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ON MARCH 12, 2006, five United States soldiers from the 101st airborne division drank whiskey, plotted a massacre and descended on the home ofÌýAbeer Qassim al-Janabi, a 14-year-old Iraqi girl. They shot her father, mother andÌý6-year-old sisterÌýexecution-style. Then, as her baby sister’s body cooled on the floor, they took turns raping Abeer. When they were done, Green shot her in the face and set her corpse on fire.

This was not ‘war.’ This wasÌýpure evilÌý— a calculated, sadistic ritual of imperial violence. Abeer had endured weeks of sexual harassment from these soldiers at their checkpoint. They leered at her, fantasized about her and finally decided she was theirs to destroy. The US military referred to it as ‘collateral damage’ until a whistleblower exposed the truth.

But the horror does not end there.

Green, the ringleader, was discharged before the crime was exposed — free to roam the US until arrested. He got life in prison but died in 2014, escaping proper accountability. Cortez, Barker and Spielman — the rapists — were sentenced to 90–110 years but became eligible for parole afterÌýjust 10 years. Howard, the lookout, servedÌýfor 27 months. Meanwhile, Abeer’s family lies in unmarked graves, their home reduced to ash.

The US media buried her story. Politicians shrugged. The military closed ranks. To America, Abeer was not a child. She was aÌýnameless, brown-skinned casualtyÌý— disposable in the grand colonial project.

This is what occupation breeds. This happens when soldiers are taught that ‘the enemy’ is less than human. This is the rot festering beneath the lie of ‘liberation.’

US-led forces in Iraq have been accused of widespread atrocities, including murder and rape, in places like Haditha and Samarra since the 2003 invasion. According to the Global Policy Forum, the Pentagon has covered up most cases, exonerating soldiers and downgrading charges. While low-ranking troops faced limited consequences, high officials escaped accountability. The US dismissed these as ‘few bad apples,’ ignoring systemic issues. Senior leaders, under the principle of command responsibility, should be held liable for such violations.

The ‘In the Dark’ podcast, supported by the Pulitzer Center, has compiled a prominent database of US military investigations into alleged war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan post-9/11, covering 781 incidents. The findings reveal systemic failures in accountability and transparency. Of the cases examined, 65 per cent were dismissed by investigators, often despite credible allegations, such as soldiers confessing to killing civilians or detainees reporting abuse. Only 151 cases were deemed worthy of further action, including egregious offenses like rape, murder and detainee abuse. Yet, of the 572 alleged perpetrators linked to these cases, only 127 were convicted, with a median sentence of just eight months. Commanders frequently handled cases non-judicially, issuing minor punishments like demotions or reprimands and bypassing formal prosecution. Experts, including John Roman of National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, noted the stark contrast with civilian justice systems, questioning whether justice is a priority for the military. Despite requests for comment, the military branches primarily declined to engage with the findings.

In December 2020, the International Criminal Court in The Hague closed its preliminary examination into alleged war crimes by UK forces in Iraq, citing systemic failures in international justice. Despite finding evidence that British troops committed war crimes, including the abuse of hundreds of Iraqi detainees between 2003 and 2009, the ICC decided not to pursue action against the UK. A 180-page ICC report revealed that there is a reasonable basis to conclude that at least seven Iraqis were unlawfully killed in British custody in 2003, with evidence of systemic abuse, including rape, sexual violence and fatal beatings. Many victims were unarmed civilians detained by British forces.

The ICC could not determine if the UK government or military had shielded soldiers from prosecution. While the UK Ministry of Defence claimed the report ‘vindicates our efforts to pursue justice,’ the ICC emphasised it was ‘disingenuous’ to dismiss all claims as baseless, given the volume of credible evidence. A 2019 BBC Panorama investigation corroborated these findings, revealing that British detectives had uncovered credible evidence of war crimes, yet the army’s prosecution service prosecuted none. This decision underscores concerns about impunity for powerful actors in international justice systems.

According to American professor Marjorie Cohn, twenty years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, no officials from the Bush administration have faced accountability for the illegal war and associated war crimes. The 2003 invasion, dubbed ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom,’ violated the UN Charter, which permits military force only in self-defence or with Security Council approval. The war, justified by fabricated claims of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and ties to al-Qaeda, resulted in approximately 300,000 Iraqi and 4,600 American deaths, displaced millions and cost over $815 billion. Despite evidence disproving weapons of mass destruction claims and internal documents revealing the invasion was premeditated, no US leaders have been prosecuted.

US forces committed numerous war crimes, including torture at Abu Ghraib, extrajudicial killings and targeting civilians in ‘free-fire zones.’ cluster bombs, depleted uranium and white phosphorus caused massive civilian casualties, particularly in Fallujah, where hundreds were killed. The Haditha Massacre, where US Marines executed 24 unarmed civilians, was among the most egregious incidents. These actions violate the Geneva Conventions, the Convention Against Torture and US laws like the War Crimes Act. Yet, the Obama administration declined to prosecute Bush-era officials, contrasting sharply with the ICC’s swift charges against Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes in Ukraine.

George W Bush recently, ‘in a Freudian slip,’ acknowledged the Iraq invasion as ‘wholly unjustified.’ This inadvertent admission underscores the glaring lack of accountability for one of the 21st century’s most devastating conflicts.

