Both my parents are Iraqi Arabs from Baghdad. They escaped Iraq in the early 90s during Saddam's infamous Faith Campaign, where both my relatively leftist dad and my shia mother both fell under some prosecution. They left to Syria and then got resettled in the US thanks to a UN program. I speak fluent Arabic and meet up every year with my extended family in Jordan or Turkey, as both countries are relatively safe for Iraqis.
AMA about Iraqi politics, Iraqi society and the general cultural and political state of the Arab World. I will answer a few questions directly, but I'll keep the rest for late night today as I will go on a long ass drive in an hour.
Short answer, I hate them and they all should never be forgiven.
Long answer, every single troop commited an incredible crime by participating voluntarily in the slaughter and plunder of a far away country in a completely fake war. I don't hate Vietnam vets, because most of them were forced by the Draft, but there's no excuse for choosing the Iraq War path. Anyone who makes an excuse for their participation in the criminal Iraq War is unredeemable imo, I don't give a fuck about anyone joining the army because they couldn't afford college, go tell that to the women that US Army widowed and the kids that they orphaned. On the other hand, I'm willing to accept any US troop as a comrade as long as they know that they're disgusting human scum for doing what they did without any excuses. I know it sounds maybe harsh, but I want them to be weighed down by the crime that they committed and live with those consequences even if they're reformed.
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