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Iraq Must Not Squander Another Opportunity to Rebuild

The war’s legacy is 20 years of broken hopes and dreams. This government must do better.

al-Oraibi-Mina-foreign-policy-columnist
al-Oraibi-Mina-foreign-policy-columnist
Mina Al-Oraibi
By , a columnist at Foreign Policy and the editor in chief of the National.
Iraqi children walk along a damaged road on their way back from school in Mosul, Iraq
Iraqi children walk along a damaged road on their way back from school in Mosul, Iraq
Iraqi children walk along a damaged road on their way back from school in Mosul, Iraq, on Nov. 28, 2018. ZAID AL-OBEIDI/AFP via Getty Images

Anniversaries of wars are difficult moments to commemorate. Journalists and analysts pore over what has happened since the war began, diplomats and politicians reflect on how it bolstered or hurt their careers, and historians begin to consider when the right moment would come up to write a book chronicling it.

Mina Al-Oraibi is a columnist at Foreign Policy and the editor in chief of the National. Twitter: @AlOraibi

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