Twelve Years Later: And How is Baghdad Today?

‘Two scenes from the fall of Baghdad in 2003 are burned into historical memory. The first is the choreographed toppling of Saddam Hussain’s statue in Firdos square by US marines, who covered it first with their flag. The second is the chaos of the looting of museums and state property.

The first was a declaration of military victory and “mission accomplished”. The second was a declaration of the start of the erasing of Iraqi culture, history and identity.

Baghdad was a microcosm of what befell Iraq as a whole, violated time and again by US troops, mercenaries, special forces, proxies and militias, scarred over and over by human and physical destruction.’

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