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Having stopped resisting U.S. forces (who shoot back), militias are focusing on unarmed activists in what appears to be a coordinated crackdown on freedom of expression.

Ever since Iraq's Tishreen protests of 2019, which the muqawama (resistance) brutally suppressed, Iranian-aligned militia groups have escalated their draconian campaign to silence any opposition in the media. Recent weeks have seen concerted attacks on anti-corruption campaigners by terrorist and militia factions in the judiciary, parliament, and government, echoed by muqawama media platforms.

Mobilizing the Judiciary

On February 18, Federal Supreme Court chief Jassem Mohammed Aboud sent a letter to Iraqi president Abdul Latif Rashid stating, The News Center on WhatsApp run by Mustafa Kamel and his group has positioned itself to evaluate government agencies and their caretakers...in a way that does not align with public order and ethics. He and those who partner with him make accusations and use immoral words, including Yahya al-Kubaisi" (Figure 1a). The letter continues: "It has been noticed that some officials in sensitive state positions are participating in [this activity]...All of this violates Article 226 of Iraqi Penal Code No. 111 of 1969, which states, 'Anyone who publicly insults the nations council [the parliament], government, courts, armed forces, organizational committees, public authorities, or official or semiofficial offices...shall be punished by a sentence that does not exceed seven years' imprisonment or a fine'...This court will take the necessary legal procedures about that (Figure 1b).

The letterappeared to cast Aboud as the complainant and the judge for this issue. The document was published online, probably on purpose, and received praise frommuqawama media, who no doubt hoped to intimidate activists and prevent them from appearing in the media or expressing their opinions on social media. More specifically,Aboudsignaled that Article 226 of the Baath-era publishing law, which bans criticism of state organs, would be enforced on a more regular basis going forward.

The Prime Minister and Parliament Join the Attack

In recent years, Iraqis have become accustomed to the theCommunications and Media Commission (CMC) banning activists from appearing on television based on accusations such as promoting Baathism or engaging with Israel. Prominent figures subjected to this censorship include the aforementioned Yahya al-Kubaisi, along with Rabee al-Jawari, Alaa al-Nashoo, Omar Abdal-Sattar, Ahmed al-Abyad, and Imad Bajalan.

This year, however, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has begun to bring Article 226 cases against media commentators who criticize him personally:

Assassinating Commentators: Easy to Do, Hard to Mention in Iraqi Media

On February 22, Fakhari Karim, the head of al-Mada for Media, Culture, and Arts, survived an assassination attempt by an unidentified armed group in the gated community of Qadisiyah, Baghdad. The next day, editor-in-chief Ghassan Charbel of the leading foreign newspaperAsharq al-Awsattweeted that Baghdad had become a factory of assassinations.

In response, Iraq'sal-Ahd TV, run by the U.S.-designated terrorist group Asaib Ahl al-Haq, interviewed formerSpokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed ForcesAbdul Karim Khalaf, who said that Charbel must be sued...This shouldnt pass, the tweet is clear targeting (Figure 4).

A Clear and Disturbing Trend

Article 226 of the old Baath Penal Code is being readied for widespread use against critics of the Sudani government. In other words, a democracy that the United States helped build is planning to send its freedom of expression back to the era of brutal dictatorship. The Iran-backed terrorist groups and militias that control Sudani and his government are trying to snuff out all public criticism of abuses carried out by their personnel, the state organs they run, and even the prime minister himself.

These abuses and censorship efforts demand a significant international response, perhaps including U.S. postponement of Sudanis planned April visit to the White House. Failing that, terrorist groups will conclude that they have a green light to shift their war against U.S. forces into a war against all those who oppose militia rule of Iraq. The U.S. military can protect itself, but unarmed Iraqi citizens cannot; they need international actors to stand up for them.

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Iraq's "Resistance" Factions Shift to Major Crackdown on Media Spaces - The Washington Institute

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Hudson and Emily Crider are vlogging their way around the world on a mission to visit every country

Courtesy Hudson and Emily Crider

Hudson and Emily Crider are traveling to every country in the world so far, they've visited 179 out of 195 countries total

The married couple journeyed to Iraq and documented their visits to historic, holy and ancient sites around the Middle Eastern country

Through their videos, the Criders hope to shine a light on the country's welcoming citizens

Globetrotting travelers Hudson and Emily Crider are opening up about their experience in Iraq.

The married content creators are on a mission to explore every country in the world and document their cultural experiences on social media.

The Criders who have visited 179 countries of the total 195, plus all 50 U.S. states have posted videos from their time in New Zealand, Japan, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and beyond, but their most recent trip to Iraq has grabbed the attention of millions across Instagram and TikTok.

In a series of over 20 videos, the couple details what it's like to be an American tourist in Iraq, offering travel tips and disproving misconceptions along the way.

One video which has over 35,000 views on Instagram opens with several screenshots of comments criticizing Iraq as a travel destination before cutting to footage of Hudson and Emily enjoying their time in the Middle Eastern country.

