Glays

Hi Zahra,

I’m from Iraq too. I just want to point out that according to a 2016 survey, 93% of young Iraqis viewed America as the enemy. Resentment towards America (government and military and in some cases even people) is very real and very common. Why do you not mention how the American literally destroyed our country for imperialistic reasons, despite Iraq not having WMDs/links to Al-Qaeda? What about the sanctions from 1990-2003 that killed 500,000 children? I could go on and on about their crimes.

You paint a rosy picture of how we’re welcoming, and this is true, we are welcoming. There was even a study that said that Iraqis are the most generous people in the world. But we are not welcoming to Americans who killed over a million innocent people. I hope the soldiers who are commenting here pretending they’re “friends” of the Iraqi people read this and realize they are the enemy and would get kidnapped and/or killed depending on who gets their hands on them if they made the mistake of coming here.

It seems that you have been brainwashed by the American media and forgot who the true villain and instigator is.

That assumption is simply your opinion from what little you've gathered from me.

I assume such things because you use words like "the United States wronged the Iraqi people". Did Al-Qaeda wrong the people in the world trade center? Did Hitler wrong the European Jews? Yes, they both did. But saying "wronged" is an extreme understatement. The American government and military has the blood of over one million innocent people, in a country that's thousands of miles away that has never attacked them. Those people would be alive and Iraq would not be in its current state had America not launched an illegal war of aggression.

I don't believe a divisive attitude and polarizing beliefs are what progress nations forward.

Neither is overlooking a genocide and a crime of this magnitude and downplaying it as some mishap and pretending that nothing happened. What will you tell a child that lost his parent due to this war? How is it his fault that his country is falling apart?

From the Iraqis I personally interacted with, none of them blamed Americans for what happened to Iraq. They did, however, blame the select American people in power that made decisions regarding the invasion of Iraq. People in Iraq are welcoming of Americans

You're right here and I agree. In general we don't blame most ordinary Americans. However, just like some Americans have mistreated you and hated you just for being from Iraq, despite being an ordinary civilian, you will find many Iraqis who will also hate Americans. And unlike the hate you received in your new country, the hate towards Americans in Iraq has a cause that is not xenophobia or racism.

Also, I believe your sample of Iraqis includes many from Iraqi Kurdistan, which was never part of the Iraq War, so their opinions towards Americans is irrelevant. Did you go to Mosul, Ramadi, Fallujah, Tikrit and ask the people there what they think?

However, how is tourism supposed to be promoted if a "we hate you because of this" agenda is pushed?

If being honest about the crimes that the Americans committed in Iraq makes them decide not to come to Iraq as tourists, then good riddance.

If you want to provide some links to those studies, I'll take a look.

The Arab Youth Survey 2016, page 19. https://www.arabyouthsurvey.com/pdf/whitepaper/en/2016-AYS-White-Paper.pdf