logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2019
1h 12m

Iraq War: Is Iraq Better Now Without Sad...

Dave Rubin
About this episode
Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report talks to Faisal Saeed Al-Mutar (human rights activist) about Iraq. What is Iraq like now? Is Iraq safer now? Is Iraq better now than it was under Saddam Hussein? Faisal answers these questions and shares his first-hand accounts of what life was like during the Iraq War for civilians, witnessing the advance on Bagdad, the unstable occupation that followed, and then fleeing Iraq. He gives his perspective of the war, and what it was like to witness the allied invasion up close. Faisal tells how invading Iraq has improved some situations, while making others worse. He also shares how the current political situation is one of the untold failures of the Iraq War, and that Democracy requires more than just fair elections. Faisal also discusses how the United States was a more reliable and predictable ally when it was fighting Communism and the Cold War, and how the US is no longer a predictable ally to the Middle East. He also talks about his experience of becoming a US citizen and the differences between immigration in Europe and the US.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Up next
Today
Zohran Mamdani Humiliated as Netanyahu Threat Blows Up In His Face
Dave Rubin of "The Rubin Report" talks about Zohran Mamdani backing down on his plan to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu to hand him over to the International Criminal Court if he enters New York City, as Elon Musk endorses the idea of throwing Mamdani out of office and denaturalizing h ... Show More
1 h
Today
RFK Jr. Freezes $1 Billion, DOJ Investigates Harvard | 7/22/26 FIRST LOOK
Dave Rubin of "The Rubin Report" gives a first look at the stories you need to know to start your day, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Trump administration freezing more than $1 billion in Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota over suspected healthcare fraud, impr ... Show More
11m 2s
Yesterday
Watch Pollster's Face as He Realizes How Much Worse It Just Got for Democrat Establishment
Dave Rubin of "The Rubin Report" talks about CNN's Harry Enten sharing new polling data that should scare the Democratic establishment and Chuck Schumer as more incumbent Democrats face potential losses in their primaries to Democratic Socialists; CNN's Van Jones going viral for ... Show More
1h 4m
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2023
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad: Iraq Through Iraqis' Eyes
This week on Babel, Jon Alterman speaks with award-winning Iraqi journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad. During the conversation, Abdul-Ahad discusses the fallout from the war and U.S. occupation, his career reporting from Iraq, and the ways that working alongside leading journalists influ ... Show More
30m 29s
May 2024
Learning from Iraq
After the US-led coalition's invasion of Iraq and defeat of Iraqi forces in conventional operations, a series of new challenges arose. How can security forces be rebuilt and strengthened, for example, and how can peace and governance be restored? This episode is the second in a t ... Show More
46m 35s
Mar 2023
Iraqis and the consequences of the Iraq War
In March 2003, the United States led an invasion of Iraq that would topple Saddam Hussein's regime, but would have far-reaching consequences for the next two decades. No-one knows exactly how many Iraqis have died as a result of the war. Estimates are all in the hundreds of thous ... Show More
27m 1s
Apr 2023
The Iraq I never knew
tail spinning
24m 57s
Mar 2023
Iraq 20 Years Later with Marsin Alshamary and Hamzeh Hadad
In a special episode of Babel to mark the 20th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war, Jon sits down with two Iraqi guests to talk about the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion. Dr. Marsin Alshamary is a research fellow with the Middle East Initiative at Harvard's Belfer Cen ... Show More
44m 41s
May 2022
Haider al-Abadi: Iraq and the Fight Against the Islamic State
This week on Babel, Jon speaks with Dr. Haider al-Abadi, an Iraqi politician who served as prime minister from 2014 to 2018, while the country was battling the Islamic State Group (ISG). They talk about his decision making as prime minister, the Iraqi government's response to the ... Show More
32m 7s
Sep 2023
When Your Home Town Gets Invaded
<p dir="ltr">What's life like for a high schooler who's home town gets invaded by a foreign army? Ali Ali was living in historic Babylon, in Iraq, during the War on Terror. He joins to discuss what an invasion is like, what life is like in a lawless state, and his interpretations ... Show More
1h 54m
Mar 2023
20 years after the invasion of Iraq
Ben and Tommy record a bonus episode to mark the 20-year anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq to try and answer the question: how did the Iraq war change America and the world? They’re joined by journalist and Iraq war supporter turned vocal opponent Peter Beinart, and Congress ... Show More
1h 28m