Opinion by Feurat Alani: In Iraq, the war shapes the everyday lives of people trying to build an existence for themselves and their families. But the war has also erased a coherent sense of Iraqi identity. This is the war’s most bitter legacy.
as part of a policy of collective punishment for a broad uprising against the regime.
Nevertheless, just as it was for many citizens in Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union, everyday life was safe, calm and predictable for those around me. I was surrounded by a warm and loving community that identified as Iraqis — not as Sunnis or Shiites. Iraqi identity was already fraying under Hussein, but it still meant something. The country still cohered.When I next returned, in 1992, the embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council had just begun to set in.
After 9/11, momentum for the Iraq War picked up steam. In Western media, Iraqis were reduced to either victims of Hussein who longed for occupation or supporters and defenders of dictatorship. This troubled me. The truth was more complicated. Many Iraqis I knew were not political. They had no love for Hussein, but they wanted a quiet life.From June 2003 to September 2013, I made Baghdad my home.
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