Courtesy Hudson and Emily Crider

The more we travel, the more we realize that countries are so much more than their governments," the Criders wrote in the caption. There are incredible people all around the world, and some of the friendliest and most hospitable people we've met are in Iraq.

(The U.S. State Department has placed Iraq on the highest travel advisory level, warning against American tourism in the country due to safety and security risks.)

Their latest visit marks the Criders' second time in Iraq, and they've vlogged their journeys to the countrys holy sites, marshlands and major cities, like Baghdad, Karbala and Nasiriyah. The full-time travelers tell PEOPLE that the ancient history in Iraq is "on another level."

Courtesy Hudson and Emily Crider

The cradle of civilization is based in modern day Iraq," the couple says, detailing how they visited historic Mesopotamian locations like Babylon and Ur. "Being able to walk through history was truly amazing, they add.

Hudson and Emily's more contemporary excursions granted them an unshakable new perspective on global affairs, especially during a visit to the city of Mosul, which was under ISIS occupation from 2014 to 2017.

Courtesy Hudson and Emily Crider

Walking with locals through the destruction of their city as they shared their stories is something we will never forget. Despite all the horrific things theyve experienced, the peoples joy is incredibly inspiring. This was also one of the most hospitable places we have ever visited. They said tourism is a sign of hope for them," the Criders tell PEOPLE.

The couple says they were met with no shortage of kindness and generosity from the Iraqi people. On multiple occasions, they said vendors offered them goods for free, just because they wanted us to know we were welcomed in Iraq, the couple says, adding, We had to insist on paying!

Courtesy Hudson and Emily Crider

Their fans and followers' most frequent questions concern safety while traveling in the Middle East. The couple tells PEOPLE they havent felt any threats of danger during their trips to Iraq, though they advise interested travelers to book a local guide.

You can travel to Iraq on your own, but some places are more difficult to reach or to get access to visit, the Criders share.

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Couple Travels to Iraq After Vowing to Visit All 195 Countries Their Experience Goes Viral (Exclusive) - Yahoo Entertainment

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The devastation of Gaza was inevitable: A comparison to US operations in Iraq and Syria  The Times of Israel

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The devastation of Gaza was inevitable: A comparison to US operations in Iraq and Syria - The Times of Israel

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The term fog of war expresses the chaos and uncertainty of the battlefield. Often, it is only in hindsight that people can grasp what was unfolding around them.

Now, additional clarity about the Iraq War has arrived in the form of a new book by MIT political scientist Roger Petersen, which dives into the wars battlefield operations, political dynamics, and long-term impact. The U.S. launched the Iraq War in 2003 and formally wrapped it up in 2011, but Petersen analyzes the situation in Iraq through the current day and considers what the future holds for the country.

After a decade of research, Petersen identifies four key factors for understanding Iraqs situation. First, the U.S. invasion created chaos and a lack of clarity in terms of the hierarchy among Shia, Sunni, and Kurdish groups. Second, given these conditions, organizations that comprised a mix of militias, political groups, and religious groups came to the fore and captured elements of the new state the U.S. was attempting to set up. Third, by about 2018, the Shia groups became dominant, establishing a hierarchy, and along with that dominance, sectarian violence has fallen. Finally, the hybrid organizations established many years ago are now highly integrated into the Iraqi state.

Petersen has also come to believe two things about the Iraq War are not fully appreciated. One is how widely U.S. strategy varied over time in response to shifting circumstances.

This was not one war, says Petersen. This was many different wars going on. We had at least five strategies on the U.S. side.

And while the expressed goal of many U.S. officials was to build a functioning democracy in Iraq, the intense factionalism of Iraqi society led to further military struggles, between and among religious and ethnic groups. Thus, U.S. military strategy shifted as this multisided conflict evolved.

What really happened in Iraq, and the thing the United States and Westerners did not understand at first, is how much this would become a struggle for dominance among Shias, Sunnis, and Kurds, says Petersen. The United States thought they would build a state, and the state would push down and penetrate society. But it was society that created militias and captured the state.

Attempts to construct a well-functioning state, in Iraq or elsewhere must confront this factor, Petersen adds. Most people think in terms of groups. They think in terms of group hierarchies, and theyre motivated when they believe their own group is not in a proper space in the hierarchy. This is this emotion of resentment. I think this is just human nature.

Petersens book, Death, Dominance, and State-Building: The U.S. in Iraq and the Future of American Military Intervention, is published today by Oxford University Press. Petersen is the Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science at MIT and a member of the Security Studies Program based at MITs Center for International Studies.

Research on the ground

Petersen spent years interviewing people who were on the ground in Iraq during the war, from U.S. military personnel to former insurgents to regular Iraqi citizens, while extensively analyzing data about the conflict.

I didnt really come to conclusions about Iraq until six or seven years of applying this method, he says.

