BAGHDAD – Twenty years ago, on the 20th of March 2003, the United States, along with the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland, invaded Iraq, claiming they were going in to destroy weapons of mass destruction. These were ultimately never found, but the 20 years of fighting that followed caused Iraq to spiral into chaos and put in motion a chain of events that saw an explosion of sectarian violence and a huge rise in the number and power of jihadi militias and armed groups.
The impact upon Iraq and its people has been utterly devastating. Over the past 20 years, more than 207,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed by fighting, and some 9 million have been forced to flee or migrate from their homes.
The invasion meant that Iraq, which was reeling from the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, became entangled with new challenges brought by political division, sectarian conflict, endemic corruption, and a deadly power struggle to control the country’s oil riches.
VICE World News went to Iraq to meet and spend time with five young people born around the time of the invasion, whose lives bear the scars of 20 years of bitter conflict. These young adults are coming of age in a time marred by two decades of high tensions; some are hopeful, but many despair at the country’s endemic levels of corruption and the increasing influence of armed groups.
This is their story.
Explore Their Stories
Banin Karim
Najaf, Iraq
the Iraqi Paralympic team.
Abdulrahman Said
Haditha, Anbar, Iraq
militia fighting ISIS.
Rawan Salim
Erbil, Iraq
Baqir Furqan
Sadr city, Baghdad, Iraq
KHALED
Hawija, Iraq
BANIN
Najaf, Iraq
Banin Karim was born prematurely on the 2nd of February 2003, in Najaf, central Iraq, with a club foot. When she was just two months old, the impact of a missile attack near her family home threw her from the cradle and dislocated her hip and back, leaving her permanently immobile.
Karim said she was admitted to school after five years of her family pleading with the education minister, and she described her early days in school as difficult because she was so much older than her peers. “Life for people like me is a bit extra difficult since there isn’t much dedicated to help us to move around,” she said.
“I was bullied in school and was looked upon as weak, which made me really shy and antisocial,” she added.
1.5 million people in Iraq are living with disabilities, one of the largest disabled populations in the world, part of the massive toll that decades of conflict have taken. However, government support is limited to a monthly salary and only basic medical care.
The Iraqi government has made minimal effort to provide access to equal opportunities for people living with disabilities.
Despite the hardships and obstacles, Karim has found a passion for table tennis after it was recommended to her by a friend, and she is currently an athlete and a member of the young Iraqi Paralympic team. She played in the Asia Youth Para Games in 2021 and won a silver medal.