system to take hold in the region," he observed.
Violence has spiked in Iraq since April, with the pace of killing reaching levels unseen since 2008. UN figures released last week showed that at least 979 people, mostly civilians, were killed in October alone.
Shiites who account for more than 65 percent of Iraq's population have come to political prominence only after the fall of Saddam, Iraq's ruthless dictator, in 2003. They were excluded from political power ever since the country gained its independence in 1932, but now they share political power with Sunnis and Kurds -- the latter have formed a semi-autonomous enclave of Kurdistan in the north of the country.
The Iraqi government asserts that violence is controlled from abroad and that some Arab countries are fomenting the unrest through arming and funding terrorist groups.
The ongoing civil war in Syria, with which Iraq shares a 600-km porous border, has exacerbated the security situation in Iraq.
