Iraq in 2023 Is a Very Different Place to 2003 Iraq | American Enterprise Institute

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The Iraqi capital in 2023 is far different from Baghdad in 2003. Ramadi and Fallujah, once the hotbed of insurgency, are not only peaceful but also booming with construction and commerce. Sectarianism is, at least among the 50% of the population born after the war, in the rearview mirror. The parking lots of Baghdad’s malls and shopping centers are full of cars from Iraqi Kurdistan, predominantly Shi’ite southern Iraq, and largely Sunni al Anbar province. Baghdadis from across the religious and ethnic spectrum…