Ten years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and Iraq continues to bleed. One would have hoped to mark this occasion with a glimmer of hope that things on the ground were moving towards better times, but they are not. As I look over a piece I wrote on Iraq almost a year ago, I find nothing to change about it, except to add more hopelessness and despair unto prospects for Iraq as we now see it. And although the war in Syria has captured more headlines during the past year, Iraq continues to pay the price for a war it had no say in, and for which none of its rivers seem enough to put out its burning flames…
As the Middle East and Arab World witness historical changes, Iraq provides lessons on many fronts: from the perils of foreign intervention (Western and Arab), the poisonous repercussions of sectarianism, the contagious nature of religious extremism, and the reality of the world’s apathy as a country falls apart…
Of course, the war in Iraq will eventually come to an end, as all wars do, but we have yet to see how it will come out of it. And given that it is sadly not in our hands to contribute to the end of Iraq’s tragic fate, the least we can do is learn from its lessons and fight (and hope) that the region will not witness yet another Iraq and everything that has led to its breakdown.
Eye on the East 
Seeing that they were describing Iraq as another Lebanon, and the current talk about the ‘Lebanonization’ of Syria, it may be more accurate to wonder who the next Lebanon might be. I’m just hoping it won’t be Lebanon. Full circle. Thank you Karma.
For me, it has been a while since I had not heard Lebanon used as an example, as Iraq has overshadowed it recently. But you’re right, our own Lebanonization is always around the corner. I tend to think that people here are slightly more aware of the repercussions of an impending war this time around. But then again, some people feed off this kind of violence and for others, it may be an attempt at keeping afloat. Hope karma behaves for us this time around!