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.
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.
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.
First Past The Post voting artificially limiting our options in the voting booth.
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 :(
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
I personally believe I have zero right to hold any viewpoint or opinion aside from feeling like the western lines drawn for the middle east after WWII were bullshit.
Let that part of the world run itself and leave them all the fuck alone.
I think of it as a highly imperialized and exploited country full of workers trying to make it a better place for eachother. In short, a victim of empire who deserves our material support in their struggle. However, this is my position on a lot of places.
I don't know much about modern Iraq outside of how the US has affected it in all honesty. I know little about its current governmental structure or the major political forces at play. Would you mind giving me a brief synopsis?
There are like 20 or even more government parties, I stopped counting them really, they all fight for who will be in charge of different sections of the government each one of them having no chance of agreement with each other, which results in a a political conflict the last 14 years at the end of every election cycle on which party is the prime minister nominated from, in the end it comes down to the nomination of an acceptable figure among these parties. And it doesn't take long until each one of them starts digging holes in the way of that figure for the sake of benefits, either Money, investment contracts، positions amongst the authority.
It really doesn't effect us that much now with them recently settling down to form an electoral alliance in the last 2 years. It has become more safe the last 6-8 years so much to hold sports events "recently The Arabian Gulf Cup Which was won by Iraq btw". Iraq has come along way and now somewhat on par with its neighboring countries.
I'm glad to hear things are improving for y'all :D
Best of luck o7
One thing that struck me as an adult is that I grew up learning about some ancient civilizations, but in school I never learned that Mesopotamia is a location in present day Iraq. It just feels weird that we could study about ancient cultures and not learn where they are on the globe today.
Didn't you have a picture of the cities were in the school manual? I find that surprising
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!
No matter how big the protest is... the war will continue. Feeling represented yet?
(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.
Hmm. Unofficial Kurdish state in the north, typical Middle Eastern country in the south. Lots of Iranian influence. It had a wild ride thanks to warmongering Americans and Saddam, but as far as I can tell it's settled down since the end of ISIS as a territory-holding entity.
Aside from the politics, it's home to a lot of the oldest cities and ruins in existence. Like the rest of the region it used to be greener, but millennia of agriculture takes a toll.
I'll just throw mine in to help confirm some of the general consensus coming from the states. Before 9/11, nothing really. A few brief mentions in history class etc, our education is horrible about human history but shoves American history down your throat. During the wars? Absolutely fucking horrific that any country is just allowed to attack an area like that. Every time I heard about some new operation I thought about how my family (if they were in that situation) would be huddle in the corner of a room just hoping to survive the night. Something that would make me want to lash out at anything because of the danger to my family, I never got why ANYONE thought this would "stop the terrorizing" by making more radicalized citizens.
After and currently, I'm completely blown away by the historical and cultural context of Iraq. In school there was never an emphasis on how important that country was to the civilization that we have now. Every documentary or book I read that touches on ancient history includes that area. I think if it was better taught in schools, the general consensus would've been more honorable towards finding a solution that worked for both countries.
