What Iraq taught me about identity, community, war and peace

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'Leadership isn’t running faster than everyone else—it’s about taking everyone with us,' says adnansarwar, a former British soldier OpenFuture

SOMETHING HAPPENED to me last year in Iraq. It made me think about Britain today: who we are, where we are and how we’ll get to somewhere new.Get our daily newsletterIn February 2018 I went to Iraq to film a television programme for the BBC. In the mountains in the north, I was present when a bear was released back into the wild. As he left his cage, he became confused by the large crowd of people who gathered to watch, and dove on a nearby person.

I had wanted to see how the country was getting on some 15 years after I had invaded it. On a cool, dark March night in 2003 I crossed from Kuwait into Iraq in a Land Rover as a British soldier. The cotton industry exported machinery overseas. That’s where the business went too, and after that went engineering. Eventually there were no jobs but more and more people.Racism emerged from the desperation. When I was growing up in Burnley, some days as soon as school let out I’d run as fast as I could, for miles, to avoid getting beaten up. Sometimes they caught me and kicked my head in. Some days I was fast and got away—you learned how to run fast to get away.

It was a community that I wanted to be a part of. I was judged only on my ability. Could I run this fast; could I shoot this far? That was about it. I met women and men who became closer to me than my family. We shared the same values. We were interdependent—because we had to do something that was greater than us. That built trust, love.

 

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adnansarwar Great article and a fellow Sapper to boot 👍

adnansarwar Great article. Thank you for your service as a soldier and now a journalist.

adnansarwar Of all the Mulims in Europe, those in Britain (mostly of Pakistani origin) hate their fellow countrymen the most. Share of radicals among them is also the highest. British taxpayers spend billions on preventing terrorist attacks but this guy portrays his community as victims.

adnansarwar Wow

adnansarwar Tell Boris Johnson and Trump! But the latter one is still avoiding his mental illness!

adnansarwar Is the Economist still doing pro Iraq properganda 17 years later?!

adnansarwar Well, how would I tell you, to be any nation is absolutely normal, I think...

adnansarwar Each problem begins with anger in arrogance from discussion that turns into argument to bickering-to fight-war. Each problem solves with dialogue to discuss,understand the source, settle at the table jointly with peace.

adnansarwar Some real Starship Troopers energy bruh

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