As an Iraqi, I do ask this question to myself a lot, what the world opinion on modern Iraq. It changed a lot especially after ISIS war, but people here generally don’t value the change that much due to high unemployment rates, drought, and bossy militias.
Well, we don’t get a lot of easy to find news on Iraq here in the US. You have to go looking for it.
That being said, with the little that I have gone looking for, it really seems like the people of Iraq are busting their asses to recover, and have shown incredible resilience in the face of so much destruction that hit them in the last fifty years. It’s impressive as hell tbh.
That’s been my impression as well. Other countries recovering from a conflict seem to have a lot of people still looking for others to blame for their problems but Iraqis seem more interested in just trying to make things a little better each day. I think if they can hold on to that hope their future will be bright.
I’m Canadian. I would say that I don’t think much about it in terms of current events, I haven’t heard much in the news about it in recent years. And my assumption from that is that’s probably a good sign. There used to be a steady stream of bad news, and “no news” lies along the path in between “bad news” and “good news.”
I did see a video recently about Iraq’s plans for a giant new port facility on that little tidbit of Persian Gulf shoreline it has and road/rail link from it up through to Turkey, and thence onward into Europe. It sounded like a very optimistic development if it can be seen through to fruition, opening an alternative trade corridor to the Suez Canal. Anything that diversifies a country’s economy is a good thing, and anything that removes single points of failure in global shipping networks is also a good thing. I can’t imagine the Houthi obstruction of the Red Sea would still be a problem by the time that route opens up but at least it’ll be an option if something like it happens again.
(bart simpson voice) The exports of
LibyaIraq are numerous in amount. One thing they export is corn, or as the Indians called it, “maize”. Another famous Indian was Crazy Horse. In conclusion,LibyaIraq is a land of contrasts. Thank you.joking aside, sorry about America.
Are you an Iraqi in Iraq? I am an ex-iraqi but have lived in the Nordics majority of my life. People here don’t talk much about the country, but the few tourists that go there go to Erbil and only have good things to say about it.
Would love to hear your own experience too.
Yes, born raised and probably gonna die here. I live in southern region of Iraq, specifically the city of Nasiryah. Generally everything are still lacking behind due to years of war but it’s getting better bit by bit with some hiccups because of the Iranian government influence, inflation, corruption.
Good that improvements are happening. I was briedly in basra long time ago. Stay strong!
I don’t think about Iraq. Should I?
should you think about the planet earth too?
I don’t think they meant it as a slight against your homeland. You probably don’t think about my homeland either, and idk why someone in Iraq would be concerned about Louisiana
I didn’t took it that way, and i know he didn’t mean something against my country either. It’s more of a general idea rather than thinking of something. I don’t think of the US that much but I do have a general idea about it, current political situation, and the states.
Wonder if that’s more of a language thing. You got a handle on English so presumably get more news about the English speaking world. If I read Arabic maybe I’d have more exposure to Iraqi goings-on.
Ehh, I disagree. A counter example; I’d bet money that folks in England know more about our country than we do theirs, especially when it comes to politics and current issues. I’m pretty sure most Americans wouldn’t be able to name the British PM or even what party is in power there. Everyone there probably knows Biden is the president and that he is a Democrat.
Also, Al Jazeera publishes in English, I don’t think language is the primary barrier. American media just generally doesn’t cover foreign affairs all that much (and when they do, they generally do a shit job).
Just going by population, you should about as much as you think about Canada.
Uh oh, I think about Canada a lot.
I didn’t see the domain at first, haha. Substitute in Italy or Poland if you want. You should think about Sweden or Greece a lot less, by that measure.
By money or something like that Iraq is way smaller than Canada, and by geopolitics way bigger. By land it’s between Sweden and Japan. We’re all kind of in an information bubble in the first world. It’s okay, the first step is knowing you have a problem.
What little I know about about today’s Iraq comes from Hakim’s personal stories on The Deprogram podcast.
I think the US military can’t get out soon enough. I hope Iraq joins BRICS, dedollarizes, and has continued success with BRI. The neocolonial * imperial core* is no one’s ally, and is in decline.
As an American, sorry about the war that my country committed against yours for no good reason. And I’m sorry for all the innocent people that my country killed. I wish your country well, and hope you can achieve peace and stability for your people.
2million people were victims of american murderers. The americans like to forget that their foreign policy and behaviour of their military is basically identical to the IDF.
