The 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq resulted in massive death and destruction, and fueled sectarian tensions, which culminated in a violent civil war. More than 300,000 Iraqis have died from direct war violence and 9.2 million people have been internally displaced, according to Brown University's Costs of War Project.
The Brutal invasion and occupation of Iraq entrenched the country in a cycle of sectarian violence and impacted every aspect of life in Iraq, from governance to health care, infrastructure, economy and the environment and long term trauma 

In a recent piece in the Guardian, one of today’s guests Professor sinan antoon writes, “ I had always hoped to see the end of Saddam’s dictatorship at the hands of the Iraqi people, not courtesy of a neocolonial project that would dismantle what had remained of the Iraqi state and replace it with a regime based on ethno-sectarian dynamics, plunging the country into violent chaos and civil wars.

This week, we bring you the first part of our conversation about the reasons behind the catastrophic invasion of Iraq- we are joined by guests 

Sinan Antoon is an award winning Iraqi poet and novelist, and an Associate Professor at New York University's Gallatin School and co-founder and co-editor of Jadaliyya.  His most recent novel is The Book of Collateral Damage

Dr. Omar Sirri is a research associate in the Department of Politics and International Studies at SOAS, University of London. His doctoral dissertation, Scarecrows of the State: An Ethnography of Security Checkpoints in Contemporary Baghdad, was named co-winner of the 2022 Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Award in the Social Sciences from the Middle East Studies Association.

They spoke with shahram aghamir

Why did the US invade Iraq, 20 years ago? A conversation with Sinan Antoon+Omar Sirri

The Mediterranean Sea has become a huge cemetery for many thousands of migrants and asylum seekers who have been risking their lives trying to cross it in search of a better future.

This week, we speak with Athens based independent journalist Moira Lavelle about the state of refugees and asylum seekers trying to reach Greece-

Later in the program, we remember Palestinian revolutionary and novelist Ghassan Kanafani- He was killed in Beirut by the Israeli Mossad spy agency on 8 July 1972. He was 36 years old.

Asylum seekers in Greece, remembering Palestinian revolutionary Ghassan Kanafani

Voices of the Middle East and North Africa is a weekly program hosted by Malihe Razazan and Mira Nabulsi. It explores the richly diverse and fascinating world of culture and politics of the Middle East and North Africa through a complex web of class, gender, ethnic, religious and regional differences. Voices of the Middle East and North Africa airs on KPFA radio, 94.1 FM, in Berkeley, CA. Online on kpfa.org or on Apple Podcasts.

New tracks tagged #Sinan Antoon