The Shi'ite youth of Iraq took to the streets to demand an end to corruption, to demand a better life. This was The October Revolution.
And what did they get?
Well Parliament is considering forcing the males to serve in the military. Chenar Chalak (RUDAW) notes:
The Iraqi parliament is set to conduct the first reading for a draft
proposing the restoration of compulsory military service during Sunday’s
parliamentary session, amidst mixed reactions from the Iraqi people on
social media.
The new bill, titled Serving the Flag, has been drafted by the Iraqi parliament’s security and defense committee and proposes assigning all Iraqi men between the ages of 18 to 35, with limited exceptions, to mandatory military duty, according to the deputy-chairman of the parliamentary committee Sagvan Sindi.
The length of the service differs based on the academic level of the recruited, Sindi added. The draft compels secondary school graduates to 18 months of military service, preparatory school graduates to 12 months, university and institute graduates to 9 months, master’s graduates to 6 months, and doctorate graduates to 3 months.
The new bill, titled Serving the Flag, has been drafted by the Iraqi parliament’s security and defense committee and proposes assigning all Iraqi men between the ages of 18 to 35, with limited exceptions, to mandatory military duty, according to the deputy-chairman of the parliamentary committee Sagvan Sindi.
The length of the service differs based on the academic level of the recruited, Sindi added. The draft compels secondary school graduates to 18 months of military service, preparatory school graduates to 12 months, university and institute graduates to 9 months, master’s graduates to 6 months, and doctorate graduates to 3 months.
That's not what they were protesting for.
#Iraq to reinstate military draft. For the life of me, I just cannot understand what good comes out of the militarization of young men in a country that paid dearly for the endless wars that it embarked on in the past. https://t.co/MZuXFCk5qA
— Hussain Abdul-Hussain (@hahussain) November 3, 2022
Fortunately, the Parliament rejected the proposal
Zahra Al-Bajari: The MPs’ efforts succeeded in withdrawing the draft compulsory service law from the agenda, and it will be sent to the government and will not be presented in the future.#Iraq pic.twitter.com/UiPHbu4lBx
— Alahad TV-EN (@ahad_en) November 6, 2022
But at what point does the government plan to serve the people?
