Patrick Cockburn joins Scott to talk about daily life in Baghdad. He explains that although things have gotten better now that Isis has been pushed back somewhat, people still fear for their return—it wouldn’t be the first time this has happened. One of the central questions for Iraq has been figuring out who will take power in the many majority-Sunni areas in the aftermath of Iraq War III. The Sadrists did well in recent elections on a platform of limiting U.S. and Iranian influence, and trying to have Sunnis and Shiites get along instead of fighting.

Discussed on the show:

• “Iraq executes 13 and orders hanging of hundreds more amid fears of Isis resurgence” (Independent)
• “Iraq isn’t as dangerous as it was – but many still live in fear” (Independent)
• Muqtada al-Sadr

Patrick Cockburn is the Middle East correspondent for The Independent and the author of The Age of Jihad and Chaos & Caliphate.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Zen Cash; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; LibertyStickers.com; and ExpandDesigns.com/Scott.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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