Why Iraqis Are Taking Aim at Their Leaders and Iran’s

Iraqis fed up with corruption and the slow pace of recovery from the wreckage left by the war with Islamic State have been in the streets protesting since early October. As in Lebanon, demonstrators have channeled their anger into demands for the abolition of the country’s sectarian political system, which was fathered by the U.S. after it overthrew the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003. They also want to roll back the control wielded by Iraq’s neighbor Iran. Unable to agree on a way forward, top officials responded with a heavy-handed crackdown, leaving Iraq facing yet another crisis.

Demonstrations against graft, scarce jobs, power blackouts and crippling water shortages started out small in Baghdad on Oct. 1, but after security forces responded with live bullets and tear gas, protests spread across southern Iraq and grew violent. During early rallies, demonstrators held images of Abdul-Wahab Al-Saadi, a counter-terrorism chief who became a national hero for his key role in defeating Islamic State in 2017 but who had since been demoted. As he led campaigns to reclaim major towns and cities from the jihadists, Al-Saadi sidelined Iranian militias, angering pro-Tehran factions in Baghdad. Nationalist Iraqis saw his sacking as Iran’s revenge. Protesters have burned images of Iranian clerics, shouted anti-Iranian slogans and torched the Iranian consulates in Karbala and Najaf.