BAGHDAD (AP) 鈥� On the banks of the Tigris River one recent evening, young Iraqi men and women in jeans and sneakers danced with joyous abandon to a local rap star as a vermillion sun set behind them. It鈥檚 a world away from the the U.S. invasion
's capital today is throbbing with life and a sense of renewal, its residents enjoying a rare, peaceful interlude in a painful modern history. The wooden stalls of the city鈥檚 open-air book market are piled skyward with dusty paperbacks and crammed with shoppers of all ages and incomes. In a suburb once a hotbed of al-Qaida, affluent young men cruise their muscle cars, while a recreational cycling club hosts weekly biking trips to former war zones. A few glitzy buildings sparkle where bombs once fell.
President George W. Bush called the U.S.-led invasion on March 20, 2003, a mission to free the Iraqi people and root out . Saddam Hussein's government was toppled in 26 days. Two years later, the CIA鈥檚 chief weapons inspector reported no stockpiles of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons were ever found.
The war deposed a dictator whose imprisonment, torture and execution of dissenters kept 20 million people in fear for a quarter of a century. But it also broke what had been a unified state at the heart of the Arab world, opening a power vacuum and leaving oil-rich Iraq a wounded nation in , ripe for a power struggle among Iran, Arab Gulf states, the United States, terrorist groups and Iraq鈥檚 own rival sects and parties.
For Iraqis, the enduring trauma of the violence that followed is undeniable 鈥� an estimated 300,000 Iraqis were killed between 2003 and 2023, according to the at Brown University, as were more than 8,000 U.S. military, contractors and civilians. The period was marred by unemployment, dislocation, sectarian violence and terrorism, and years without reliable electricity or other public services.
Today, half of Iraq's population of 40 million isn鈥檛 old enough to remember life under Saddam or much about . In dozens of recent interviews from Baghdad to Fallujah, young Iraqis deplored the loss of stability that followed Saddam鈥檚 downfall 鈥� but they said the war is in the past, and many were hopeful about nascent freedoms and opportunities to pursue their dreams.
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Editor鈥檚 note: John Daniszewski and Jerome Delay were in Baghdad 20 years ago when the U.S. bombing began. They chronicled the unraveling of the country that followed, in text and photos. They returned 20 years later for this special report on how the country has changed over two decades 鈥� especially for its young people.
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In a marbled, chandeliered reception room in the palace where Saddam once lived, seated in an overstuffed damask chair and surrounded by paintings by modern Iraqi artists, , who assumed office in October, spoke glowingly of the country鈥檚 prospects. The world鈥檚 perception of Iraq as a war-torn country is frozen in time, he told The Associated Press in an interview.
Iraq is rich; peace has returned, he said, and there are opportunities ahead for young people in a country experiencing a population boom. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e a little bit patient, I think life will improve drastically in Iraq.鈥�
Most Iraqis aren't nearly as bullish. Conversations begin with bitterness that the ouster of Saddam left the country broken and ripe for violence and exploitation by sectarian militias, politicians and criminals bent on self-enrichment or beholden to other nations. Yet, speaking to younger Iraqis, one senses a generation ready to turn a page.
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Safaa Rashid, 26, is a ponytailed writer who talks politics with friends at a cozy coffee shop in the Karada district of the capital. With a well-stocked library nook, photos of Iraqi writers and travel posters, the caf茅 and its clientele could as easily be found in Brooklyn or London.
Rashid was a child when the Americans arrived, but rues 鈥渢he loss of a state, a country that had law and establishment鈥� that followed the invasion. The Iraqi state lay broken and vulnerable to international and domestic power struggles, he said. Today is different; he and like-minded peers can sit in a coffee shop and freely talk about solutions. 鈥淚 think the young people will try to fix this situation.鈥�
Another day, a different caf茅. Noor Alhuda Saad, 26, a Ph.D. candidate at Mustansiriya University who describes herself as a political activist, says her generation has been leading protests decrying corruption, demanding services and seeking more inclusive elections 鈥� and won鈥檛 stop till they鈥檝e built a better Iraq.
