[VO] FEBRUARY 5, 2003 AT A UN SECURITY COUNCIL
MEETING, UN SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL SHOWED A
VIAL ALLEDGEDLY CONTAINING ANTHRAX SPORES FROM IRAQ. IT ACTUALLY CONTAINED LAUNDRY DETERGENT.
[VO] MARCH 20, 2003 THE US ARMY AND ITS ALLIES INVADED IRAQ.
[VO] APRIL 9, 2003 US ARMY AND COALITION FORCES ENTERED BAGHDAD
AND TORE DOWN A STATUE OF SADDAM HUSSEIN IN FIRDOS SQUARE.
[VO] MAY 1, 2003 US PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH DECLARED VICTORY IN THE IRAQ WAR.
[VO] DECEMBER 30, 2006 SADDAM HUSSEIN EXECUTED.
[VO] DECEMBER 15, 2011 A CEREMONY WAS HELD IN BAGHDAD TO MARK THE END OF THE US MILITARY MISSION.
[VO] IN REALITY, THE US ARMY IS STILL IN IRAQ.
US INVADERS IRAQ 20 YEARS ON
[Amar Hussein] ...2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
[Amar] Please, call an ambulance
[VO] Amar Hussein, a student from Iraq, came to Russia in 2015. He's studying at Kazan University.
[VO] His dream is to become a surgeon.
[Amar] My father sent me here,
although 2014-15 were very tough years for Iraq
[Amar] It was the height of the war with ISIS
[Amar] Dad fought, so did my brother
[Amar] Dad said: 'Go on studying, go to Russia!'
[Amar] I remember in 2014, I passed my exam
[VO] He's not just a student, but also a nurse. Amar is a rehabilitation therapist at a new Kazan clinic opened
during the pandemic. He helps those who've long been living with the aid of medical devices to recover.
[VO] Amar's life is in Russia, but he knows he is still remembered in his native
Dujail. It's time to go home to see his parents, five brothers and sister.
[Amar] The people dearest to me are Mum and Dad
[Amar] It's exactly five years since I last set foot in Iraq
[Amar] Not once in 5 years, have they said:
'We're angry, you've hurt us, you don't think of us,'
or even, 'We miss you!'
[Amar] Why? Because they know what I'm doing
[Amar] In fact, they support me, and help me to carry on
[VO] 20 years after the US invasion, democracy doesn't seem to have
reached Iraq. The national currency is depreciating every month.
[VO] The bureaucracy has grown from 1 million officials to 7 million. Iraq ranks 157 out of 180 in the corruption index.Z
[VO] Amar hasn't noticed much change in his native Dujail.
[Amar] There are some changes...
in a few streets for example
[Amar] But sadly for me, as an Iraqi citizen,
there's not been as much change as I'd hoped
[Amar] Our ambitions were bigger
[Amar] For example, there are two hospitals in Dujail city
that haven't been finished
[VO] Throughout this time, Salam, Musafia's talk show on Arte Arabic has had scholars, political
scientists and military people analyze what's been happening in Iraq for the past 20 years.
[Host] Colonel Hatem, all this time, the people had 1 question:
who's responsible for the defeat?
[Hatem Al-Falahi] Responsibility for the Iraqi Army's defeat in 2003
undoubtedly lies with its leaders
[Hatem] But I must point out key facts from before the conflict
[Hatem] Iraq had been at war with Iran for 8 years,
then invaded Kuwait but pulled out in 1991,
losing about 40% of its military potential
[Hatem] Then the blockade was a heavy burden
[Hatem] The Iraqi war machine lost its ability to modernise
with electronic and high-tech assets
[VO] To recall the coalition forces attack and defense by Iraqi troops, Amar has come to the outskirts of Dujail.
[Amar] This road reminds me of the American invasion
[Amar] There was a place where we'd collect shells, missiles,
warheads, and explosive devices
[Amar] We were just 3rd grade kids in elementary school
[Amar] I remember vividly my friends and I sitting there
[Amar] We didn't really know what it was
[Amar] We'd throw mortar shells at each other
[Amar] We'd break one, open it up and pour out the gunpowder,
and write our names with it
[Amar] Then we'd set the gunpowder on fire
[Amar] Our names written with gunpowder burned so beautifully
[Amar] Two of my cousins got burned by gunpowder
[Amar] Sadly, too many Iraqi kids
fell victim to weapons proliferation...
invasion and missile strikes
[Amar] There were many casualties, both intentional and unintentional
[Amar] There were a great many casualties
[Amar] And this area, as you see, is fenced off
[Amar] It's considered a danger zone
[Amar] We'd go there to collect shells, explosives, and different rounds
[VO] Today's Iraq can roughly be divided into three parts. Sunni Baghdad in the center, Iraqi Kurdistan in the north,
with Erbil as its center, and Shiite Basra in the south.
