A recent BBC poll noted that while Americans may be uncertain, the rest of the world clearly favours Obama. Yet somehow not that many people in Iraq seem to care.
Retiree Mohammed Najeeb told NIQASH he’s more worried about politics and security in Iraq than he is about anything going on in the US. “Neither Obama nor Romney can do anything to help the Iraqis,” said the local who doesn’t like watching television. “We only want the US to leave us alone.”
Baghdad shopkeeper Ibrahim al-Khafaji told NIQASH that he had followed the US presidential elections with great interest ever since the 1990s. “We were always waiting for a new president to change the US policy towards Iraq,” he said, referring to sanctions that the US had placed on Iraq during that era. “But since the troop withdrawal at the end of 2011, the US’ role in Iraq is not as important anymore,” al-Khafaji said.
“In the old days we used to follow the presidential election race because we always hoped to see a new president who would change the country’s policies towards Iraq,” agreed Saied al-Alusi, a former Iraqi army officer. “After each election we were always so disappointed. But we always had a lot of hope.”
Civil servant, Naseer Mahmoud, told NIQASH that for the first time ever, he wasn’t too worried about the US presidential elections. “When I watch the TV news I prefer to see things about political and security developments in Iraq rather than the US presidential candidates,” he said.
And Mahmoud says he and others feel this way because of the US troop withdrawal at the end of 2011. “Unlike in the past, that makes me think that these elections cannot have too much impact on my own country,” he explains.
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