State Department: You Might Want to Rethink Your Vacation to Tikrit
The State Department states the obvious with a travel warning for Iraq.
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
More from Foreign Policy

Saudi-Iranian Détente Is a Wake-Up Call for America
The peace plan is a big deal—and it’s no accident that China brokered it.

The U.S.-Israel Relationship No Longer Makes Sense
If Israel and its supporters want the country to continue receiving U.S. largesse, they will need to come up with a new narrative.

Putin Is Trapped in the Sunk-Cost Fallacy of War
Moscow is grasping for meaning in a meaningless invasion.

How China’s Saudi-Iran Deal Can Serve U.S. Interests
And why there’s less to Beijing’s diplomatic breakthrough than meets the eye.