More than 20 years after the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, human rights organisations, including Amnesty, HRW and more, have reiterated their demand for justice and full reparations for gross human rights and international humanitarian law violations. Although these human rights organisations have become less than relevant to the Western powers, given the atrocities we see ongoing in Palestine, it must be mentioned that these organisations’ reports and calls for justice resonated with the Western powers only when they were against those that are ‘not’ the western powers, their bosom allies, or their ‘masters.’

Between 2003 and 2011, human rights organisations documented widespread abuses by US forces, including indiscriminate attacks killing and injuring civilians, secret detentions, enforced disappearances, torture and other inhumane treatment. Former detainees have credibly alleged horrific abuses in detention centres, such as sleep deprivation, forced nudity, food and water deprivation, mock executions and rape threats.

Iraqis continue to suffer from the devastating consequences of war crimes and atrocities committed by the US-led coalition. Over twenty years later, impunity prevails and accountability remains out of reach.

Human rights organisations criticised the US for failing to adequately investigate human rights violations and war crimes, including those committed by senior officials and commanders. Victims, including survivors of torture at Abu Ghraib, have been systematically denied justice and reparations. Iraqi victims seeking redress in US courts have faced significant obstacles. Similarly, senior British officials have avoided accountability, despite a 2020 International Criminal Court finding that British forces committed war crimes in Iraq, including torture, rape and wilful killings.

The Iraq War, initially justified as a mission to liberate Iraqis from Saddam Hussein’s authoritarian rule, has, in hindsight, become emblematic of American strategic overreach. Branded as ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom,’ the invasion resulted in profound human and geopolitical consequences. Over 200,000 Iraqis perished in direct violence, while many more succumbed to secondary effects such as inadequate healthcare, food shortages and deteriorating sanitation. The ensuing instability facilitated further human rights abuses, notably during the rise of the Islamic State between 2014 and 2017.

Iraq continues to exist in a fragile post-conflict state, marked by persistent political and economic instability. Despite the cessation of active war and the defeat of IS, governance remains marred by corruption and inefficiency. The country’s economy relies heavily on oil, with petroleum exports accounting for 95 per cent of state revenue in 2020. This overdependence has fostered an inflated public sector plagued by nepotism and corruption, ranking Iraq 157th out of 180 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.

Sectarian divisions continue to obstruct inclusive governance, with ethnic and religious minorities marginalised in policymaking. Iraq’s social indicators remain dire. Internally displaced persons struggle with access to essential services and while the government has initiated programs to integrate them into social safety nets, their effectiveness remains uncertain. Poverty persists, affecting 31 per cent of Iraqis in 2020, with an estimated 2.4 million requiring urgent food and livelihood support. Water scarcity, exacerbated by climate change, upstream diversions and infrastructural neglect, has reached critical levels, with three out of five children lacking access to safe water. Foreign oil companies exacerbate the crisis by extracting disproportionate amounts of water for oil production, while the government remains unresponsive to sustainable solutions, such as seawater desalination, citing budgetary constraints.

Despite record profits from oil and gas industries, Iraq has made little progress in economic diversification. The country remains classified as a low-income country by the World Bank, with development efforts hindered by governmental inertia. Social progress is equally stunted. Women, already marginalised before the war, now face exacerbated socio-economic barriers, particularly widows who head 10 per cent of households, 80 per cent of whom struggle to find employment. Bureaucratic hurdles, for example, the difficulty of obtaining death certificates for missing husbands, prevent many from remarrying, while women associated with IS-controlled regions face severe social ostracisation.

More than two decades after the invasion, Iraq remains a case study in the long-term ramifications of foreign intervention, war and resource mismanagement. While the country has achieved relative stability, entrenched systemic issues hinder its path to sustainable governance and equitable development.

On March 20, we completed yet another anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and yet another year of lack of accountability, while wounds of the war throb and hurt those who endured the sufferings and the world that has changed extensively since then.

Abeer’s blood soaks the hands of every politician who glorifies war, every general who shields war criminals and every citizen who looks away. Her scream echoes in Gaza, in Afghanistan, in every village crushed under the empire’s boot. We failed her. But we do not get to forget.

The war in Iraq was never about liberation. It was an unjustified crime against humanity, an act of aggression disguised as justice. Two decades later, its wounds remain raw, its consequences still unfolding, yet the architects of this devastation walk free. The US and the UK continue to shirk accountability, whitewashing their atrocities while branding others as war criminals. Their impunity is not an aberration but a deliberate strategy — one that ensures the victors write history while the victims are erased.

But the silence of power does not erase the truth. The rape and murder of Abeer, the massacres of Haditha and Fallujah, the horrors of Abu Ghraib — these are but the known crimes. How many others have been buried beneath bureaucracy, silenced by force, or dismissed as ‘collateral damage’? We may never know their names, their stories, their suffering. Only those who endured and the Almighty bear witness.

Justice may not come in the courts of men, where war criminals are shielded by power and wealth. But the truth remains unyielding. And in the court of the Almighty, no crime is forgotten. No impunity is eternal.

Ìý

Simon Mohsin is a political and international affairs analyst.