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Some of Drapers most revealing passages focus on the intense pressure that Cheney and his chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, as well as the Defense Department official Douglas J. Feith, exerted on the intelligence agencies to buttress and even concoct the case that Saddam had intimate ties with Al Qaeda and that he possessed weapons of mass destruction. Draper presents the former C.I.A. director George Tenet in a particularly unflattering light. After being shunted aside during the Clinton presidency, Tenet was desperate to show Bush that he was an important and loyal soldier in the new war against terrorism. Here we had this precious access, one senior analyst told Draper, and he didnt want to blow it. Tenet and his aides, Draper writes, feared the prospect of President Bush being spoon-fed a bouillabaisse of truths, unverified stories presented as truths and likely falsehoods. On the other hand, the agency stood to lose its role in helping separate fact from fiction if it appeared to be close-minded.

But Tenet ended up displaying canine fealty to Bush. In October 2002, when asked by the Senate intelligence chairman Bob Graham about whether any links between Saddam and Osama bin Laden really existed, Draper writes, Tenet issued a reply that Cheney, Libby, Wolfowitz and Feith could only have dreamed of. He declared, among other things, that there was solid reporting of senior level contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda going back a decade.

For all the effort that Cheney and others expended in trying to depict Iraq as a dire menace, how much did the evidence and details actually matter? The cold, hard truth is that they didnt. They were political Play-Doh, to be massaged and molded as Bushs camarilla saw fit. Draper highlights the famous slam dunk meeting in the Oval Office in December 2002, when Tenet assured Bush that the evidence for Colin Powells upcoming speech at the United Nations Security Council in support of an invasion was solid.

In Plan of Attack, Bob Woodward described Bush as being beset by doubt about the case for war, and suggested that Tenets affirmation had been very important. Draper disagrees. The issue wasnt the evidence. It was the spin: Tenets words were important only because they helped remove any doubt as to whether the C.I.A. could mount a solid case. Bushs thinking was as clear as it was simplistic. Saddam was a monster. It would be a bad idea to leave him in power. According to Draper, Bushs increasingly bellicose rhetoric reflected a wartime president who was no longer tethered to anything other than his own convictions.

In his 2005 Inaugural Address, Bush tried to turn neoconservative ideology into official doctrine: It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world. It wasnt until the shellacking that the Republicans endured in the 2006 midterm elections that Bush began to abandon his fantasies about spreading peace, love and understanding across the Middle East. He fired Rumsfeld and shunted Cheney to the side.

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Why the United States Invaded Iraq - The New York Times

Baghdad (AFP) - Thirty years have passed since Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein invaded neighbouring Kuwait, but despite hints of a diplomatic rapprochement, people in both countries say the wounds have yet to heal.

On August 2, 1990, Saddam sent his military, already exhausted by an eight-year conflict with Iran, into Kuwait to seize what he dubbed "Iraq's 19th province."

The two-day operation turned into a seven-month occupation and, for many Iraqis, opened the door to 30 years of devastation that has yet to end.

From Baghdad to Basra, Kirkuk to Babylon, Iraqis agree that the incursion "marked the beginning of the end."

"Since the invasion of Kuwait, we haven't known peace or security," said Um Sarah, a retired teacher in Baghdad.

"It's only gone from bad to worse, like we were cursed."

Iraq's occupation of its much smaller neighbour ended swiftly with US-led Operation Desert Storm.

But it was followed by a decade of crippling sanctions, another US invasion in 2003, civil war, sectarian violence and the jihadist proto-state of the Islamic State group, only defeated in late 2017.

The most painful of these, for many Iraqis, was the embargo imposed by the United Nations just four days after Saddam's invasion.

The Iraqi dinar, until then worth $3, began a jaw-dropping devaluation, settling at 3,000 dinars to the dollar.

The wages from a month of working odd jobs were barely enough to buy a chicken to feed the family, recalled Jassem Mohammed, who lived through the embargo in the city of Kut, around 200 kilometres (125 miles) southeast of the capital.

