Iraq lacks ‘national leadership, a clear vision and hope,’ says Iraqi businessman

Hassan Hadad: A lot of us have said that targeting diplomatic missions is incorrect. We said this when the Iranian consulate was targeted last month in Karbala, and we said the same thing when the Iranian consulate in Najaf [was] targeted. So, that’s just wrong. I mean, you can’t go after somebody’s diplomatic mission, whether it’s an embassy or consulate. Those are off limits. And so the biggest losers in yesterday’s attack against the US Embassy will be the Iraqi people and the Iraqi government, because it is the responsibility of the Iraqi government to protect these sites.

Earlier this month, the US administration did say that if any American is targeted and killed, that they would respond. This, of course, was a dream come true for the extremists within the Iranian government. You know, they are not monolithic either, because you’ve got the more moderate side and then you’ve got the more extremist side. You know, the Revolutionary Guard Corps. So, those guys are itching for a fight with the Americans. And so when they gave that ultimatum or that threat, “If you kill any American, we’ll come after you,” the Iranian aligned militias took the bait and they targeted K1 in Kirkuk. Previously, they had tried to target the Americans here in Baghdad, near the airport. So they’ve been trying time after time to get Americans. They unfortunately did get their target in Kirkuk, which led to the American strikes against KH [Kataib Hezbollah].

That is an escalation of the so-far Cold War between the Americans and the Iranians. And it’s not a good escalation because Iraq is caught in the middle. And we see that with that strike. It was Iraqis on Iraqi soil [who] were targeted. If things continue to escalate, it will be the average Iraqi that bears the brunt. And that is not something that we Iraqis want after several years of wars and sanctions and terrorism and most recently the war against ISIS, we started to breathe a little bit better and to live with a sense of normalcy that’s coming undone now with these escalations between the Americans and the Iranians. So, you know, everybody in the government, most people on the street have said, “If you can just take this fight away from our neighborhood and just do it somewhere else, if you need to fight, don’t do it here, because we know what the repercussions will be.”

I think this is a very serious moment. It’s not an ultimatum where the Iraqi government has to decide if it’s going to continue having relations with the United States or with Iran. Iran is going to be our neighbor. It’s not like we can up and move and go somewhere else. So we need to have friendly relations with all six countries that surround Iraq; Iran being one of them. At the same time, we don’t need to say “no” to the United States. We do have joint interests in terms of trade, economics and things like that. And we can have a balanced relationship between both. It’s not either or and it’s not zero-sum.

I’m supportive of Iraq becoming a democratic country that has its sovereignty respected and can stand on its own two feet if that is done by aligning ourselves with the United States or if that is done by aligning with Iran — I think the ends justify the means. However, having been in this country for several years, I can tell you that we cannot stand on our own two feet without having friendly and balanced relations with all, including the United States.

I think we’re two generations away from that. And I am an optimist. But I think in order to get to that point, there is a lot of serious hard work that needs to be done. And these sorts of geopolitical games that lead to Iraqi lives being lost is a waste of time and our blood and so, if we’re serious about standing on our own two feet, we need to, you know, just put our heads down, get to work. That way, our children’s children can have a better future than we do.

The protests started three months ago on Oct. 1, and it’s been a mix of demands that people have been seeking. One of them being combating corruption because corruption is so rife in this country. And so people are tired of that. They just want to have good health care, a good education system and to have a job that, you know, they can look forward to.

The protests?

Of course. These are Iraqi youth who want a better future. At the core of what they’re saying is, if you were to go out and ask 10 protesters what they’re looking for, you’re going to get 10 different answers. What it all boils down to is they want somebody who’s a national leader, who’s got a clear vision for the country, which will inspire hope. We’re missing those three things: National leadership, a clear vision — and hope.

I mean, on a practical level, there are streets that are closed. There are days where kids can’t go to school, teachers can’t make it to class — things like that. So, practically speaking, life has been disturbed since Oct. 1. It is hoped that all of this disturbance and sometimes nuisances are for the greater good, which is a better future than we’ve had. So people, if they think big picture, they’re not too disturbed by it. But on the day-to-day, it’s quite difficult on the day-to-day level to do a simple task like go shopping or get to work.

Yes. I don’t have any tickets booked to go back home yet. This is home.