Iraq, a hard place: 20 years after the invasion
The Intelligence from The Economist
The Economist
4.5 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2023
⏱️ 23 minutes
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Summary
America invaded Iraq 20 years ago this week. Today Baghdad is bustling, violence across the country is less frequent, but these gains have come at a horrific cost. India is getting a huge, essential infrastructure upgrade. And we say goodbye to one of our hosts.
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Runtime: 22 min
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist. |
| 0:07.2 | In New York, I'm John Fassman. |
| 0:10.4 | Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:18.8 | Traveling in India is fascinating and lightning, worthwhile, but often pretty frustrating. |
| 0:24.9 | That may soon change. |
| 0:26.4 | The country is in the middle of a huge, essential infrastructure upgrade that could make it |
| 0:30.6 | richer and better connected. |
| 0:34.4 | And all good things eventually come to an end. |
| 0:37.7 | That includes my time hosting the Intelligence. |
| 0:40.8 | At the end of the show, I'll say goodbye to Jason and our terrific colleagues and look |
| 0:45.3 | ahead to my return on the other side of the microphone. |
| 0:55.8 | This week marks 20 years since the American invasion of Iraq. |
| 1:11.8 | So I got back from Baghdad earlier this month and I was really surprised to see more than |
| 1:16.9 | ever ascents in which there are signs that life is returning to Iraq. |
| 1:23.6 | Like power is the Middle East correspondent for the Economist. |
| 1:26.5 | There's a 37 story tower that's rising over the city for the new central bank, a new |
| 1:32.3 | city ring road, the road to the airport that used to be considered to be the most dangerous |
| 1:37.0 | road in the world because of the snipers and the bombs our route is now lined with universities |
| 1:42.2 | and new real estate. |
| 1:44.2 | Even Western tour companies are talking about taking tourists back to look at the archaeological |
| 1:48.3 | sites. |
| 1:49.3 | The old fear that used to accompany anyone visiting and anyone living in the capital, |
... |
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