Iraq

[phkrause]

20 years after U.S. invasion, young Iraqis see signs of hope

BAGHDAD (AP) — On the banks of the Tigris River one recent evening, young Iraqi men and women in jeans and sneakers danced with joyous abandon to a local rap star as a vermillion sun set behind them. It’s a world away from the terror that followed the U.S. invasion 20 years ago.

https://apnews.com/article/iraq-war-invasion-anniversary-saddam-hussein-47b558083aad51d96106bc72342c49ea?

[phkrause]

Timeline of events: 20 years since U.S.-led invasion of Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) — It’s been 20 years since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began. Here are some key dates from the invasion and following developments.

https://apnews.com/article/iraq-invasion-war-timeline-saddam-hussein-50828061c98e410063753045179bdcfb

[phkrause]

The Architects of the Iraq War: Where Are They Now?

The U.S. and its allies invaded Iraq 20 years ago in Operation Iraqi Freedom. President George W. Bush’s press secretary Ari Fleischer twice accidentally referred to it as Operation Iraqi Liberation, which was definitely not its official name and would have generated an unfortunate acronym.

https://theintercept.com/2023/03/15/iraq-war-where-are-they-now/?

[phkrause]

How Iran Won the U.S. War in Iraq

A trove of secret intelligence cables obtained by The Intercept reveals Tehran’s political gains in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.

https://theintercept.com/2023/03/17/iraq-war-iran-cables/?

[phkrause]

Bush’s Iraq War Lies Created a Blueprint for Donald Trump

The officially sanctioned conspiracy theory that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11 set a dangerous precedent.

https://theintercept.com/2023/03/19/george-bush-iraq-lies-trump/?

[phkrause]

“Trauma Never Goes Away”: As America Forgets, Iraq War Stays With U.S. Veterans

Twenty years after the invasion, veterans struggle to reconcile their sacrifices with the unhappy outcome and the false narratives that started the war.

https://theintercept.com/2023/03/16/iraq-war-veterans/?

[phkrause]

Bush Doesn’t Second-Guess Himself on Iraq. Even if Everyone Else Does.

DALLAS — Twenty years later, veterans are reflecting on their service and remembering fallen comrades. Iraqis are talking about how their country has changed and how it has not. American lawmakers are debating whether to finally repeal the legislation authorizing the invasion.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/20/us/politics/george-w-bush-iraq-war.html?

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George Bush is still not ready to forgive

George W. Bush had just finished his last speech to the Iraqi people, in Baghdad, as president of the United States. In a little over a month, he would be leaving the most powerful office in the world and handing over responsibility for a devastating war that he had launched five years earlier.

https://www.independent.co.uk/world/iraq-war-anniversary-bush-shoe-journalist-b2304479.html?

Nearly 300,000 women served during the Iraq War. Two decades later, they remain ‘the invisible veterans.’

Christina Schauer deployed to Baghdad in March 2003 during her sophomore year in college. At age 20, Schauer was part of an 800-member reserve battalion that consisted mainly of engineers, truck drivers, mechanics and a handful of medics like herself, tasked with building up the military bases that are there now. About 10 percent were women, she said.

https://19thnews.org/2023/03/iraq-war-women-veterans-invisible-20-years-later/?

[phkrause]

Kurds remain biggest winners from US-led invasion of Iraq

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Complexes of McMansions, fast food restaurants, real estate offices and half-constructed high-rises line wide highways in Irbil, the seat of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

https://apnews.com/article/iraq-us-invasion-kurds-3223a368f3ad26fbe6760de477d6b973?

[phkrause]

Iraq WMD failures shadow US intelligence 20 years later

WASHINGTON (AP) — In his U.S. Capitol office, Rep. Jason Crow keeps several war mementos. Sitting on a shelf are his military identification tags, the tailfins of a spent mortar and a piece of shrapnel stopped by his body armor.

https://apnews.com/article/iraq-war-wmds-us-intelligence-f9e21ac59d3a0470d9bfcc83544d706e?

[phkrause]

After Tide of Memoirs From Americans, an Iraqi Journalist Offers Inside Account of War’s Destruction

“A nation can’t be bombed, humiliated and sanctioned, then bombed again, and then told to become a democracy,” writes Ghaith Abdul-Ahad.

https://theintercept.com/2023/03/26/iraq-war-book-ghaith-abdul-ahad/?

[phkrause]

Iraq scrambles to contain fighting between US troops and Iran-backed groups, fearing Gaza spillover

BAGHDAD (AP) — Dozens of attacks on U.S. military facilities by Iran-backed factions in Iraq over the past two months as the Israel-Hamas war has raged have forced Baghdad into a balancing act that’s becoming more difficult by the day.

https://apnews.com/article/iraq-iran-us-gaza-israel-hamas-0b99659922bf1174f86e390808e5bfde?

[phkrause]

Ten years on, many Yazidis uprooted by Islamic State onslaught struggle to find stable homes

SINJAR, Iraq (AP) — When Rihan Ismail returned to her family’s home in the heartland of her Yazidi community, she was sure she was coming back for good.

https://apnews.com/article/yazidis-returning-home-islamic-state-onslaught-iraq-ddbc0ba91d98d84e46fbac8fb6626b46?

