Rivalry between America and Iran threatens to wrench Iraq apart again
A squabble for control has left Iraq without a government
THE capital has not looked so good in decades. Baghdad’s restaurants have had fancy facelifts. New malls seem to be opening every month. Cranes motionless since Saddam Hussein’s fall in 2003 are moving again as rich Iraqis have begun to invest at home instead of squirrelling their takings abroad. Huge billboards of frowning clerics have been replaced by neon advertisements of unveiled smiling girls. Rockers pack an open-air peace festival on the bank of the River Tigris.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Messipotamia”
From the September 15th 2018 edition
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