Iraqi Perspectives on Post-invasion Iraq: A study of Iraqi Views on the State of Human Rights, Security, Economy, Democracy and Sovereignty: 2003-2009

The aim of this study is to make an overall assessment of US policies in Iraq from the Iraqi perspective, taking the year 2003 as the launching point. That year witnessed the beginning of a chain of major events in the country’s history; the first was the decision by the US to wage war on Iraq on the 19th March, 2003, while the second was the collapse of Saddam’s regime on the 9th April, 2003. Concurrently, the country came under US and UK occupation according to UN Resolution 1483. This thesis seeks to explore the different views expressed by Iraqis regarding US policies towards Iraq subsequent to 2003, and to offer an analytical argument on the matter. Five major issues are examined closely, including: human rights, security, sovereignty, democracy and the economy; we believe problems surrounding these issues in the post-war period have had an adverse effect on the well-being of Iraqi society, thus they provide the central argument of this thesis. The primary source for the study is data collected from the Iraqi elite and the general public. The three areas in which the fieldwork for the study was carried out were Baghdad Fallujah and Unbar. Two main techniques have been applied in order to achieve the objective of this study. The results of the research suggest that Iraqis are of the view that economic factors are primarily the motive behind the invasion of Iraq given the natural abundance of oil resources in the nation. Iraqis are also of the opinion that, contrary to US claims of protecting human rights and democracy in Iraq, their hidden agenda was the security of the United States and Israel in the region.