Last Wednesday was marked in Iraq as the completion of US-led invasion that was aimed to bring stability, peace and progress in the country but a day before this, media witnessed the deadliest day in the last six months. On Tuesday, 52 people were killed and more than 150 injured in bombings and multiple shootings in different parts of the country. A week before the anniversary, violence hit the country in its worst forms and left 110 people dead in the week.

US lead the international forces when Iraq was invaded a decade ago under the pretext of recovering and destroying weapons of mass destruction which were never found. The invasion also over-threw the government of Saddam Hussein which was labeled to be cruel and dictatorial. But it is unfortunate that conditions of the country got even worse to the Iraqis and violence increased. It went to its worst in 2006 and 2007 when thousands were killed each month and till now more than 120 thousand Iraqis have lost their lives. The security conditions became stable after 2008 and onwards but the violence was never curbed down.

Al-Qaeda’s Iraqi affiliate claimed the responsibility of these attacks and vowed to continue this until the complete exit of foreign troops. It shows that international forces have failed to finish the terror elements and they are still as strong as they were in the beginning of this war. Similarly, common Iraqis consider the regime of Saddam Hussein as being more peaceful compared to the present democratic setup supported by the international community.

The democratic system of government is still in doldrums and has not fully addressed the needs of the war-torn country. The process of political reconciliation has not been much successful and the country is still divided into different factions in which most clear is the Shiite and Sunni factions.

On Tuesday, the strong and influential Shiite cleric, Muqtada-as-Sadr announced the suspension of his bloc’s participation in the sessions of Iraq’s national unity cabinet. This boycott came after the Prime Minister Noori-al-Maliki challenged the parliamentary decisions in the apex court of the country.

The parliament is still divided on different issues and the coalition government time and again faces the fear of downfall. This uncertain political situation has really raised grave concerns about the political stability of the country in future.

Common Iraqis blame the politicians of involving in bribery and disagreement on the division of benefits from the rich energy reserves of the country.

This war of objectives has left the fate of millions of Iraqis uncertain and raises many questions about the effectiveness of such a forced and artificial democracy.