Iraq To Live to See a Better Day by Iva Zimova Modern Iraq (roughly), known as Mesopotamia, is considered the cradle of civilization.  It was the center of the ancient Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations and later came under Greek and Persian rule. The Ottoman Turks controlled Mesopotamia for four centuries, until the First World War, when it fell to the British Empire. Modern- day Iraq emerged in the 1920s when the British withdrew after installing a Hashemite monarchy. The pro-Western monarchy was overthrown in 1958 in a violent revolution led by nationalist Iraqi army officers. Ten years later the pan-Arab Baath party came to power in another coup, leading to the long dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. In 1991, after Saddam invaded Kuwait, an American-led coalition defeated the Iraqi army in the short-lived first Gulf War, but Saddam was allowed to remain in power. For twelve years, Iraq languished under UN-imposed sanctions until, in 2003, President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair launched a new war and toppled Saddam from power. Since 2003, the American and British-led occupation of Iraq has faced fierce resistance by Iraqi guerrillas and foreign Islamist terrorists who see Iraq as a key battleground for the global "jihad". A nearly 3100 American and foreign soldiers, and at least 61,000 Iraqi civilians have died in the violence. "I went to Iraq with the Czech NGO People in Need to document its mission in the south of Iraq in November 2003. I travelled across the Missan Governorate for three months and not only documented work of this Czech NGO but also had the opportunity to capture daily life of the Iraqi people. At the end of December 2003 I moved to Baghdad. Whereas the south of Iraq was quite happy with the US and British occupation, Baghdad wasn't so comfortable with it. People demonstrated in the streets against the keeping of detainees without charges in American detention centres. Being in Iraq for almost six months gave me the time to travel Kurdistan.  Whist there, I met a family whose son had been arrested and murdered in 1997 by Saddam loyalists. His body was returned to the family 6 years later. I left Iraq in March 2004. The better days haven't yet come." Iva Zimova The people of the Marshes.  Iraqi woman puts on her abaya after she washed her laundry at the Al Eze River.  At the beginning of nineties, The Marshes (an area of swamps, lakes and narrow waterways, flanked by high reeds) were drained by Saddam Hussein. Smoke billows from the chimney of one of Al Amarah's brick factories. Men pour petroleum oil into holes in the roof of a brick factory to fuel the fiery kiln beneath. Marshes people in the village of Um Zahadi build a school house from mud. The people of the Marshes - portrait of  an elderly woman and a young girl. Money is exchanged on the streets of the Al Shaabender Market in Al Amarah. A wedding party celebrates the simultaneous marriages of two sisters in the village of Jreat. The British NGO, Ockenden, sprays Al Amarah's streets with insecticide. The insecticide is a blend of diesel fuel, oil and insecticide pumped out as a thick smoke behind a pickup truck. The emission leaves a thin coating on the surface of standing water, thereby starving the mosquito larva of their oxygen supply.  With visibility reduced, passing cars stop to avoid accidents. A demonstration protests against keeping detainees without charges in the American detention. Women holding posters Friday protesting against the detention of relatives by the U.S. military during a demonstration (December 12, 2003) in front of coalition headquarters in Baghdad. Defaced Iraqi soldier picture in a former Ministry of Surveying in Baghdad. An elderly woman sleeps on the floor at a former Ministry of Surveying in Baghdad.  There are about 700 hundred families who live in the ruins of ministry buildings. They moved there after the recent war from different parts of Baghdad. They left their homes because they could not pay their rents. Behineh shows a photo of her son Mohamed Hassen. Mohamed was arrested and killed in 1997 by Saddam loyalists when he was 18 years old. His body was returned to the family in August 2003 for a proper burial. A mother and her family in mourning after the death of her two sons.  On December 27, 2003 Ahmed Kazem Abod (22) and his brother Kamal (16) were returning home from work, but never made it. They were killed in unknown circumstances by American forces. Homeless families demonstrate in front of the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority).  Approximately 700 families take shelter in the former Ministry of Surveying Dakhalia in Baghdad. Camp of Al-Ghazalea.  A woman sweeps in front of her provisional home, at the Al-Ghazalea camp. Boys play soccer at the camp in Al-Ghazalea. BACK ISSUE SEPTEMBER 2012 Back to current issue