[Abdulsalam Barawri] The Iraqi state was misconceived by old colonialism
[Abdulsalam] When the British and French, drew the borders, it was on paper
without taking the local populations into account
[Abdulsalam] Three different and contradictory cultures converged
within a single country's borders
[Abdulsalam] Iraq's political elite must try to create a sense among Iraqis
that we're Iraqi first, and then Kurd, Sunni, or Alawite
[Abdulsalam] But how can that be done?
[VO] After the 2003 invasion, former rival Shiites and Sunnis
reconciled and launched a guerrilla war that became a civil war.
[VO] The US Army and coalition forces were losing control. WikiLeaks revealed what had been carefully concealed.
[VO] The shooting of civilians in Baghdad on July 12, 2007, was cynically described as collateral murder.
[VO] President Bush at a dodged shoe is thrown at him at a press conference.
[George Bush] We made good progress, and we'll continue to work together to achieve peace.
[George Bush] to achieve peace.That's what we want, freedom and peace.
[George Bush] And so now I'm honored to be back here.
[VO] The invasion of Iraq saw the emergence of a terrorist organization known as ISIS.
[VO] Officially, Iraq defeated it in 2017. However, Baghdad knows terrorists still lurk on the border
with Syria, and some extremists are even vying for power.
[Abdulsalam] Some armed groups openly declare on their TV channels
that they don't belong to Iraq or any other country or leader
[Abdulsalam] The groups were on ballot papers and represented in parliament
[Abdulsalam] That's the situation in Iraq
[Amar] This was my school, a middle school
[Amar] It reminds me of...
when the ISIS terrorist organisation
invaded Iraq
[Amar] I remember I took my last exam, my last ever exam was here:
students who took the exam with me, in the same hall
[Amar] They studied in the same class, 3 were killed, my comrades
[Amar] Without even changing clothes after the exam,
[Amar] I went straight to the front to fight the ISIS terrorists
[Host] Is there accurate data on how much
the US stole from the Central Bank of Iraq?
[Hisham Tawfiq Al-Yawer] I can't quote accurate, documented figures,
but at the time, many people spoke of it
[Host] But, roughly speaking, how much can we estimate was stolen?
[Hisham] It's hard to say for sure
[Hisham] I know a lot of it was gold
[Hisham] Some of the Forex reserves were held in gold
[Hisham] And there were historical treasures too,
which are impossible to value in monetary terms
[Hisham] The Americans took it all when they got into the bank
[Hisham] I still don't know what happened to the valuables and the gold
[VO] Tariq Al-Khabi is a former civil servant. He remembers how US planes bombed the barracks
in his hometown of Tajik, while he and his neighbors watched from their homes.
[VO] Tariq survived the shelling but was later wounded by a landmine.
[Tariq] The next day, we were just walking, when a mine exploded
[Tariq] Not even a mine, who knows what it was?
[Tariq] It looked like a piece of metal, and it exploded
[Tariq] One of my friends was killed
[Tariq] The other had his leg torn off
[Tariq] My leg was badly wounded
[Tariq] They took me to a hospital, which was full of casualties
[VO] Nowadays, to make ends meet, Tariq drives a taxi. Sometimes his son, who works in a shopping center,
helps him out.
[Tariq] I wish I could work normally,
to plan my son's wedding and have a decent life,
but I can't afford it and I go around on crutches
[Tariq] I get no medical care, no prosthesis or wheelchair,
none of what I'm meant to get
[Tariq] I did get a Red Cross prosthesis, but it's not very good
[VO] After losing his leg, Tariq struggled to adjust to his new condition for a long time.
[VO] He developed diabetes and now has to take insulin. Tariq blames America for his misfortunes.
[Tariq] I don't want the Americans to treat my diabetes,
but they could give me a prosthesis,
so I could get up and down steps and lead a normal life
[Tariq] Unfortunately, I'm denied all of that,
because the US decided to bring 'freedom' to my country
[VO] In May 2003, George Bush solemnly declared victory on the deck of an aircraft carrier.
[George Bush] The tyrant has fallen and Iraq is free.
[VO] Paradoxically, the US soon concluded the country needed a new Saddam Hussein.
[Kirill Semyonov] Once the Americans had overthrown Hussein's regime,
they soon realised that power needed to be consolidated,
and the country needed a new, similar regime to bring order
[Kirill] But they didn't have the materials anymore,
as they'd destroyed the whole system
[Kirill] They needed a new Hussein!
