In March 2003, the United States led an invasion of Iraq that would topple Saddam Hussein's regime, but would have far-reaching consequences for the next two decades.

No-one knows exactly how many Iraqis have died as a result of the war. Estimates are all in the hundreds of thousands.

The political instability that followed saw the rise of jihadist extremists including Islamic State. There was a civil war and the spread of violent sectarianism across the region.

Host James Reynolds brings together Iraqis to share how trauma continues to impact their lives.

Balsam Mustafa, 41, has been living in the UK since 2013. Yalda Al-Ani, 27, left Iraq to live in the United States three years ago. She writes poetry and is working on a novel, which she says helps process her experiences.

For Yalda, her first Independence Day celebration in the US triggered flashbacks. “I went to a firework show for the very first time and within me there was a war,” she says. “I could not separate that from imagining that these were bullets in the sky and I’m going to die.”

Yaseen Hossein Ali, 31, who lives in Baghdad and 26-year-old Asma Khalid, who works as an IT instructor in Mosul, discuss the challenges of living in the country today. “Half a hospital is not enough… half a school is not enough…” says Asma as she describes the destroyed infrastructure.

(Photo: People shop at a wholesale market ahead of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, amid rising commodity prices in Mosul, Iraq, 22 March, 2023. Credit: Khalid al-Mousily/Reuters) Show less