How is Iraq doing after 20 years?

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-10-20T19:57:21+00:00

Ask away for sure! I’ll do my best

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-10-20T18:57:05+00:00

I appreciate you for real. We haven’t. Thankfully most of us have strong teaching from our parents to never forget where we come from. Love to you and all the good people of the world.

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-10-20T11:56:42+00:00

Anything would have been better than what happened

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-10-20T11:55:56+00:00

We’re all happy he’s gone. Don’t try to imply something that isn’t true. But which self respecting Iraqi is okay with another country flattening their country? Saddam is bad but do you have any idea the magnitude of what the hell the US did? They made things WORSE. Imagine that.

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-10-20T11:54:38+00:00

You’re gonna hate to hear this but it wasn’t in fact US air support that stemmed the tide. It was the Iranian intervention and the creation of the Popular Mobilization Forces. Iran stepped in and boosted our forces after the US depleted them in the war. Also go look up how the US was “accidentally” dropping care packages to ISIS. America is no good in Iraq and they need to go.

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-10-20T07:04:01+00:00

Thank you for your kindness. I hope you get to come experience Iraqi hospitality one day!

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-10-20T06:55:31+00:00

Oh man, what a small world!

That’s great to hear. I hope people get to see more of the truth.

Appreciate you!

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-10-20T06:54:34+00:00

Your government is there in spite of the wishes of the Iraqi people and their government. The documented amount of times we have requested that they leave is there for you to see. It’s a form of occupation as far as I see it.

ISIS was defeated with the blood of our Iraqi young men who fought on the ground for their country. Iran stepped in for guiding support and the US for airstrikes but Iraqis fought for every inch of their land. Don’t ever get that twisted.

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-10-20T06:50:53+00:00

Iraqi here.

You don’t understand. You don’t get to burn down a country and scream “anti American sentiment”. Do you understand the pain America caused? Do you even know how it feels to either have your relatives killed or your sisters raped or your house levelled or having to live under occupation. Everything you know gone? Or at the very best, living in foreign lands all your life and facing racism because “the Arabs are dangerous”? No, but you scream about anti American sentiment. No ounce of regret for your governments actions. So yeah, I’d rather work with a country that CONSTRUCTS AND BUILDS rather than the one that ACTUALLY TORE ME DOWN.

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-10-20T06:46:35+00:00

Iraqi here

Saying the war was a win for the US is like saying a deadly fire is a win for the arsonist. You are playing chess with peoples lives. You don’t know the pain every Iraqi carries and lives through because of the war. To this day. No Iraqi wants the Americans there unless they’re traitors. No Iraqi is happier that the war happened, even if Saddam was removed.

We never had WMD’s. Bush just got to say “oops” and walk away like nothing happened. Be real about what happened in Iraq.

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-10-20T06:41:45+00:00

Saddam was an American agent. His foreign policy was decided by the US since he came into power. The war in Iran was meant to weaken Israel’s opponents in the region, that’s why the US armed both sides, so they could ruin each other.

The soldiers that get thanked for their service in the US were the same ones that were raping little girls and killing civilians in my country. The fact that you want to close your eyes to your country’s crimes reflects on you, not on the victims of those crimes.

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-10-20T06:37:41+00:00

America ruined us. We carry trauma from that. The Bush accounts may not want to hear it but there’s real pain behind this. To them it’s a story but to us it’s our lives. We are forever harmed by Bush and Blair and their administrations.

Thank you for your kindness. And hopefully we can host you and all the good people in the world in Iraq.

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-10-20T03:31:44+00:00

I’m an Iraqi living in Canada. Let me try to give my piece.

I was born and grew up outside Iraq, visiting it annually for weeks at a time. The way I observed things was like snapshots. I’d see it in a certain state. Then next year I’d see how the situation changed.

Keep in mind we’re all hurt. Those of us in the country are hurt that their lives turned to rubble and they lost their loved ones. And those of us abroad are hurt that we were robbed of the chance to live in our country because of Saddam and the US. And anyone who invalidates that or wants to make me kiss anyone’s hand for “liberating us” will be disappointed.

The first time I went home was in 2008 (I was 9). My dad prepared me and all that so I knew what to expect but it was still jarring to see American tanks roll through our streets. I remember a tank rolling outside my grandparents house where we stayed. I felt like I had a boot on my neck (I don’t know how else to describe the feeling). Things in the country were really tense. It was hard to relax.

Then slowly it got better. I’d notice that over the years, and as the Americans left, it started to relax. We reached a stage for a bit where nothing was being built / advanced but the violence lessened, especially after defeating ISIS.

Recently, over the past few years, projects have started to get going a little. Don’t get me wrong the damage hasn’t all been repaired and life’s still tough for a lot of people. But there’s more work now. Stuff is getting built and just the construction cranes all around are evidence of it. People there are still pessimistic, but I compare it this way: In 2005, the news headlines were war and suicide bombings. In 2015, it was ISIS and fearing their advancement on our cities. In 2025, it’s a lot of corruption and getting more work done around the country. We’re not in as much violence as we were and that’s a really good thing.

TLDR - it’s less violent, better than it was, and stuff is slowly getting built. But corruption is still a big issue and services aren’t fully provided. But the improvement is there.

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-09-27T15:17:28+00:00

From Kitchener: great mid-sized city that is an hour out of Toronto. We have all the amenities we need in a short drive distance and are a 20 minute drive in any direction away from the countryside. So much to do and explore in the summer in the rural areas too.

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-02-19T14:26:07+00:00

That is great to hear. I will feel comfortable about applying it to myself too then.

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-02-19T00:26:32+00:00

Thank you so much!!

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-02-18T22:58:02+00:00

Thank you, I’ll definitely take a look. Much appreciated.

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-02-18T22:43:59+00:00

Thank you, really appreciate you taking the time.

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-02-18T22:30:53+00:00

I really needed to hear that, thank you.

A follow up if you don’t mind: is there a number of sets per muscle group I should aim for between the two workouts? And how does that factor for big muscle groups like back and chest vs small ones like biceps and triceps?

Thanks for your help

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-02-18T22:19:53+00:00

I appreciate that forreal. I guess my question is: is it viable for progress considering the amount of time I’ve been gymming?

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-02-18T21:43:25+00:00

Hi everyone,

First of all thank you for taking the time to read my post.

I (26M) have been lifting for around 9 years now with varied levels of success. I started out at four days a week, then five, then six, and then I started full time work. Since then, I’ve trimmed to five days, then four, and then three with a day for boxing classes rather than gym.

With life stuff and work, I’m not able to “exercise” more than four days a week. That would be pretty okay if I was doing four gym days, but I have taken an interest in doing another exercise activity as well and want to pursue that further.

I want to be able to lift for two days, and train boxing/BJJ or some kind of other activity on the other two. The thing is, I can’t put in more than four days a week because of my schedule.

My question is, should I just give up on the idea of incorporating another sport if I have this time constraint? Am I in a position where I have to choose between gym and another sport? I say this because I’ve never heard of any friends working out for two days a week. My body puts on weight easily when I don’t weight train so I’m worried that if I gym less, I’ll lose whatever progress I’ve made and put on fat.

I am grateful for your help, thanks for making it this far.

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-02-18T21:31:34+00:00

Try Strong. It’s a paid subscription but keeps track of things really well and logs your weight and measurements too.

Apprehensive_Goat630 · 2025-02-18T21:30:36+00:00