More than 16 years ago, US President George W. Bush, relying on entirely phony evidence that Saddam Hussein still possessed weapons of mass destruction, led the invasion of Iraq and Saddam’s ouster. The consequences of this regime change have proved utterly disastrous. Regional peace was undermined by Al-Qaeda and Daesh (the self-proclaimed IS) terrorists’ campaigns which sprang into being amidst the wreckage of the old regime. Regional stability was overthrown as the chaos in Iraq gave the ayatollahs in Tehran the opportunity to exploit the country’s divisions and long-simmering rivalries. And most important of all, ordinary Iraqis were plunged into a world of murderous mayhem, from which the US-imposed trappings of a democracy have signally failed to delver them.

The latest wave of unrest in many cities, most particularly Baghdad and Basra, is evidence of the frustration and despair felt by the man on the street. Saddam’s dictatorship may have been brutal and self-serving but at least the country had order and functioning infrastructure. Moreover, there were well-understood rules by which all but the bravest or most foolhardy could carry on their lives with little disturbance from the state.

The large popular protests in recent weeks have been put down with growing savagery by the security forces and paramilitary agents of the ruling elite. More than a hundred demonstrators have now been killed and hundreds more wounded, many of them seriously.

It would seem that the appointment, almost a year ago, of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi was a watershed. Though a member of the Iranian-backed Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Abdul Mahdi was billed as a technocrat. On coming to power he promised to push back against rampant corruption and seek to heal the divisions among Sunni, Shia and Kurdish communities. The popular expectation was that at last, the country would have decent and responsible leadership. The reason that many thousands of angry Iraqis have taken to the streets is that it is now clear that their hopes have been dashed. Under Abdul Mahdi, as under his venal predecessor Nouri Al-Maliki, the ruling kleptocracy has not changed. Politicians of all parties exploit the Muhassasa system, whereby top jobs are parceled out on the basis of community rather than ability, to plunder state revenues. Even the most basic projects, such as the provision of reliable power and potable water, are deprived of the funds needed to undertake them.

The Iranian regime could not have hoped for anything better. A key Arab state that once made an invaluable contribution to the regional power balance has been reduced to impotent, bickering chaos. The current fury on the streets is unlikely to shake the ruling elites, because there is no obvious leadership for the protests. The influential Shia leader Muqtada Al-Sadr with his substantial following among the poor has deplored the crackdown and called for Abdul Mahdi to quit. Sadr has been one of the few politicians who has really appeared to have embraced the concept of an homogenous Iraq in which confessional and ethnic divisions should be of no consequence. He has also come out firmly against Iranian interference in Iraq’s affairs. However, he has probably judged that it is not yet time to confront the ruling elite and succeed in pushing them from power. The misery and despair of ordinary Iraqis is, therefore, set to continue.