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Organised Crime in Iraq

Organised crime is defined as illegal activities carried out in a large scale by powerful individuals or groups. Due to the lack of regulation of movement between borders, also known as open borders, it has made criminal activities such as smuggling of oil, money, antiquities and kidnapping less complicated. Organised crime in Iraq has been steadily increasing from the 1970s.

Oil Smuggling

Iraq is a country located in the southwest of Asia, in which it has one of the largest oil reserves in this world. The largest scale of organised crime in Iraq is oil smuggling due to its abundant oil resources. As of 1972, the Baath party had nationalised oil, which meant that corruption involving oil became a matter of the state.

A way in which oil was smuggled involves the smuggling of unofficially documented oil with official oil. This means that oil is smuggled and shipped illegally along with oil officially meant to be exported. In order to achieve this, different sectors have to be on board. Firstly, employees that are part of Iraq's state-owned South Oil Company (SOC) are required to know about it in order for this operation to start, regardless of whether or not they receive benefit, as these employees are responsible for extracting the oil. The individuals working at the tankers would also have to have some knowledge, as the oil sent out to export will be a much larger quantity than what is written in the document. Once the tank has been fully loaded, an inspector, usually hired by the government, would allow the oil to pass as they are bribed beforehand. If official documentation has been prepared, the tank is free to sail through the Gulf, and even if the tank gets stopped by the British or the Americans for inspection, it will be allowed to pass despite the amount of oil not matching the official documentation. However, if there are no official documents available, the tank will instead sail through Iranian waters with Iran's flag, in which the Iranian officials or coastguards will be bribed.

Kidnapping

Kidnapping gangs are often made up of groups from different parts of society; the former party members, former convicts, the unemployed, the military, and amateurs. Victims of kidnapping can either be chosen randomly or specifically for profit kidnapping, but is specific for political kidnapping. The victim is usually chosen by the way they dress, it is more likely to become a kidnap victim if one were wearing an expensive looking attire.

Profit Kidnapping

Even though kidnapping in Iraq is publicly seen as foreigners being taken hostage, hundreds of affluent locals, primarily women, have fallen victim into the hands of kidnap gangs. These criminal gangs are made up of criminals, former secret police popularly referred to as the mukhabarat, and unemployed soldiers. The main target of these kidnappings are individuals in relation to those trying to build back Iraq after Saddam's reign by meeting the needs of the locals, in turn causing this progress to fail due to the lack of capital after ransom has been paid. This could be due to the fact that organised crime flourishes in impoverished countries, as the lack of supply available would lead to inflated prices for goods that are sold by criminals.

Political Kidnapping

Most of the foreign hostages taken in for ransom, and the highest bidder for this ransom are often individuals that desire leverage upon foreign governments in order to further the individual's personal political agendas. Kidnapping for political purposes sometimes include a ransom, but when it does not it is for the sole purpose of driving certain individuals away, as the fear that follows after getting captured by kidnapping gangs often force them to move to safer areas. It is also used as a mediator to allow the persistence of organised crime in Iraq, as kidnapping is often used to drive away anti-corrupt politicians or those who are trying to better Iraq in general.

Theft of Iraqi Antiquities

Antiquities defer from other types of stolen goods due to the fact that it legally belongs to the state, as there is a lack of certified ownership, which means that any form of transporting or purchase of these antiquities are required to be facilitated by government officials. Hence, this shows that the theft of Iraq Antiquities is a major criminal organisation, as it requires connections in high places in order to complete the job. The popularisation of this type of organised crime branches from the fact that although archeologists try to investigate and expose stolen artefacts, most of the stolen antiquities are unknown to a large percentage of the general population, resulting in the convenience to smuggle stolen antiquities. Additionally, Iraq has over 12,000 archaeological sites that have minimal or even no security, making this type of crime appeal more to criminals.

Although the overall process is complicated and requires high profiled criminals, committing the theft itself can be done by peasants or regular thieves. The key element in pulling off these illegal trades is bribery, as it assists in the transportation of antiquities and sales, allowing the movement of goods across international borders and forged documentaries from the government. Conveniently, employees working in custom checks and border guards are easily bought off due to poor wages, and therefore would willingly let the antiquities pass in return for some cash, especially due to the fact that antiquities is not as strikingly illegal as drugs or a wad of cash. An important player that assists in this organised crime are the corrupt government officials of Iraq, as counterfeit documents are required in order to legitimise the sale of these Iraqi antiquities; and the fact that the documents are fraudulent, it makes it easier to inflate prices within accordance of the organisation's needs.