Ultimately, one core fact about the country heavily influenced the trajectory of the war. Iraqs Sunni Muslims made up about 20 percent or less of the countrys population but had been politically dominant before the U.S. took military action. After the U.S. toppled former dictator Saddam Hussein, it created an opening for the Shia majority to grasp more power.

The United States said, Were going to have democracy and think in individual terms, but this is not the way it played out, Petersen says. The way it played out was, over the years, the Shia organizations became the dominant force. The Sunnis and Kurds are now basically subordinate within this Shia-dominated state. The Shias also had advantages in organizing violence over the Sunnis, and theyre the majority. They were going to win.

As Petersen details in the book, a central unit of power became the political militia, based on ethnic and religious identification. One Shia militia, the Badr Organization, had trained professionally for years in Iran. The local Iraqi leader Moqtada al-Sadr could recruit Shia fighters from among the 2 million people living in the Sadr City slum. And no political militia wanted to back a strong multiethnic government.

They liked this weaker state, Petersen says. The United States wanted to build a new Iraqi state, but what we did was create a situation where multiple and large Shia militia make deals with each other.

A captains war

In turn, these dynamics meant the U.S. had to shift military strategies numerous times, occasionally in high-profile ways. The five strategies Petersen identifies are clear, hold, build (CHB); decapitation; community mobilization; homogenization; and war-fighting.

The war from the U.S. side was highly decentralized, Petersen says. Military captains, who typically command about 140 to 150 soldiers, had fairly wide berth in terms of how they were choosing to fight.

It was a captains war in a lot of ways, Petersen adds.

The point is emphatically driven home in one chapter, Captain Wright goes to Baghdad, co-authored with Col. Timothy Wright PhD 18, who wrote his MIT political science dissertation based on his experience and company command during the surge period.

As Petersen also notes, drawing on government data, the U.S. also managed to suppress violence fairly effectively at times, particularly before 2006 and after 2008. The professional soldiers tried to do a good job, but some of the problems they werent going to solve, Petersen says.

Still, all of this raises a conundrum. If trying to start a new state in Iraq was always likely to lead to an increase in Shia power, is there really much the U.S. could have done differently?

Thats a million-dollar question, Petersen says.

Perhaps the best way to engage with it, Petersen notes, is to recognize the importance of studying how factional groups grasp power through use of violence, and how that emerges in society. It is a key issue running throughout Petersens work, and one, he notes, that has often been studied by his graduate students in MITs Security Studies Program.

Death, Dominance, and State-Building has received praise from foreign-policy scholars. Paul Staniland, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, has said the work combines intellectual creativity with careful attention to on-the ground dynamics, and is a fascinating macro-level account of the politics of group competition in Iraq. This book is required reading for anyone interested in civil war, U.S. foreign policy, or the politics of violent state-building."

Petersen, for his part, allows that he was pleased when one marine who served in Iraq read the manuscript in advance and found it interesting.

He said, This is good, and its not the way we think about it, Petersen says. Thats my biggest compliment, to have a practitioner say it make them think. If I can get that kind of reaction, Ill be pleased.

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A careful rethinking of the Iraq War - MIT News

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This story is part of DAVs 2024 report, Women Veterans: The Journey to Mental Wellness. The report is a comprehensive assessment of the unique factors contributing to the staggering rates of suicide among women veterans and how the system charged with their mental health care can and must do better. Learn more at womenveterans.org.

So, my neuromuscular neurologist, I have to go to Minneapolis to see him, and its an eight-hour round trip, she said. When [veterans here] need any type of specialty care, its Minneapolis, Omaha or Fargo. And Ive been sent to all of them over the years for specialty care.

The medical center closest to her is one of two in the entire state, so Hubersthe commander of DAV Chapter 1 in Sioux Falls and a volunteer benefits advocatehas heard her fair share of stories from veterans in rural areas who struggle to access VA health care.

Thats the nature of our state, she said. But we matter too.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 1 in 4 women veterans who use VA health care services live in rural areas. There is a 20% increased risk for suicide among rural veterans, who also face a number of unique barriers in accessing care, such as health provider shortages, long distances to access specialty care and prohibitive travel expenses.

Hubers, who estimates she spent over $1,000 in travel expenses to see specialists over the course of 14 months, hasnt been reimbursed for such expenses in years. She said the reimbursement system is cumbersome and has rarely worked for her.

She stopped using VA-supported community care after a series of long delays and poor communication. She stopped using the Vet Center for mental health care when she lost her counselor to turnover. On top of that, Hubers experienced years of being dismissed and misdiagnosed by VA providers, making medical appointments traumatic and detrimental to her health.

Hubers now relies mostly on private health care providers outside of the VA system and pays out of pocket for mental health counseling.

It feels like a betrayal, she said, and it adds a lot of frustration and a lot of emotional turmoil to something thats already hard.

Hubers said shes grateful for how DAV has highlighted the challenges of women veterans and advocated for meaningful change over the years. Shes hopeful that a renewed focus on mental health will lead to even more progress.

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Iraq War veteran struggles to access VA care in rural area - DAV

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