Iraqi author warns Iraq's internal divisions invite foreign intervention

Iraqi writer Saad al-Abadi has argued that internal divisions in Iraq are creating conditions that external powers can exploit, drawing a parallel to the fall of the Iberian Emirate of Granada. In an article, al-Abadi said that during the era of the Nasrid dynasty, society fractured into competing factions, each rallying behind its own leader. This internal disunity, he wrote, allowed the Castilian crown to apply a divide-and-rule strategy successfully, with each side courting foreign backing to use against domestic rivals. Al-Abadi extended the comparison to present-day Iraq, arguing that the country is experiencing a level of polarization that goes beyond political disagreement. He wrote that groups show unconditional loyalty to their own symbols and that narrow factional interests have displaced national interest. According to the author, foreign actors have taken advantage of this fragmentation, with the divide-and-rule principle now being carried out through local actors, leaving decision-making mechanisms dependent on outside will. Al-Abadi concluded that genuine liberation requires freeing minds from leader cults rather than territory from foreign powers, and warned that without unity, history will repeat the same cycle.