[Kirill] They had to look for a new one among the...
Shiite majority. They didn't find one
[Host] About his last moments... The Americans
took him to a cell in the old Kadhimiya military intel building,
and handed him over for execution
[Bushra Khalil] An interpreter was with him, the one who told me about it
[Bushra] They got orders to go here and there
[Bushra] US Secretary Condoleezza Rice contacted him
and told the General in charge to wait
[Bushra] At the same time, in the US administration
a meeting was chaired by President George Bush
[Bushra] The decision to execute Saddam had to come personally from Bush
[Host] What happened next?
[Bushra] He said 15 minutes later, Rice called him, saying, in English: 'Go ahead!'
[Bushra] The interpreter told me the General asked indignantly
how 'he' could execute such a man!
[Bushra] He meant that a fool like Bush
could take the life of a great man like Saddam Hussein
[VO] Iraq ranks fifth in the world for proven oil reserves, but Baghdad taxi drivers complain about fuel prices.
[Kazim Hussein] Everyone suffers because of petrol
[Kazim] Everything's costly because of petrol prices
[Kazim] If they were as they were, goods would be cheaper
[Kazim] Even though the nation's oil-rich!
[Saan Abdul Amir] Gas prices are sky high,
especially for the conditions we live in now
[Saan] The country's economy is very bad: $0.30 for a driver
[Saan] It's no good for taxi drivers. Sometimes what they make on a trip
won't even cover the cost of the fuel
[VO] For Iraq, oil is both a curse that provoked all the recent wars
and a blessing. 55% of the country's GDP comes from oil production.
[VO] Other economy sectors, services, construction, agriculture are all in decline.
[Igor Yushkov] Naturally, in Iraq, oil extraction is the main source of income
[Igor] In fact, there's no industry in the country that isn't energy-related
[Igor] So, it's the basis for the whole economy in Iraq
[Igor] There's quite a large division of territory between Iraqi Kurdistan
[Igor] All other regions are controlled by the government in Baghdad
[Igor] And that region still has local authorities
they have to negotiate with
[Igor] So, Iraqi Kurdistan doesn't recognise Baghdad's sovereignty
over those deposits. They say:
'We must issue a licence for you to develop the deposits'
[Igor] Federalisation is inevitable,
because the Sunnis will also seek some sort of self-determination
[Kirill] For now, the power that tries to speak on behalf of Iraq
as a consolidated nation is the Iraqi Shiites, including al-Sadr
[Kirill] Muqtada al-Sadr is one of the most influential Iraqi politicians
[Kirill] He really is considered an Iraqi patriot
[Kirill] He was among the first Iraqi Shiites
to take up arms against the US
[VO] In August 2022, Iraq nearly descended into civil war once again. When the influential Shia
Imam, Muqtada al-Sadr, failed to get his candidates elected as president and prime minister,
he announced he was quitting politics and risked assassination, Causing his
supporters in Baghdanda riot and seized the Republican palace. Thirty people
were killed and hundreds injured. At this time the parties managed to reach
a compromise. But many in Iraq understand that the peace is only temporary.
[Host] Do you have any idea what kinds of weapons the Americans used
that killed so many people?
[Walid Abdul Malik Ar-Ravi] Some of the bodies were burnt,
but the armoured vehicles had no visible damage
[Walid] However, a tank driver was turned to charcoal
[Walid] They say that some kind of limited-action,
high-toxicity bombs were used
[Walid] After the occupation, the Americans replaced
the soil around the airport where fighting took place
[Walid] I also learned that a Baghdad carpentry firm
made 2,000 boxes that were 2 x 2 x 0.5 metres
[Walid] They were wood on the outside,
but lined inside with metal foil
[Walid] There was a contract with the businessman who supplied the foil
[Walid] I remember his name well because he told me
[Walid] His company is based in Al-Harthiya Area
[Walid] There is another piece of evidence:
[Walid] In Abu Ghraib, a large convoy of vehicles
was seen taking sand and gravel
to replace contaminated soil near the airport
[Walid] It looks as though they put contaminated,
and highly irradiated soil into those boxes
[VO] Professor of biology, Dr. Ayad Abdel Mokhsen buys equipment
at his own expense to conduct research in environmental pollution.
[VO] Following the 2003 US invasion, he's recorded an increase in cancer cases.
