Episode Details

This is the second in a multi-part series of episodes marking the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which began on March 20, 2003.

Iraqi voices are largely absent from U.S. retrospectives on the war and its consequences. In this episode, Baghdad native and The Guardian journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad reflects on everything he witnessed over the past 20 years -- the fall of Saddam, military occupation, civil war, torture, the rise of ISIS -- through the eyes of the "liberated." Despite what some American commentators claim, Iraq is not a democracy today and neither is it "better off" thanks to the U.S. invasion. Corruption now reigns and the fabric of Iraqi society was permanently damaged. Abdul-Ahad's new book, "A Stranger in Your Own City," is a superb reporter's account of the catastrophe seen through Iraqi eyes.