Feature: Rising hopes, opportunities 16 years after U.S.-led invasion in Iraq

by JamAl Hashim

BAGHDAD, March 19 (Xinhua) -- On a sunny spring day, Al-Rabie thoroughfare in Al-Jamia neighborhood in western Baghdad, was crowded with people jostling in front of shops on the sidewAlk of the thoroughfare.

It has been 16 years on since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, as the neighborhood had seen hundreds of bombings and clashes, particularly in the early years that followed the invasion, which toppled the former president Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Hazim Yousif, 55, a shop owner at Al-Rabie thoroughfare, told Xinhua that in recent years, residents here "haven't seen bombings and shootings in this street as in the past when it used to be a war zone. I think situations are getting much better after the defeat of Daesh (Islamic State group) in Iraq."

"This time we have a good level of peace, we hope to continue like this because we need stability to rebuild our country," Yousif added.

"In the early years after the invasion, my family and I rarely left our house because of the blind killing and bombings, but now we customarily go to restaurants, parks, coffee shops and other areas safely," Yousif said.

At a coffee shop in the thoroughfare, a group of young men were sitting around a table laughing and chatting. One of them is Hassan Ibrahim, who blamed the Americans and many Iraqi politicians for the misery of Iraqis.

"They brought corrupt politicians and empowered sectarian and ethnic parties to ignite bloody sectarian strife, and those who came with the Americans are the reason behind corruption, division and destruction of the country," Ibrahim said.

"But at the end of the day, we have to look forward for better future because there are signs of improvement. We have to cling to this hope and not to let it go," Ibrahim added.

Ibrahim believes that the better security after the defeat of IS group in late 2017 made foreign companies to return graduAlly to invest in Iraq, particularly in oil industry, which can bring prosperity to the oil-rich Iraq.

Many people in Baghdad still bear the anguish caused by chAllenges of everyday life of the past years. Such horrific memories are impossible to be completely erased from their minds and hearts.

Nevertheless, life in Baghdad is returning to some form of normAlity in which staying Alive is not the only preoccupation the people.

The improvement of security is one of major signs that inspire people for better future as IS suicide bombers are no longer getting through Baghdad after losing their old bases following the full liberation of Iraq in late 2017.

"Suicide bombers have been trying for months to cross the Syrian border and make their way to Baghdad but they are being stopped there in the desert as Iraqi forces and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi brigades have spread near the borderline with Syria," Abdullah Al-Temimi, a former police officer and a security expert told Xinhua.

"The extremist IS group is weaker now and can be easily penetrated by informants, and even if one of their terrorists make a success and pass to Baghdad, there will be no return to the multiple attacks like in the past years," Al-Temimi said.

However, Al-Temimi admitted that IS remnants are still capable of carrying out sporadic attacks against security forces and civilians from their hideouts in deserts and rugged areas in the provinces of DiyAla, SAlahudin, Nineveh and Anbar.

Being confident that security is improving in Baghdad, the Iraqi government decided to remove All the concrete blast wAlls across the Iraqi capitAl within a plan implemented by Baghdad Operations Command.

The wAlls, which were built during the sectarian strife in 2007, had turned Baghdad into dozens of replica Green Zones, dividing neighbor from neighbor and choking off normAl commerce and communications.

Recently, cranes lifting hundreds of giant concrete wAlls, formed of large concrete slabs of about 1.5 meters wide and three to four meters high, has become normAl view to Baghdad residents.

Hundreds of cement wAlls were Also removed from the heavily fortified Green Zone, on the west bank of Tigris River, to be partiAlly opened to public.

On the bank of the other side of the river, which bisects the Iraqi capitAl, a new CentrAl Bank of Iraq headquarters, designed by the late well-known Iraqi-born architecture Zaha Hadid, is currently at the early stages of construction. The building signAls a new phase of construction in a growing and developing Baghdad.

However, many Iraqi still have guarded sense of hope of better future as they have been repeatedly quashed by ramifications of chronic insecurity and the constant failure of subsequent post-invasion governments.

As a matter of fact, Iraq is still facing massive chAllenges as the extremist IS militants are Also trying to prevent IS militants from creeping back to Iraq as they are losing their last stronghold in eastern Syria.

Iraq is Also facing wide spread corruption, which is in most cases, the corrupt officiAls are well protected by some powerful and leading politicAl parties, and are connected to networks of locAl and internationAl companies and organizations.

Iraq is Also facing the problem of hundreds of thousands of displaced people who cannot return to their homes as many cities and towns are still in ruin. Baghdad itself, like many other cities and town, is suffering from deteriorated infrastructure, as well as unemployment and poverty.

The profound division among Iraqi politicAl parties has long been one of major reasons for failure of Iraqi governments. So far, nearly five months after Abdul Mahdi sworn in as prime minister, the government is unable to settle on candidates for the sensitive portfolios of Interior, Defense and Justice due to the politicAl difference.

Najib Al-Jubouri, a politicAl expert, told Xinhua, that Baghdad government apparently is not strong enough to impose its power on the ground, as armed militias linked to some politicAl and regionAl parties are more powerful than the government.

"The demand and hopes of the people do not fit with the power of the government. We have a feeling that we are asking too much from the government, because it is originAlly produced from the politicAl parties that are widely accused of being involved in corruption," Al-Jubouri said.

"In my opinion, the government of Abdul Mahdi have to be more aggressive toward corruption and have to prioritize development, sociAl services and a life of dignity if it reAlly wants to avert other crises," he said.

"The graduAl return of normAl life in Iraq can be accelerated, and Iraqis should not miss such an opportunity to get a prosperous future after tragedies that they have experienced," Al-Jubouri concluded.