Iraq - 10 years after
Ten years after the US invasion, what is life like for ordinary Iraqis?
The nightmare continues
Despite the billions of dollars that were funnelled into the country for reconstruction in the years after the US invasion, ordinary Iraqis still have to deal with power cuts and water shortages. The appalling state of the most basic infrastructure adds to corruption, high poverty levels and a growing unemployment rate.
Dreaming of home
Years of war and instability have led to a massive exodus of refugees. According to the UNHCR's 2012 report, many of those who left for Syria are returning home in large numbers as a result of the conflict there. The UN's Refugee Agency says around 1.2 million Iraqis remain internally displaced.
Daily ritual
Almost a fifth of Iraq's population of 33 million lives in Baghdad. The Iraqi capital remains a maze of compounds and security cordons where Iraqis endure endless checkpoints - for their own safety. Nonetheless, attacks still occur on a regular basis. On the eve of the anniversary a wave of car bombs in Shiite areas of Baghdad killed at least 50 people.
Death and destruction
Iraq Body Count - the largest database monitoring violent deaths since the invasion in 2003 - recorded 4,568 civilian casualties last year. 2012 marked the first year since 2009where the death toll for the year had increased (up from 4,144 in 2011).
"No country for women"
Iraq has gone from full literacy for women in the 1970s down to a present-day 40 percent. The country that once boasted the first female prime minister and the first woman judge in the Middle East has slipped back to a time and place where an inordinately high number of widows struggle and where child marriages are on the rise.
Stepping on a minefield
A decade of war and internal conflict has left a dangerous legacy of landmines and unexploded ordinance all across the country. The resulting contamination is one of the largest in the world. According to UN sources, more than 2.7 million people live in contaminated communities.
Creeping death
A number of medical studies refer to increases in cancer, leukaemia and infant mortality that are significantly greater than those at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A key culprit is depleted uranium, a radioactive element which increases the penetration capacity of shells.
"Sons of Iraq"
The "Sons of Iraq" are a paramilitary group set up in 2005 by a coalition of different Sunni tribal leaders to ensure safety in their communities. In less than a year, the group became a parallel security force alongside the existing ones, operating across the country. Poorly armed and neglected by the Shia-led government, they have become one of al Qaeda's main targets.
Iraq's Arab Spring?
Tens of thousands of protesters have been taking the streets of Iraq's main Sunni regions since December 2012. The movement is the continuation of the wave of demonstrations that started in Iraq in 2011 as part of the so-called Arab Spring.
Fighting for a better future?
The 1920 Revolution Brigades is one of the armed Sunni groups fighting against the current government. "It should be a moral duty for those responsible of this war to help us rebuild the country. Everything started with an invasion built on a web of lies, that of the existence of weapons of mass destruction," chief commander Saad told DW.