In mid-September, the Iraqi government announced that it had reached an agreement with the United States to withdraw most US troops from Iraq over the next two years. About two weeks later, at the end of the United Nations General Assembly meeting on September 27, US and Iraqi officials characterized the agreement as a transition
In Season 2, Episode 5 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by international lawyer Katherine Gallagher to discuss her litigation efforts against a prominent private military company (PMC) for war crimes at Abu Ghraib. Katherine talks us through the sixteen-year legal fight on behalf of former Iraqi detainees, the various
The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, marked a watershed moment in global security and the US approach to counterterrorism. The coordinated strikes by al-Qaeda not only resulted in the tragic loss of nearly 3,000 lives but also fundamentally altered US domestic and foreign policy—leading to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the establishment of the
Growing up in a small rural village in northern Iraq, I witnessed that child marriage was normalized and widely practiced due to a combination of cultural traditions, economic hardships, and loopholes in the legal system. The girls I knew, like all children married at a young age, were deprived of their childhood and fundamental rights.
In Season 2, Episode 4 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by former Blackwater—rebranded as Academi— contractor Morgan Lerette in a wide-ranging conversation. They discuss everything from Blackwater’s lax vetting procedures, the opacity surrounding the laws and regulations governing Private Military Companies (PMCs), the absence of a support system for former
As August approaches, so does the tenth anniversary of the 2014 Yezidi genocide in Sinjar, Iraq—and with it, the question of accountability in US courts of law. Admittedly, the US government and legal system have been working to hold perpetrators of the genocide—members of the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)—to account. These
Despite its rich tradition as a cradle of learning dating back to ancient Mesopotamia, and a leading educational system in the Middle East by the mid-twentieth century, Iraq’s educational landscape has faced significant challenges. The 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq war, the 1991 Gulf War, and subsequent international sanctions severely damaged educational infrastructure and funding, leading to a
International Women’s Day is an annual event on March 8 that recognizes and honors the achievements of women worldwide. It is an occasion to reflect on progress made, acknowledge the challenges that persist, and inspire collective action to create a more equitable world. It is also a call to address systemic barriers, empower women, and
