Iraqi Odyssey's Timeline

Samir’s documentary IRAQI ODYSSEY tells the story of his own diasporic family and in the telling he reconstructs a part of Iraqi history. With this he has laid a foundation.
We would like to re-tell the story of Iraq, for ultimately history is but a collection of smaller and larger stories. All your stories together make up the history of Iraq. This is about creating a personal, subjective history open to discovery.
Share your family histories with us, your photographs and your film footage, and with your own mosaic piece join us in creating a fuller picture of this country. Join the conversation, discover and share the stories of other contributors. Be part of an Iraqi story – written by individuals for individuals.

The thirteen-year trade embargo on Iraq

The sanctions against Iraq were a near-total financial and trade embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council on the Iraqi Republic.

16. April 1995 Iraqi men and women crowd the window at a pharmacy in Baghdad to purchase medicines.

21. April 1995 The auctioning of a baby carriage — and the people watch as their belongings are auctioned. Auctions are the means by which the middle class raise money.

1. November 1998 An Iraqi girl walks with a group of Muslim women wearing chadors in an open-air market in Saddam City.

17. April 1995 A market with used auto parts, tools, furniture, and appliances.

The sanctions began August 6, 1990, four days after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, stayed largely in force until May 2003 (after Saddam Hussein's being forced from power), and persisted in part, including reparations to Kuwait, through the present.

The original stated purposes of the sanctions were to compel Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, to pay reparations, and to disclose and eliminate any weapons of mass destruction.

1990 - 2003 Iraq 715