[Dr. Ayad Abdel Mohsen] Depleted uranium weapons were used in the war,
which are thought to be life-threatening
and affect the health of people, animals and the whole ecosystem
[Dr. Mohsen] The danger is inhaling contaminated dust
that stays in the ground
[Dr. Mohsen] Most dangerously, it can cause blood cancer,
which we are seeing in children in southern Iraq
[VO] Amar Hussein is studying in Russia. He doesn't know what kind of rockets hit their houses,
but remembers being terrified.
[Amar] This place had special meaning back during the American invasion,
when we were still kids, around 10 or 11 years old
[Amar] We and our families were scared of shelling
and dug a shelter here, 20 or 30 metres from the houses
[Amar] The shelter is behind me, but the area is lined with palm trees now
[Amar] We hid in this shelter if we heard rockets
[Amar] They were deafening
[Amar] We'd hear a rocket taking off,
and the sound hung in the air for a while
[Amar] After hearing them, we ran to the shelter fast
[Amar] During the invasion, most Iraqi houses were
turned into shelters, especially in rural areas
[VO] The events in Iraq caused 4 million to migrate according to UN data. Other sources speak of 2 million
war casualties and 7 million migrants. People fled from the Americans, from extremists and from ISIS.
[VO] In recent years, those who once quit the Republic are returning. Mohaled Hazem, a former
security officer, fled the country after his family was targeted in a terrorist attack.
[Mukhalled Hazem] I decided to go to Europe
[Mukhalled] To be precise, I went to Austria...
a new stage in my search for stability,
which I called 'bitter stability'
[Mukhalled] It was a new life
I was unaccustomed to,
with a new order and laws
[Mukhalled] I literally had to fight for my life...
in a struggle forced upon me
[VO] Eight years spent in Austria were years of torment, says the officer. He couldn't get a job due to his age
and had to live off humanitarian aid. It became clear that he had to go back. Mukhalled was able
to graduate and become a Bachelor of Law. He took up analyzing political processes which helped.
[Mukhalled] I'm now an accredited political columnist
for many international, Arabic, and local TV channels,
as well as my main job as a lawyer
[Mukhalled] To be honest, today, 20 years after regime change,
we still see no stability in the state
[Mukhalled] Growing numbers of people live below the poverty line
[Mukhalled] The country needs an upsurge, an upsurge of youth,
to unite efforts from different segments of society,
so the state can begin to serve its citizens
[Mukhalled] That's beside the fact that Iraq produces and exports oil,
which is usually an indicator of wealth
for the state and its people. But, sadly, due to poor management
and the lack of structures and institutions I mentioned before,
it's all led to Iraqi wealth being
concentrated in dishonest hands
[VO] Baghdad residents admit that since 2003 there's been one corrupt government after another.
[VO] And the corrupt government corrupt society says Oma Ali.
[Omar Ali] For me to get a government position, for example,
and I'm now 40, I'd need to pay a bribe
[Omar] And the situation with the dollar is quite unstable
[Omar] In my case specifically, I work in the private sector
and I receive a salary. Of course, that salary
isn't enough because the dollar has gone up to 1600-1700 dinars
[Shihab] We realised fast they were dumb
[Shihab] While investigating us, we asked: 'Is this really America?'
[Shihab] But Iraqi emigrants mostly caused the problems
[Shihab] They taught the Americans how to investigate here
[Shihab] They said: 'If they can't find you, they throw your sister in prison'
[Shihab] All talk of the Iraqi special services' harsh methods
[Shihab] But the Americans arrested women and kids
[VO] 20 years after the invasion, Iraq hasn't recovered from the democracy
forced upon it, and US troops remain in the country, albeit in smaller numbers.
[Abnan Abdul Amir Medhi] Of course, the regime after 2003,
set up with 'shock therapy', was democratic,
but Iraqis weren't ready for it, politically or socially
[Abnan] The previous regime was despotic towards people:
one power, one party, repression and lack of freedom
[Abnan] Today, when it comes to freedom and justice,
thank God, everyone can express their opinion
[Amar] I'm now at a site that is important to me personally,
as well as for the residents of the city of Dujail,
because it houses a memorial to Dujail martyrs
[Amar] Some were martyred by the American invasion,
others by Saddam Hussein's regime,
or during the war with ISIS
[Amar] This memorial has portraits of
8 old schoolmates, and my relatives
[Amar] The city of Dujail and Iraq as a whole
have sacrificed their best youth
[Amar] We had many aspirations, we wanted something bigger
[Amar] However, not everything you wish for comes true
[Amar] We hope that in future, God willing,
we'll see changes for the better, so people will be better served
in every field:
health care, social services, education, etc.
[Amar] I always wish for a better future
[Amar] I'm sure it will come, because Iraqis are a generous people,
a simple, hospitable people with a love for life