You have to ask yourself after twenty-three years of the US occupation of Iraq, what significant changes has this project brought to the Iraqi people and the region as a whole. Operation Iraqi Freedom, it was called, which has brought nothing but death, chaos, destruction, and corruption to the country. Like most other wars, it all comes down to money. Whether it’s the oil reserves of Iraq or regional reserves, the goal appears to be ensuring full control over a region that contains roughly 50 percent of the world’s proven conventional oil reserves. The latest public estimates by energy agencies: Saudi Arabia holds approximately 267 billion barrels of oil, Iran has 209 billion, Iraq has 145 billion, the UAE has 113 billion, and Kuwait has 101 billion. Among these countries, Iraq was the only one seen as not cooperating, which needed to change.
We see the same being repeated again now with Iran.
The cost of the war wasn’t even something the US administration had to worry about. The costs of the war were covered by the GCC countries, as clearly stated by the former PM of Qatar, Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani. This was already known by Iraqis; however, no GCC official clearly mentioned it in the media as he did, so it shouldn’t really come as a surprise. Some claim it is fear of a potential threat from Iraq in the future because of the Kuwait issue, or they simply follow orders; I believe it’s the latter.
Iran, as well, was supporting the United States in its invasion of Iraq, as mentioned by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, driven by mutual interest in removing a common enemy, specifically the Ba’ath Party and Saddam Hussein. Iran-backed militias and political groups played a vital role in the 2003 invasion and currently hold senior roles in the government and have full control over Iraq, its wealth, and its people. Their allegiances are always to both sides, in some instances to Iran, and in other instances to the United States, after all they could never forget who gave these positions; all while the people of Iraq suffer from corruption, division, deaths, and a completely failed state.
So the real question is, where has all the money gone?
Oil smuggling in Iraq is a complex, multi-billion-dollar industry involving state-backed militias, organised crime, and international sanctions evasion schemes. It primarily serves as a financial lifeline for Iran and its proxy groups, while significantly draining Iraq’s national wealth. All this has been happening for the past twenty-three years, with full knowledge of the United States administrations, yet no attempts to resolve this issue. Why? What’s holding the US back? Is this the deal they had with Iran? Are GCC countries lobbying the different US administrations to ensure the situation remains as is? Is this the new freedom Iraqis were promised? Or was the US plan simply to destroy Iraq as a country and ensure it never rises as a regional power again? Or all the above, which is what most Iraqis believe is the case.
Setting aside the smuggled oil, if we follow the official figures—though I highly doubt their accuracy—Iraq’s oil export revenue since 2003 is reported to range between 1.46 trillion and over 2 trillion US dollars, depending on the source.
The “Facebook Government” is a phrase Iraqis developed in recent years to describe what the current situation looks like in terms of economic development and prosperity in the country. The most recent Iraqi government, led by Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani, according to many sources and analysts, spends millions of dollars on ads, social media, influencers, and YouTubers in an attempt to glorify the recent property developments and infrastructure projects.
There’s no denying that Iraq has seen a change under this government, but at what cost, and who is the actual beneficiary of all of these projects? One thing is for sure: it’s not the Iraqi people.
Years later, and after the excitement fades away, the truth reveals itself to the people. The infrastructure projects, as they would like to refer to them, were mainly bridges and roads, of which many suffer major structural issues. The contracts awarded were corrupt, involving many different parties and politicians with commissions, overpriced, and had no actual regulatory body to enforce standards and penalties if needed. Let alone that it was then revealed that several contractors haven’t been paid by the government.
The property developments they keep referring to turned out to be probably the biggest money laundering scheme ever. Land was provided for free from the government to certain individuals, militias, and parties, FREE. In many cases, land was taken by force using militias. Then, banks were forced to provide loans to employees in the government sector to enable the purchase of the units, simply because the majority of people cannot afford them. They were also forced to provide loans and lines of credit to these “development companies” to actually build these massive projects. Government legislation passed to ensure everything was done legally, creating hundreds of millions of dollars for the armed militias and corrupt politicians.
Planning and approvals are not really needed because they control everything anyway. Connections to public services were not needed as well; they provided electricity and water from within the development, charging residents whatever they liked, basically.
Iraq’s economy heavily relies on oil exports, and since 2003, that has been the only major contributor to the country’s GDP. This money was spent on corruption, different political parties, their media outlets, the parliament, supporting Iran’s economy and its proxies, so this money created billionaires out of nothing. Many of those so-called politicians were living off weekly benefits in Western countries, but suddenly they ended up with contracts and millions of US dollars in revenue. Previously, they shifted these funds abroad to protect them from any potential change in Iraq’s situation; they know it cannot last forever. However, after the US sanctions increased on individuals, companies, and parties in Iraq, they were out of ideas, so they had to do something with the money, and the best way to launder that money was through properties. They build, sell, and then transfer the funds abroad; now it’s clean, fewer questions asked.
Let’s look at the other sectors:
Health is non-existent, unless you go private.
Education, from one of the most successful in the region to the worst in a matter of 20 years.
Agriculture is barely surviving, competing with neighbouring Iran and Turkey.
Manufacturing is destroyed to ensure Iraq is a huge consumer market for neighbouring countries.
Communication services, controlled by a few monopolies: Zain, primarily owned by Kuwait, Asiacell, primarily owned by Qatar’s Ooredoo, and Korek, owned by Sirwan Barzani, who is the nephew of Masoud Barzani.
Financials, outdated and pretty much under sanctions.
Utilities have been suffering since 2003, and no signs of anything being done about it.
Tourism, apart from religious tourism, paid social media tourists, and Iraqis living abroad; Iraq isn’t really the number one destination during the holidays. Although the potential is huge.
Iraq’s most recent nominal GDP figure is $279.64 billion in 2024. Comparing that to neighbouring countries, this is very low, with a population of around 47 million people. You would expect the number to be much higher if you had a proper government in place. Saudi Arabia has 35 million people and a GDP of 1.1 trillion US dollars. Turkey has 87 million people with a GDP of 1.4 trillion. The United Arab Emirates has a population of 11 million with a GDP of 550 billion. Imagine what Iraq could have been if the incoming government had actually tried to build a successful state.
Iraq has so much potential, whether it’s in education, agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, logistics, and every other sector you can think of. Yet with a failed political system, this is what we end up with. A failed, corrupt state with nothing to provide its people with.
So, back to the 1.4 or 2 trillion dollars, where has all this money gone? The country still suffers from critical energy demands, healthcare, public services, agriculture, education, and every other sector, let alone support for the private sector to compete regionally. In fact the private sector is continously under threat from militias and politicians.
The current political system has failed and was designed to fail. It was installed by the US to ensure Iraq fails as a country. Supported by Iran, the GCC, and other neighboring countries, they have all managed to destroy the country, its society, and any future growth prospects. Unless a real change happens, Iraq will continue to suffer.
The money was spent on corruption, creating millionaires and billionaires overnight, stripping the country and its citizens of any decent living standards.
There is enormous potential in this country, yet it is being squandered by politicians who serve their own interests rather than the people.