Former top US diplomat reveals mistakes made after 9/11 attacks
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad describes misgivings about the US handling of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
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Mohammad, a father of eight, asked Humanity & Inclusion for a risk education session. 'In the village, there are signs warning people to watch out for mines, but above all, there is a line all around our houses that we must not cross, as there have already been many accidents,' he said. [Martin Bertrand/Al Jazeera]
Sitting in the main room of their home, a family listens attentively to the team from HI to how to recognise explosive remnants and what to do about it. Khuder, right, had both his legs amputated five years ago. 'Our neighbour, a farmer, set off a mine when he was working in his field. I was here in the house when I heard the explosion. I ran straight away to help him. That's how I stepped on an explosive device and lost both my legs,' he said. [Martin Bertrand/Al Jazeera]
A billboard warns and educates people about the risks of explosive remnants of war by HI and the Directorate of Mine Action, the Iraqi government's mine action agency, in Nineveh. [Martin Bertrand/Al Jazeera]
There's nothing unusual about Khuder's story. When there is an explosion, coming to help is the most immediate reflex. But that's how one victim of an explosive remnant leads to another. After his accident, Khuder was treated at Mosul Hospital by a specialist doctor who fitted him with prostheses. Despite this, he says he is happy and content with his life, and that it has not changed much. He walks well and continues to live in his house, as before, with his wife, their five boys and three girls. [Martin Bertrand/Al Jazeera]
A small red flag warning of the presence of mines in Nineveh. [Martin Bertrand/Al Jazeera]
Hanin Mikdad, left, supervises education on the risks of explosive remnants of war in the province of Nineveh. Eight-year-old Shaha, right, was the victim of a car accident in June 2020 when the car she was in ran over an explosive device that killed her father and injured her right arm and face. [Martin Bertrand/Al Jazeera]
Living surrounded by IEDs undermines economic activity, particularly agriculture. Families like Salih's each have their own herd, a few goats and sheep. Salih, 16, lives in the family house, speckled with bullet holes. 'We've only lived here for three years. Before that, this village was occupied by [ISIL]. At the time, we lived in the neighbouring village, but after the Peshmerga [Kurdish forces] drove ISIL out, we lived in a camp until the end of the liberation. We didn't have enough money to rebuild our old home, so we came to live in this cheap house close to the school.' [Martin Bertrand/Al Jazeera]
Salih works as a shepherd to help support his family, while educating himself. He tends to his family's flock, but cannot do much else because explosive remnants restrict his movement. 'We just let the herd go off on its own and come back home, the animals know the way. They go to an area where there is a lot of grass to graze, but we can't get in. Many people have died there because of the explosive devices, until the government's Mine Action Directorate put up warning signs,' he said. [Martin Bertrand/Al Jazeera]
Warnings that explosive ordnance risks education are painted on the walls of a school. [Martin Bertrand/Al Jazeera]
Ahmed, 68, is a former farmer. He was in a car accident when he ran over an explosive device, losing his right leg and leaving his left foot severely damaged. On the right are ruined buildings in Mosul marked with 'EV' and a number indicating that explosive remnants may still be found inside. [Martin Bertrand/Al Jazeera]
Ahmed is treated during a rehabilitation session at a hospital in Mosul. [Martin Bertrand/Al Jazeera]
A mine-clearing training session is conducted by HI near the village of Bashir In the province of Kirkuk, southern Iraq. [Martin Bertrand/Al Jazeera]
Each mine clearance stage follows well-defined procedures. Workers' health information - like health conditions and their blood type - are registered and the ambulance on duty for them has a doctor on board. There is regular training for the medical teams on how to handle emergencies. 'So far, we haven't had any accidents. Our work is governed by standards, and these are the same throughout [Humanity & Inclusion's] teams. We monitor the integrity of our actions, as we do in all de-mining sites,' says Hiwa Hamza, safety supervisor on the site. [Martin Bertrand/Al Jazeera]
Explosive remnants are discovered and secured, waiting to be picked up by the Directorate of Mine Action. [Martin Bertrand/Al Jazeera]
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Abu Ghraib: Iraqi victims’ case against US contractor ends in mistrial
Three survivors sued the company CACI in civil court for abuses committed at the hands of US soldiers and contractors.
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![Iraqi prisoners wait to be released at Abu Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad, on June 23, 2006 [Wathiq Khuzaie/Pool/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2006-06-23T120000Z_1713980281_GM1DSWWRGRAA_RTRMADP_3_IRAQ-PRISONERS-1714135528.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
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The Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Michaeel Najeeb, holds an ancient Christian codex in Syriac at the Eastern Manuscript Digitisation Centre (CNMO) in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous northern Kurdish region. [Safin Hamid/AFP]
A boy looks at a sign written in Syriac at the Ashurbanipal Syriac School in Iraq's predominantly Christian town of Qaraqosh, in Nineveh province. [Waleed Al-Khalid/AFP]
Syriac language teacher Salah Sarkis writes on a whiteboard as he gives a class at the Ashurbanipal Syriac School in the town of Qaraqosh. [Waleed Al-Khalid/AFP]
Syriac is taught at about 265 schools across Iraq, according to Imad Salem Jajjo, who is responsible for Syriac education within the education ministry. [Waleed Al-Khalid/AFP]
Mariam Ashur, right, and Mariam Albert, left, presenters of a programme on al-Syriania, stand with channel director Jack Anwia in a studio in Baghdad. [Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP]
Iraq's government launched the al-Syriania television channel in April 2023 to help keep the language alive. It has about 40 staff and offers a variety of programming, from cinema to art and history. [Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP]
Artist and museum curator Saliwa Shamoun Abba cleans a Syriac-inscribed plaque about the history of the Syriac Museum, in Qaraqosh. [Waleed Al-Khalid/AFP]
A Syriac language Bible on display at the Syriac Museum in Qaraqosh. [Waleed Al-Khalid/AFP]
Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul Michaeel Najeeb retrieves an old Christian book at the Eastern Manuscript Digitisation Centre (CNMO) in Erbil. [Safin Hamid/AFP]
Archbishop Michaeel Najeeb looks through an old Christian codex in Syriac. [Safin Hamid/AFP]
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THE BIG QUESTION
Ukraine war: Did Putin learn from Bush’s Iraq horrors?
From Wagner’s crimes to the UN’s role, the Iraq invasion offered a preview of the Ukraine war. But not all is the same.
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