[phkrause]

Iraqi women fear rise in child marriages as lawmakers consider giving conservative clerics more say In Iraq, child marriages of girls might be state-sanctioned soon. Iraq’s parliament is considering controversial legal changes that would give religious authorities more power over family law matters, a move that rights groups and opponents warn could open the door to the marriage of girls as young as 9. Read more.

Why this matters: The push for the changes comes mainly from powerful Shiite Muslim political factions backed by religious leaders who have increasingly campaigned against what they describe as the West imposing its cultural norms on Muslim-majority Iraq.   The proposed amendments would allow Iraqis to turn to religious courts on issues of family law, which currently are the sole domain of civil courts. That would let clerics rule according to their interpretation of Shariah, or Islamic law, as opposed to national laws.    Many Iraqi women have reacted with horror, holding protests outside parliament and campaigning against the changes on social media. “Legislating a law that brings back the country 1,500 years is a shameful matter … and we will keep rejecting it until the last breath,” Heba al-Dabbouni, an activist among dozens at a protest in August, told The Associated Press.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Iraq’s Yazidis hope a new village will prompt survivors of a 2014 Islamic State massacre to return   7 US troops hurt in a raid with Iraqi forces that left 15 suspected militants dead

[phkrause]

Wrapping up mission, US troops will leave some longstanding bases in Iraq under new deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. announced an agreement with the Iraqi government Friday to wrap up the military mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group by next year, with U.S. troops departing some bases that they have long occupied during a two-decade-long military presence in the country.

https://apnews.com/article/iraq-us-troops-military-withdrawal-iran-a79aa83dca8f776f87a138bfe5697fa3?

[phkrause]

‘Cradle of civilization’

Two decades after an American military invasion left the country spiraling out of control, Iraq is beginning to attract international visitors despite a US “do not travel” warning. Here’s what they say about their experiences.

[phkrause]

Iraqi lawmakers pass a bill that critics say legalizes child marriage

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s parliament passed three divisive laws Tuesday, including amendments to the country’s personal status law that opponents say would in effect legalize child marriage.

https://apnews.com/article/iraq-child-marriage-law-1566334b53e15c3c456b0ffa94d03c1f?

[phkrause]

Regime change in Syria has Iraqi factions backtracking on push for US withdrawal

BAGHDAD (AP) — The fall of Bashar Assad in Syria has led Iran-allied factions in neighboring Iraq to reconsider their push for U.S. forces to exit the country, multiple Iraqi and American officials told The Associated Press.

https://apnews.com/article/iraq-us-islamic-state-isis-pmf-withdrawal-coalition-b9194ed8e8ad944b15aaf7e41337912c?

[phkrause]

Head of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been killed, Iraqi prime minister says

BAGHDAD (AP) — The head of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been killed in Iraq in an operation by members of the Iraqi national intelligence service along with U.S.-led coalition forces, the Iraqi prime minister announced Friday.

https://apnews.com/article/iraq-islamic-state-leader-killed-syria-eb56ab8a4d8c07d0233206fe1bb55a06?

[phkrause]

Why a Princeton graduate student kidnapped in Iraq still isn’t free 800 days later

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — With the world’s attention fixed on efforts to free Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, talks are quietly continuing to liberate an Israeli hostage held in Iraq by a different Iranian-backed militant group.

https://apnews.com/article/israel-iraq-iran-hezbollah-kidnapping-elizabeth-tsurkov-acdfa3a11b6ddbeb330460b28cab42ac?

[phkrause]

A fire at a shopping center in eastern Iraq kills more than 60 people

KUT, Iraq (AP) — A fire engulfed a newly opened shopping center in eastern Iraq, killing more than 60 people, including children, Iraqi officials said Thursday.

https://apnews.com/article/iraq-mall-fire-96e368d468ab86568ad605216e9f0589?

Iraq fire

At least 61 men, women and children perished in a massive fire that ripped through a 5-story shopping mall in eastern Iraq on Wednesday. According to a statement from Iraq’s Ministry of Interior, the bodies of 14 people remain unidentified. “Despite the severity of the situation, Civil Defense teams heroically managed to rescue more than 45 people who were trapped inside the building, with remarkable dedication and courage,” the interior ministry said. The cause of the blaze was not immediately known. The building, which housed a restaurant and a large supermarket, had only been open for seven days. The region’s governor has declared three days of mourning for the victims.

[phkrause]

Iraqi court sentences man to life in prison for trafficking fighters to Russian army in Ukraine

BAGHDAD (AP) — An Iraqi man has been sentenced to life in prison for human trafficking after he recruited Iraqis to fight for Russia against Ukraine, court officials said Monday.

https://apnews.com/article/iraq-court-russia-ukraine-foreign-fighters-a49944056d865e653c323c9fbc776a83?

[phkrause]

Reporter who was kidnapped in Baghdad is known for pursuing gutsy, low-budget assignments

BAGHDAD (AP) — American freelance journalist Shelly Kittleson often works without formal assignments from editors and on a shoestring budget, taking shared taxis to lawless corners of Iraq where militia rule outweighs government control.

https://apnews.com/article/iraq-kidnapped-journalist-baghdad-shelly-kittleson-3f3df27cb39ae304ecf49c81b7c44c80?