While we home in on Arab Spring strife, the Syria conflict and Gaza crisis, as well as Egypt's re-ignited revolution itch, it is tempting to forget that Iraq is still not out of the woods yet. Invasion, occupation, and full-blown civil war have taken their toll on a haguard community who are yet to mend the mess from sanction-drained Saddam Hussein times, let alone rebuild their reality following the terrible 2003 Iraq War, which drags on into a new decade.
Iraq is a country today of war-scarred people who are still no closer to regaining any semblance of security than they were during the first and second Gulf Wars. Their war wounds are mentally and physically indelible. From munition-induced mutations to shell-shock and despair at the utter break-down in intercommunal relations, their shatted lives are matched by a butchered heritage that cannot be recovered. They have lost more than loved ones and peace, but also ancient shrines, mosques and museums.
Sacred tombs have been the charged battlegrounds of sectarian blood-letting. Libraries have been looted, museums and archaeological treasures sacked, and state coffers have been thieved. Multiple tragic flashpoints of wreckage abound nation-wide; from Fallujah's suspected white phospherous or depleted uranium cancerous legacy, to a broken Basra wracked by occupation, and the sorry besieged Baghdad - a capital without an operational infrastructure.
The survivors of Iraq are left to pick up the pieces of a paradise eroded and all but lost.
Many have blood on their hands, from the war time coalition forces to local militant mafias ever since. Americans, Sunnis and Shias - all seem to have had a hand in collaborating to destroy this cradle of civilization that is now but a shadow of the great Mesopotamia.
Car bombs - not ancient libraries or biblical landmarks- have become the byline for Iraq, and Baghdad like the Beirut of long-time civil war will need to be nursed back to health and prosperity.
Have your say - Have you forgotten about Iraq's suffering - or do you even suffer from Iraq news fatigue? Do you think the violence will cease any time soon? Can the Iraqis recover from the damage to their land and archaelogy?
