Asklemmy

Hmm. Unofficial Kurdish state in the north, typical Middle Eastern country in the south. Lots of Iranian influence. It had a wild ride thanks to warmongering Americans and Saddam, but as far as I can tell it's settled down since the end of ISIS as a territory-holding entity.

Aside from the politics, it's home to a lot of the oldest cities and ruins in existence. Like the rest of the region it used to be greener, but millennia of agriculture takes a toll.

I think Iraq has a similar climate to the desert where I live. Having grown up in the desert of the US, I have always wanted to visit other deserts to see how other cultures deal with the heat/dryness firsthand.

Beyond that and the obvious war news I do not know too much about Iraq.

It is a country with people in it of whom some suck and some don't suck. Like everywhere really.

One thing I know is. There's a lot of ruins. In Mesopotamia.

I've heard Iraqi Kurdistan is a nice place to visit and is relatively safe compared to the rest of the country.

Bossy militias... we call those cops here in the US. As for Iraq, I think of the people I have met from there and that area. All good people. As for the government... I don't know of a single government that I think positively of. Once you get enough people in one organization, it attracts the worst kind of people to join.

A neighboring country

I'm Canadian. I would say that I don't think much about it in terms of current events, I haven't heard much in the news about it in recent years. And my assumption from that is that's probably a good sign. There used to be a steady stream of bad news, and "no news" lies along the path in between "bad news" and "good news."

I did see a video recently about Iraq's plans for a giant new port facility on that little tidbit of Persian Gulf shoreline it has and road/rail link from it up through to Turkey, and thence onward into Europe. It sounded like a very optimistic development if it can be seen through to fruition, opening an alternative trade corridor to the Suez Canal. Anything that diversifies a country's economy is a good thing, and anything that removes single points of failure in global shipping networks is also a good thing. I can't imagine the Houthi obstruction of the Red Sea would still be a problem by the time that route opens up but at least it'll be an option if something like it happens again.

Iraq I feel like we (the US) wrecked and looted y'all and left the mess for you to clean up. I can remember being shocked at the start of that war and extremely skeptical about the pretext. Uneasy in general about the treatment of women there. I do think of the culture as so old, like the weight of history would lay heavy, and feel so bad about historical places getting smashed in war.

(Also so sorry for severe edit - my sleepy brain read Iran)