Before becoming a broken country, it's clear to me that Iraq was a broken society. When did the Iraqi psyche break?
I've been thinking about this since someone added me to a closed group of Iraq experts. I've been silently observing conversations. So much conflict even among the experts, so many fights. The atmosphere is toxic.
Maybe it's not a very well managed or moderated group - maybe the founders didn't invest enough in setting the general acceptable tone. But also, maybe this just uncovers underlying tensions, which otherwise would be hidden behind civility
And what's been uncovered, for me as an observer, is that the underlying fissures are still sectarian, even when you add layers of professional language or academic terminology. Zoom out, the fissures are clear.
There's a lot of grievance - of everyone against everyone. There's too little self-criticism and too much of assigning blame elsewhere. Even those who do self-criticize have their words instrumentalized by someone or another, forcing them to eventually pick sides.
But zoom out further and there's this feeling that everyone and every group is afraid, everyone is anxious, everyone is suspicious of others, everyone is in pain over their own grievances to see the other's grievances.
So I've been thinking about this for days. When was the Iraqi psyche broken? Was it during the Saddam years? Or even before? Was it ever *not* broken, given the traumatic events around Iraq's independence?
Having tweeted this, I think this describes not just Iraq but the wider Middle East; and indeed, not just the wider Middle East but probably the entire world.
