Raised by war: This is what it’s like to come of age in Iraq
In 2003, the most powerful army in the world invaded Iraq. Ali Makhzoumy was 16 at the time. He remembers the grating sound of American tanks as they rolled into Baghdad. The invasion was just the beginning. It was a warning shot for the unimaginable forces that would define life for an entire generation of […]In 2003, the most powerful army in the world invaded Iraq. Ali Makhzoumy was 16 at the time. He remembers the grating sound of American tanks as they rolled into Baghdad. The invasion was just the beginning. It was a warning shot for the unimaginable forces that would define life for an entire generation of young Iraqis.
At the time, its architects expected the war to be short. Removing Saddam Hussein — whom the US falsely accused of harboring weapons of mass destruction and supporting al-Qaeda — was the stated goal. Few considered the possibility that, in one form or another, the conflict could drag on for well over a decade. And certainly none of them considered the impact that 13 years of war could have on Iraqi youth.
The lives of Iraqis now in their late teens and their twenties have been shaped by years of Western economic sanctions, the US invasion, and the conflicts that were at least partly born from it: multiple insurgencies, civil war, and the rise of ISIS. The paths of young people have been altered in life-changing ways. And as Iraq’s 20 million children grow to be adults, their experiences will shape the country — for better or for worse — for many years still to come.