鈥淎fter 2003, the people who came to power" 鈥� old-guard Sunni and Shiite parties and their affiliated militias and gangs 鈥� "did not understand about sharing democracy,鈥� she said, tapping her pale green fingernails on the tabletop.
鈥淵oung people like me are born into this environment and trying to change the situation,鈥� she added, blaming the government for failing to restore public services and establish a fully democratic state in the aftermath of occupation. 鈥淭he people in power do not see these as important issues for them to solve. And that is why we are active.鈥�
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Signs of the invasion and insurgency have been largely erased from Baghdad. The former Palestine Hotel, Ferdous Square, , the airport road pockmarked by IED and machine-gun attacks have been landscaped or covered in fresh stucco and paint.
The invasion exists only in memory: bright orange flashes and concussions of American 鈥渟hock-and-awe鈥� bombs raining down in a thunderous cacophony; tanks rolling along the embankment; Iraqi forces battling across the Tigris or wading into water to avoid U.S. troops; civilian casualties and the desperate, failed effort to save a fellow journalist gravely wounded by a U.S. tank strike in the final days of the battle for Baghdad. Pillars of smoke rose over the city as Iraqi civilians began looting ministries and U.S. Marines pulled down the .
What appeared to be a swift victory for the U.S.-led forces was illusory: The of life came in the months and years that followed. The occupation stoked a stubborn guerrilla resistance, bitter fights for control of the countryside and cities, a protracted civil war, and the rise of the Islamic State group that spread terror beyond Iraq and Syria, throughout the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe.
The long, staggeringly costly experience in Iraq exposed the limitations of America鈥檚 ability to export democracy and chastened Washington鈥檚 approach to foreign engagements, at least temporarily. In Iraq, its democracy is yet to be defined.
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Blast walls have given way to billboards, restaurants, cafes and shopping centers 鈥� even over-the-top real estate developments. With 7 million inhabitants, Baghdad is the Middle East鈥檚 second-largest city after Cairo, and its streets teem with cars and commerce at all hours, testing the skill of traffic guards in shiny reflective caps.
Daily life here looks not so different from any other Arab metropolis. But in the distant deserts of northern and western Iraq, there are occasional clashes with remnants of group. The low-boil conflict involves Kurdish peshmerga fighters, Iraqi army troops and some 2,500 U.S. military advisers still in country.
It is but one of the country鈥檚 lingering problems. Another is endemic corruption; a 2022 government audit found a network of former officials and businessmen stole $2.5 billion.
Meanwhile, digital natives are testing the boundaries of identity and free speech, especially on TikTok and Instagram. They sometimes look over their shoulders, aware that shadowy militias connected to political parties may be listening, ready to squelch too much liberalism. More than a dozen influencers were arrested recently in a crackdown on 鈥渋mmoral鈥� content, and this month authorities said they would enforce a long-dormant law banning alcohol imports.
In 2019-20, fed-up Iraqis, especially young people, across the country against corruption and lack of basic services. After more than 600 were killed by government forces and militias, parliament agreed to a series of election law changes designed to allow more minorities and independent groups to share power.
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The sun bakes down on , the main city in the Anbar region that was once a hotbed for al-Qaida of Iraq and, later, the Islamic State group. Beneath the iron girders of the city鈥檚 bridge across the Euphrates, three 18-year-olds are returning home from school for lunch.
In 2004, this bridge was the site of a gruesome tableau. Four Americans from were ambushed, their bodies dragged through the streets, hacked, burned and hung as trophies by local insurgents, while some residents chanted in celebration. For the 18-year-olds, it鈥檚 a story they鈥檝e heard from their families 鈥� distant and irrelevant to their lives.
One wants to be a pilot, two aspire to be doctors. Their focus is on getting good grades, they say.
Fallujah today is experiencing a construction renaissance under former Anbar Gov. Mohammed al-Halbousi, now speaker of Iraq鈥檚 parliament. He has helped direct millions of dollars in government funding to rebuild the city, which experienced repeated waves of fighting, including two U.S. military campaigns to rid the city of al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.
Fallujah gleams with new apartments, hospitals, amusement parks, a promenade and a renewed gate to the city. Its markets and streets are bustling. But officials were wary of letting Western reporters wander the city without an escort. The AP team鈥檚 first attempt to enter was foiled at a checkpoint.
