Saif Al-Azzawi, an Iraqi refugee, discussed the time when his country was still peaceful and said that the United States had a hand in the uprising of the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS) militants in a column published by Time Magazine.

Al-Azzawi said the death of both Americans and Iraqis since 2003 could be one of the most fatal aspects of Iraq's history, but only comes second when one considers the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) that has now taken control of the country.

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He looked back at his country growing up: the Iraqis lived a life of luxury and comfort. He said Iraq, before all this raging turmoil, was the most Westernized country in the Middle East that its neighbors envy.

Iraq, Al-Azzawi described, was a secular democracy from the 50s to the 80s that was heavily influenced by Western culture. There was never a call for prayer from the mosque, no women whose hair were covered with hijab and its government system was teeming with so much promise offering its people with competitive health care and great educational system.

He said that all this went for naught. He highlighted the 1990 Gulf War that brought Iraq down to a pile of rubble.

The start of the war was also the start of the Iraqis poverty. Al-Azzawi said Iraq became poor when the U.S. imposed an oil embargo in which it was not allowed to export oil, the country's highest earning product. It was also a time when Iraq's leaders, the people who could have changed the country's dire landscape, fled, and left their people when they were most needed.

Al-Azzawi is also of the opinion that U.S. government only wanted his people to rebel against Saddam Hussein and introduced democratic structures. However, he said that the U.S. might have miscalculated its intent for democracy when in 2003, the time when Saddam Hussein's administration fell, the Iraqis turned to religion instead of democracy.

The result after Hussein's fall was a battle between Shi'ites and Sunnis. Al-Azzawi said the Sunnis won because they are greater in number.

Al-Azzawi only managed to get to the United States by 2009 and has lived as a refugee. He added that he despised Saddam Hussein, but he strongly thinks that an extremist group would not exist under his administration.

Although Hussein killed lots of people, it was not anywhere near the number of deaths recorded now by the ISIS, he added.

The uprising of militants in Iraq now is due to the failure of democracy as well as the failure of the United States to understand how Iraqis think, Al- Azzawi stated.

TagsIraq, ISIS, democracy, freedom, Saddam Hussein