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State Department: You Might Want to Rethink Your Vacation to Tikrit

The State Department states the obvious with a travel warning for Iraq.

GettyImages-452325542
GettyImages-452325542

Anyone planning on a summer jaunt to Baghdad might want to rethink their plans.

Anyone planning on a summer jaunt to Baghdad might want to rethink their plans.

On Monday morning, the State Department issued a travel warning, urging Americans to avoid “all but essential” travel to Iraq. It might seem obvious to most that visiting a country currently engaged in a fight against the Islamic State, a terrorist group that routinely beheads opponents and burns people alive, is a bad idea. The advisory really drives that point home.

It’s also likely — in part at least — that the directive was aimed at U.S contractors, business officials, and journalists who are trying to carve out livelihoods across Iraq.

But it also contains an odd line for those looking for a bit of adventure during their summer getaway.

“Private U.S. citizens are strongly discouraged from traveling to Iraq to join in armed conflict,” the release says.

You can read the lengthy travel warning here.

Photo credit: Mustafa Tauseef/Getty Images

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