🇺🇸🇮🇶 US troops finally leave Iraq - but scars remain

From the 2003 invasion to the return of troops in 2014 to ostensibly fight ISIS, US forces were a constant presence in Iraqi life:

🌏 midnight raids and doors kicked in

🌏 men humiliated in front of their wives and children

🌏 neighborhoods scarred by years of fighting

🌏 resistance to US presence grew into a powerful political force

🌏 assassination of Qasem Soleimani – a symbol of that resistance - only intensified demands for the US to leave

The Iraqi government eventually placed the US on the list of forces to be expelled from the country.

Yet the military withdrawal does not mean the end of American influence: Iraq’s oil revenues remain held through accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, giving the US continued leverage.

For many Iraqis, resistance has become the answer to breaking the grip of outside powers seeking to shape their country.

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