To survive, Iraqis had to get crafty: reusing every bit of plastic or metal, rewearing old clothes and bartering instead of buying.

Iraqi troops returning from Kuwait saw their savings vanish.

"For the first time, I saw a senior officer with the rank of colonel using public transportation to get around," said ex-soldier Sarmad al-Bayati.

"The army lost its prestige."

- 'They hung her' -

A few cunning businessmen linked to Saddam ran sanctions-busting and smuggling operations, prototypes of the mass graft still plaguing the Iraqi state today.

Story continues

"The embargo changed people's ethics and opened the way for corruption," said Mohammed.

It also destroyed Iraq's middle class: with goods barred from entering, Hisham Mohammed saw his father's business of importing construction materials collapse.

"With the embargo, products weren't entering anymore and all of my father's capital -- 100,000 dinars -- was worth nothing," said the 50-year-old Baghdad resident.

Iraq's currency and its homegrown industries have yet to recover, even three decades on.

While Iraq languished, Kuwait prospered: its currency is one of the most valuable in the world and its people are some of the wealthiest.

But they are still haunted by Saddam's invasion.

Entire neighbourhoods were destroyed, hundreds of Kuwaitis were tortured or executed, and thousands more were taken as prisoners of war.

Only 17 at the time, Ghida al-Amer is still horrified by the fate of her older sister, a chemist who helped the Kuwaiti "resistance" lay explosives for incoming Iraqi troops.

"They hung her with electrical wires," she recalled.

"The wound is still there."

- Forgive, but never forget -

Even politically, the war's bitter legacy is taking years to undo.

The UN only lifted the last of its sanctions on Iraq in 2010, and Baghdad has paid around $50 billion in the last three decades in reparations.

Today facing its worst fiscal crisis in years amid the coronavirus pandemic and plummeting oil prices, Iraq has asked for an extension for the final $3.8 billion.

Kuwait has demonstrated some goodwill: in 2018, it hosted a global summit to gather funds to rebuild Iraq, ravaged by the three-year fight against IS.

But it remains bitter over two issues: borders and bodies.

Kuwait's maritime patrols regularly detain Iraqi fishermen who stray too far into neighbouring waters. Iraq says the UN-drawn maritime borders are unfair.

Kuwait is also lambasting Iraq for delays in identifying the remains of Kuwaiti victims buried in Iraq.

The fate of around 1,000 citizens from each country remains unknown, after years of war and chaos.

A programme by the International Committee of the Red Cross to repatriate remains has only brought home the bodies of 215 Kuwaitis and 85 Iraqis.

Shuruq Qabazard, who was a young girl during the invasion, said the last 30 years have helped her empathise with Iraqis.

Her father Ahmad, a leading figure of Kuwait's resistance, was tortured and ultimately killed by Iraqi forces.

"With time, we discovered that Iraqis, like us, suffered the tyranny of Saddam Hussein," she said.

But erasing the scars of the invasion is "impossible", she said.

"It was the most important event for my entire generation," she told AFP.

"We may be able to forgive and reconciliate, but we will never be able to forget."

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Three decades on, Iraq and Kuwait haunted by Saddam's invasion - Yahoo News

TEHRAN President Hassan Rouhani has highlighted the necessity to expand relations between Iran and Iraq and also speed up implementation of agreements.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to develop comprehensive relations with Iraq and is ready to cooperate and transfer its experiences to the country in fighting coronavirus, Rouhani told Iraqi President Barham Salih in a phone call on Friday.

Rouhani also described a visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi to Iran as positive.

Salih also called Kadhimis visit positive and called for increasing cooperation.

He noted that developing relations with Iran is a principle in Iraqs foreign policy.

Kadhimi visited Tehran on July 21-22 to discuss ties between Iran and Iraq. The Iraqi prime minister met with a number of high-ranking Iranian officials including Rouhani, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

During a joint press conference with Rouhani on July 21, Kadhimi said that his visit to Iran was aimed at boosting ties.