The prime minister鈥檚 office intervened the next day, and the visit was allowed, but only with police following reporters at a distance, ostensibly for protection. The disagreement over security and press access is a sign of the uncertainty that overhangs life here.
Still, Dr. Huthifa Alissawi, 40, an imam and mosque leader, says such tensions are trifling compared with what his congregation lived through. Iraq has been engulfed in war for half of his life. When the Islamic State group overran Fallujah, his mosque was seized, and he was ordered to preach in favor of the 鈥渃aliphate鈥� or be killed. He told them he鈥檇 think about it, he said, and then fled to Baghdad. He counted 16 killings of members of his mosque.
鈥淚raq has had many wars. We lost a lot 鈥� whole families,鈥� he said. These days, he said, he is enjoying the new sense of security he feels in Fallujah. 鈥淚f it stays like now, it is perfect.鈥� ___
Sadr City, a working-class, conservative and largely Shiite suburb in eastern Baghdad, is home to more than 1.5 million people. In a grid of thickly populated streets, women wear abayas and hijabs and tend to stay inside the house. Fiery populist religious leader Moqtada al-Sadr, 49, is still the dominant political power, though he rarely travels here from his base in Najaf, 125 miles to the south. His portraits, and those of his ayatollah father, killed by gunmen in Saddam's time, loom large.
On a clamorous, pollution-choked avenue, two friends have side-by-side shops: Haider al-Saady, 28, fixes tires for taxis and the three-wheeled motorized 鈥渢uk-tuks鈥� that jam potholed streets, while Ali al-Mummadwi, 22, sells lumber for construction.
Thick skeins of wires hooked up to generators form a canopy over the neighborhood. City power stays on for just two hours at a time; after that, everyone relies on generators.
They say they work 10 hours every day and scoff when told of the Iraqi president鈥檚 promises that life will be better for the young generation.
鈥淚t is all talk, not serious,鈥� al-Saady said, shaking his head. Sadr City was a hotbed of anti-Saddam sentiment, but al-Saady 鈥� too young to remember the fallen dictator 鈥� nevertheless expressed nostalgia for that era's stability.
His companion echoes him: 鈥淪addam was a dictator, but the people were living better, peacefully.鈥� Dismissing current officials as pawns of outside powers, al-Mummadwi added, 鈥淲e would like a strong leader, an independent leader.鈥�
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When news spread recently that a musician born and raised in Baghdad whose songs have gotten millions of views on YouTube would headline a rap party hosted at a fancy new restaurant in western Baghdad, his fans shared their excitement via texts and Instagram.
Khalifa OG raps about the difficulties of finding work and satirizes authority, but his lyrics aren't blatantly political. A song he performed under strobe lights on a grassy lawn next to the Tigris mocks 鈥渟heikhs鈥� who wield power in the new Iraq through wealth or political connections.
Fan Abdullah Rubaie, 24, could barely contain his excitement. 鈥淧eace for sure makes it easier鈥� for young people to gather like this, he said. His stepbrother Ahmed Rubaie, 30, agreed.
The Sunni-Shia sectarianism that led to a pitched civil war in Iraq from 2006 to 2007, with bodies of executed victims turning up each morning on neighborhood streets or dumped into the river, is one of the societal wounds that the rappers and their fans want to heal.
鈥淲e had a lot of pain ... it had to stop,鈥� Ahmed Rubaie said. 鈥淚t is not exactly vanished, but it's not like before.鈥�
Secular young people say that unlike their parents who lived under Saddam, they鈥檙e not afraid to make their voices heard. The 2019 demonstrations gave them confidence, even in the face of backlash from pro-religious parties.
鈥淚t broke a wall that was there before,鈥� Ahmed Rubaie said.
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Iraq鈥檚 prime minister, , took office in October. A former government minister for human rights and governor of Maysan province, southeast of Baghdad, he won support from a coalition of pro-Iranian Shiite parties after a yearlong stalemate. Unlike other Shiite politicians who fled during the Saddam era, he never left Iraq, even when his father and five brothers were executed.