Money Laundering

A type of currency called the Halawa note is used when an individual is keen on transferring money, and it often comes with encryption in order to minimise the risk of a bogus substitute. The emergence of the hawala note systems originated from the sanctions placed on Iraq during the 1990s, in which Iraqis overseas were prohibited from sending money to individuals in Iraq, even if it were for family. The way in which the Halawa note system works is that the note will be transported through the mail or courier to the recipient, and from there the recipient can engage and exchange in which sufficient cash is received in accordance to the note, subtracted by the transfer fees.

The existence of the Halawa note system persists despite it being known by the government, a sense of hesitation still exists due to the fact that investigation might lead to the destruction of a lot of legitimate transactions that have been obtained legally and is vital for Iraqi's economy. However, this does not change the fact that the Halawa note system disrupts the laws laid down and this therefore creates a sense of conflict. Furthermore, the Halawa system is not centralised in one specific location, but is rather branched out and investigations would only drive operations underground.

Reason for Organised Crime in Iraq

The Ba'ath Party was a political party led by Saddam Hussein, in which it upheld a positive image due to its integrity. However, the Iraq-Iran war, invasion of Kuwait and sanctions placed on Iraq had impacted Iraq negatively. Iraq had gone through multiple wars under Saddam's rule, resulting in decreasing morale to work towards a civilised society, as the population of Iraq were largely consisted of young individuals who grew up surrounded by war. This meant that it was hard for the majority of the population to understand the concept of working for the greater good of society, instead of just thinking about their own.

At first, organised crime in Iraq was regulated by Saddam Hussein, the leader of the Ba'ath Party, and it was only allowed to operate within certain limits and operated for the overall benefit of the regime. However, the criminal organisations had flourished as it acquired more resources and increased in power, resulting in the inability to regulate it as strictly as before. To further increase the criminal organisation in Iraq, Saddam had exploited the UN's Oil for Food Program (OFF), by using the resources provided to further expand the criminal organisations. Saddam had managed to do this due to the lack of supervision in the use of resources.

The sanctions placed on Iraq were highly correlated to its economic collapse, and it resulted in higher school drop outs of 20-30%, despite Iraq having recognised as its population generally receives a high level standard of education. This is due to the fact that children were forced to be help the family provide, and this impacted Iraq in the long-term as the working population will be less educated than before. Furthermore, the freshly graduates were unable to find employment, leading to distress and concern as to what is to come. The lack of employment and poverty surrounding Iraq gave room for kidnapping to become the mainstream, as the general population see it as a distribution of income due to the vast difference between the rich and the poor. However, even if individuals were able to find employment, their pay amounts to an equivalent of $1,000 per annum, but a collection of stolen antiquities can be sold for $20,000. Hence, this gives the Iraqi population more incentive to participate in crimes or join a criminal organisation. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF, the rate of death directly correlated to Iraqi's sanctions approximated death of Iraqi children before the age of 5 to be 5,000 - 7,000 children every month.

Organised Crime During and Post Saddam Hussein Reign

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein was one of the most prominent leaders of Iraq that ruled with a hardline stance. He was able to maintain his rule with limited questions toward his leadership due to the fact that Iraq had become more stable under his rule, and the nationalisation of the oil industry had led to an economic boom which led a path towards a higher standard of living, except for those who opposed his regime.

Under Saddam's rule, Iraq became a criminal state in which the state embodied itself into becoming the control centre of criminal organisations in Iraq. Saddam Hussein was the head of a large-scale criminal organisation made up of the members of the Ba'ath Party and some tribes. Certain activities such as oil smuggling were directly handled by Saddam himself, while his family capitalised Iraq's resources.

The United States invasion of Iraq was the fall of Saddam's power, causing a disruption in the Iraqi political structure. Following the fall of Saddam's reign were chaos, uncertainty and anomie, causing an influx of crimes committed, including the increase in violence, sexual assault, extortion, theft and many more. Furthermore, the line between crime and politics started to diminish, as collusion between criminal organisations, terrorists and insurgents occurred occasionally. Despite the fact that Saddam oversaw the smuggling of oil and its money transfers, the smuggling of oil persisted as the upper class had already built business relationships with smugglers and those facilitating it. The most prominent change was seen in the rapid expansion of the kidnapping industry, as police reported it to be 70% of reported crimes since the fall of Saddam, in comparison to 1% under Saddam's rule. Iraq's criminal organisations made up 35% of its gross national product (GNP), but significantly increased to 65% following the fall of Saddam's reign.

References

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