There were plenty of us that saw right through the bullshit even before the war started but unfortunately because the SCOTUS decided the election for us we were stuck with a gang of money hungry pieces of shit… I mean we still are, but we were then too…
I was young and naive so I wanted to join the military in hopes of getting some technical skills, but even as a 17 year old idiot I saw right through bushs bullshit and said fuuuuccckkkkk that. Now I work in a factory… Fuck Bush, fuck Cheney, fuck Rumsfield… War criminals the lot of them.
To get to OPs question, in America I think we have a collective shame about it so it’s pretty much never spoken about at all. The state of Iraq is only ever mentioned within the context of ISIS :(
It’s really funny if you think about it, what America identified as terrorists and imprisoned at Abu Ghraib prison are now politics controlling Iraq’s economy each one with his own militia to protect him from the law. We now only looking for the future with people tending to forget what happened 20 years ago in the hope that things get better.
The anti war movement against the illegal war on Iraq was the biggest mobilization in history. Millions of people all over the world tried to stop the war but we’re ultimately unsuccessful. Which brings us to a bigger question, why don’t we the people have political power. I believe it comes down to greed, and capitalism. How can we stop these wars? The genocide on Palestine? The only weapon we have is to withhold our labour. Organize, unionize and strike.
It’s your last line. We have to find a way to take the world back from billionaires, by force if necessary. It’s unreal that a small handful of assholes have the power over the billions of us that they do.
I think it’s history, particularly ancient is fascinating.
Honestly, I’ve heard or read very little about Iraq after the war, so I have no idea what happened there since then. Unfortunately I think the country is still mostly being associated with war and crisis here in Germany. I think it’s a very interesting place especially for its ancient history though. Some of the first highly developed civilizations arose there. Would love to visit places like Ur, Babylon or Nineveh one day.
I’m an American and a Texan. I feel shame, anger, guilt, worry, and pity.
Bush (a Texan) back in the day started a 10 year war with your country that my taxes paid and my generation died for. This was done with completely fabricated evidence. Bush Senior, about decade before, undermined the foundations of free speech and journalism to facilitate Desert Storm.
I’m part of a military industrial machine that kills people to make some of my country men rich.
I’m very different from a typical person from the middle east. I don’t even abide or respect abrahamic religions. Those differences don’t make me angry though, the world would be better to leave those different than me with peace and quiet. I want Iraqi people to be happy and content, for the selfish reason that I don’t want to think about the region.
I’m extremely fearful that the powers that be in Washington will decide to invade Iraq again in a decade or so.
This is a much more serious version of my answer, which was going to be
“That’s one of the places where we decided oil was more precious than human life; I don’t really think of Iraq because the only discourse about it in my country is blatant xenophobia and I’m still working on finding ways around the propaganda”
Cradle of civilization. Brilliant art math and architecture. A total victim of countless imperial aggression due to its resources. Will never forgive what the US did and the fighters in Fallujah were heroes.
I wish I could go there and meet people
Since we really only hear what little our media publishes about military operations, and the coming and going of the military, can you please tell us a little about it?
Well nothing much since 2014 except it become more safe with the security situation becoming more stable that tourists are being attracted to here. Corruption still a big issue and we see more and more of these cases most of them don’t get resolved unfortunately because of the authorities negligence. Lack of jobs made the people more mad with the last 4 years, protests became more often demanding of jobs in the government sectors. Water drought and the climate change started to effect our lives with no government efforts to reduce it’s impact. Generally Iraq is better now people are happier than ever.
Thanks for the reply.The corruption seems to be an issue in most governments. Do most Iraqis you know think life is better or worse since Hussein is no longer in power?
Most of us here think that life here is much better now, even with all the economic obstacles and challenges.
If the people are happier, that’s a starting point. I’d like to see more on-the-ground, fair coverage of your nation. It’s hard to have any opinion, let alone an informed opinion, without media attention.
Please do share more, whenever and in whatever discussions you’re inclined. I’m interested!
Thanks really, I appreciate your interest. I will do when the chance come.
You’re welcome. Thank you, too. I’ve followed you so I hope that lets me learn more about you as a person, and your country, as a whole. May you be happy and well.
I know almost nothing about it, but I find ancient Mesopotamia fascinating.
It is a country with people in it of whom some suck and some don’t suck. Like everywhere really.