Working in a former Saddam palace that U.S. and British officers and civilian experts once used as headquarters for their frenetic attempts at nation-building, al-Sudani still grapples with some of the issues that plagued the occupiers, including restoring regional relations and balancing interests among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. He said building trust between the people and government will be his first priority.
鈥淲e need to see tangible results 鈥� job opportunities, services, social justice,鈥� al-Sudani said. 鈥淭hese are the priorities of the people.鈥�
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One of the Shiite militias that took part in that campaign against the Islamic State group is Ketaib Hezbollah, or the Hezbollah Battalions, widely viewed as a proxy for Iran and a cousin to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria. It also is part of the political coalition that established al-Sudani鈥檚 government.
Ketaib Hezbollah鈥檚 spokesman, Jafar al-Hussaini, met AP at an outdoor restaurant in Baghdad鈥檚 Dijlas Village, an opulent, 5-month-old complex of gardens, spas and a dancing fountain overlooking a bend in the Tigris, an idyllic Xanadu that looks like a transplant from uber-wealthy Dubai.
Al-Hussaini voiced optimism for the new Iraqi government and scorn for the United States, saying the U.S. sold Iraq a promise of democracy but failed to deliver infrastructure, electricity, housing, schools or security.
鈥淭wenty years after the war, we look towards building a new state,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ur project is ideological, and we are against America."
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Far from such luxury, 18-year-old Mohammed Zuad Khaman, who toils in his family鈥檚 kebab caf茅 in one of Baghdad鈥檚 poorer neighborhoods, resents the militias鈥� hold on the country because they are an obstacle to his dreams of a sports career. Khaman is a talented footballer, but says he can鈥檛 play in Baghdad鈥檚 amateur clubs because he does not have any 鈥渋n鈥� with the militia-related gangs that control sports teams in the city.
He got an offer to train in Qatar, he said, but a broker was charging $50,000, far beyond his family鈥檚 means.
War and poverty caused him to miss several years of school, he said, and he's trying to get a high school degree. Meanwhile, he takes home about $8-$10 a day wiping tables and serving food and tea. He is among those Iraqis who would like to leave.
鈥淚f only I could get to London, I would have a different life.鈥�
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In contrast, for Muammel Sharba, 38, who managed to get a good education despite the war, the new Iraq offers promise he did not expect.
A lecturer in mathematics and technical English at the Middle Technical University campus in Baquba, a once violence-torn city in Diyala, northeast of Baghdad, Sharba left in 2017 for Hungary, where he earned a Ph.D. on an Iraqi government scholarship.
He returned last year, planning to fulfil his contractual obligations to his university and then move to Hungary permanently. But he鈥檚 found himself impressed by the changes in his homeland and now thinks he will stay.
One reason: He discovered Baghdad鈥檚 nascent community of bicyclists who gather weekly for organized rides. They recently rode to Samarra, where one of the worst sectarian attacks of the war happened in 2006, a bombing that damaged the city鈥檚 1,000-year-old grand mosque.
Sharba became a biking enthusiast in Hungary but never imagined pursuing it at home. He noticed other changes, too: better technology and less bureaucracy that allowed him to upload his thesis and get his foreign Ph.D. validated online. He got a driver鈥檚 license electronically in one day. With infrastructure improvements, he's even seen some smoother roads.
Security in Diyala isn鈥檛 perfect, he said, but it鈥檚 less fraught than before. Not all his colleagues are as optimistic, but he prefers to focus on the glass half-full.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think European countries were always as they are now. They went through a long process and lots of barriers, and then they slowly got better,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 believe that we need to go through these steps, too.鈥�
On a recent evening, a double line of excited cyclists threaded a course through the capital鈥檚 busy streets for a night ride, Sharba among them. They raised neon-green-clad arms in a happy salute as they headed out.
As daylight ebbed into a crimson sunset, it wasn鈥檛 hard to imagine that Iraq, like them, could be on the way to a better place.
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John Daniszewski is AP鈥檚 vice president for standards and editor at large. Jerome Delay is chief photographer in Johannesburg, South Africa. AP reporter Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Abby Sewell, AP's Syria, Lebanon and Iraq news director, contributed to this report from Baghdad.
John Daniszewski, The Associated Press