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi has said that Kadhimis visit to Iran was in line with expanding foreign ties.

In an interview with Iraqi News Agency, Abadi said that the objective behind the visit was benefiting Iraq and using depth of its history and civilization to boost its foreign relations, ISNA reported on Monday.

He also said that Iraq is very important for Iran in countering the sanctions.

The former prime minister said Iraq is like air way for Iran.

NA/PA

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Rouhani highlights need to expand relations with Iraq - Tehran Times

Situation Overview

Whilst movement trends in Iraq have generally remained stable since early 2018, there has been a considerable shift since August 2019 with increasing numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) returning to their area of origin (AoO) or being displaced for a second time. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM)s Emergency Displacement Tracking recorded over 9,600 households being displaced or returned to non-camp locations between 29 February and 15 June 2020, only 3% of which were recorded in Al Kaim district (representing 41% for Al Anbar governorate).

There have been concerns in the humanitarian and development community over the principled character and durability of new returns and potential consequences for humanitarian needs and social cohesion in areas to which families have returned or been secondarily displaced.

Al Rummaneh

Al Rummaneh is a sub-district of Al Kaim district, located on the north side of the Euphrates in western Al Anbar governorate, on the Iraq-Syria border.

KIs reported that Al Rummaneh town was housing over 3,600 families before 2014, mostly Sunni Muslim Arab population. The sub-district fell under the control of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in June 2014 forcing over 2,500 families to flee their homes, as reported by key informants (KIs) during data collection. However, since Al Rummaneh was retaken in November 2017, most residents displaced in 2014 have reportedly returned. At the time of data collection, an estimated total of 718 families were reported to remain in displacement.

Population Profile

3,360-3,945families were reported by KIs to be residing in Al Rummaneh before the events in 2014.

65-70%of the pre-2014 population in Al Rummaneh settlements displaced in 2014, as reported by KIs.

81-85%of the population displaced in 2014 have returned, as reported by KIs.

11-20IDP families are reported by KIs to reside in Al Rummaneh settlements (not specified area of origin).

Excerpt from:
Rapid Assessment on Returns and Durable Solutions, Al Rummaneh Sub-district - Al Kaim District - Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq, June 2020 - Iraq -...

Sumedha Sharma

Tribune News Service

Gurugram, July 28

The Gurugram drug control department has busted a drug-smuggling cartel that not just hoarded Covid treatment medicines, but was to smuggle these to Iraq in an upcoming Vande Bharat flight.

Three foreigners, including two Iraqi men and an Uzbek woman, all working as translators, were nabbed from Sector 47 along with Remdesivir (48 vials), Fabiflu (55 strips) and Lopikast (18 packs) drugs.

Remdesivir costs Rs 5,400 per vial here and is reportedly sold for around Rs 1 lakh in Iraq. Similarly, Fabiflu strip is priced Rs 2,500 in India and sells for Rs 8,000 in Iraq. Lopikast vial costs Rs 3,990 here and goes for around Rs 15,000 in Iraq. The seizure has also brought thecitys Covid hospitals under scanner as drugs like Remdesivir are directly provided to hospitals by the manufacturing company after verifying patient details. The local drug department too is provided with a daily-dispensing report of these drugs. The police are probing whether any hospital helped the accused in procuring the drugs.

We got a tip-off and busted the racket. The accused procured the drugs at MRP from Gurugram and wanted to send these to Iraq, said Gurugram Drug Controller Amandeep Chauhan.

Sources said the cartel had somehow procured the traveller list of the forthcoming flight schedule for Iraq and planned to send the medicines in small batches with Iraqi nationals.

State Drug Controller Narender Ahuja said all district departments were on alert over black-marketing attempts of Covid drugs in Haryana. We have arranged direct company-to-hospital supply chains to stop black-marketing. Errants would face the music, he said.

Remdesivir sells for Rs 1L

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Bid to smuggle Covid drugs to Iraq, 3 held - The Tribune India