Iraq's women / America's war

20 years later

2003 The invasion was only a week away. Iraqi women, like most women in war zones, would face particular burdens and tragedies - many were reduced to pawns with little power to protect themselves or the people and homes they cared about. Then again, no one in Iraq had the power to stop or blunt the “shock and awe” force that Washington was about to unleash.

The people I met, almost to a person, were open and friendly, clearly able to distinguish America from an American; able to vililify a nation while relating to the lack of influence an individual citizen has over policy.

Twenty years on, media are still waffling about why we invaded. In contrast, see this excellent piece (marred only by its unfathomable omission of Henry Kissinger) by Jon Schwarz in The Intercept. https://theintercept.com/2023/03/15/iraq-war-where-are-they-now/