the u.s. army is beginning to withdraw from iraq. in december twentieth eleven and after nine years of occupation the last american troops are finally leaving the country. every guy got in about it and the only way to get them i observed the iraqis anger towards the departing innovators who once dreamed of being liberators the departure resembles abandonment and escape despite the optimistic speeches. a. cease.

a full twenty twelve and i'm back in iraq in soho on the border with turkey. i have an appointment this morning with the lebanese taxi. families in the united states said they would make a democracy out of iraq in the heart of the arab world. but the iraq i see today is

a country on the brink of chaos torn between three groups kurds sunnis and shias. it is a country divided a stranger to peace that i'm about to cross a taxi ride to the heart of iraqi history. from the hole in the north of travel down through l b listen to money. tikrit volusia baghdad babylon. bathroom and. a road map of the iraqi tragedy. of obviously i'm delighted the americans have finally left iraq as much as we're archy's a very happy not to see it or hear anymore enough was enough the americans occupied us so we hate them like they lean here in iraq they killed in creating the conditions for chaos they are responsible for the whole tragedy because we were

living in peace and they came to destroy our country and us over all of us of them but. my journey begins on the mountains of iraqi kurdistan. an army of two hundred thousand soldiers called peshmerga watch over this rather particular region of a country. that . jeff. was. my first stop is an l.b.o. the capital of iraqi kurdistan is the only region of iraq today that is seeing peace and an economic boom the miracle of being made possible by the discovery of oil on kurdish territory. for a long time dominated by baghdad and saddam hussein kurdistan dreams of achieving autonomy. the first

customer the first passenger on our trip is a member of the new kurdish parliament that's the. biggest you know with in iraq we can say that oil has always been a curse. but today in kurdistan that's changing. foreign oil companies are coming here to work you know. the revenues are finally being used for reconstruction and what negative it's a huge difference for us as in saddam's times we never benefited from the oil money or the new see that he had any of this that i don't know that yet and i think when you smile. it's quite simple we could spend for we're iraqis i mean. i think they're very rapidly as soon as we have been able to create a stable basis for building a country ninety nine percent of people will vote for independence with. no one to

one or the people who want their own country a country called could start looking at it as that they want their own passport but there's no kurdish one i spoke to could stand. a land of shepherds kurdistan is discovering well through its oil a nightmare for baghdad which had long controlled with the resources and riches. without driver khalid we had east towards the mountains along the border with around. driving through abandoned villages i feel like i'm visiting some a trace. on the passenger ahmed is a survivor today he's on a pilgrimage paying tribute to the dead.

hundred eighty eight during the island file a military campaign waged by saddam against the kurds my village was completely destroyed. some of the inhabitants would reported to southern iraq and locked up in the terrible new grass on prison counter. many women children and men women last weekend and thrown into mass graves. the kurds have always dreamed of independence saddam hussein decided to eliminate the problem once and for all. his cousin to go down in history as chemical ali was in charge of the repression. on march sixteenth one thousand nine hundred eight his helicopters dropped bombs loaded with toxic gas over kurdish villages. one hundred thousand civilians were

killed and three thousand villages were raised the kurds rebellion was crushed. here in the villages the peshmerga who didn't built up supply. anyone opposed to saddam could seek refuge here. so the regime began by attacking their villages. burning gassing and destroying the villages meant controlling kurdistan. lunch is like a homage to the victims on the menu adama stuffed vegetables prepared by the mets wife. sunny like saddam hussein my driver. he didn't know or didn't want to know the terrible truth. look i'll show you the house where i was born yeah here on this hill where we're a city is like a memorial to the village as it was before the tragedy it was here that the

villages came together every evening to talk to play backgammon and listen to the radio. i leave a comment to mourn and commemorate his loved ones. we continue towards the east and kirkuk the former capital of kurdistan today on iraqi territory. that's a walk that is going to be praised i'm not scared of when the region was under american control i was afraid about it but as soon as the iraqi police and army took over things got much better if the americans didn't know the region they were afraid and trigger happy and they didn't hesitate to fire at anyone who approached them like the passenger foreigner anyone with. this road has seen a lot of drama how many times did the american shoot down iraqis here for no reason gotta go. through the windscreen the first iraqi checkpoint appears it's time to lower the camera and film or discreetly. that.

the soldiers here are regularly targeted by armed groups and are also quick to shoot what i thought about the attacks and kidnappings are frequent in the area. at the moment checking our identity an itinerary takes too long hours. but at last we can hit the road again a road that is more than dangerous. to be honest no one took this road before the al qaeda basically all the terrorists controlled the region everyone was afraid of venturing out on this road today we feel a bit safer getting that out of our budget. the constant road blocks me now two hundred kilometer journey takes eight hours. niters fall and when i reach her coke in the sky is lit up by flast tanks the city

floats on a vast sea of oil. for centuries pilgrims came here to gather around the eternal flames. the kurds would dearly love to reclaim the city the former capital of baghdad. he is unwilling to lose such a profitable treasure. one term to a majority of kids today is a mix of turkmen arabs kurds and christians a veritable ethnic powder cake. so i went to. this morning's planters around occurred but they're not going to kurdistan's independence he would pay with his own blood. said i what. kind of gook. has to become part of kurdistan and that it's vital

we are bonded by blood it to go to them but them they can kill us and shoot at us but he won't change anything we are linked to kurdistan as i'm a city i mean we cannot live outside of kurdistan it would be like dying. my brother we invite you to a restaurant. i cannot let you go without inviting you i am a kurd and hospitality is a custom with us. you can continue your journey after the mail and i swear before god when i come to the restaurant with me you are welcome when you get away of course. for khaled it's time to pray. for us to eat. as we enter the village a few peace men appear as an escort. i would say to watch as they say to protect us . and so i pay for everyone's meal as a kind of friendly tax. was. it said

of kirkuk could be one of the world's richest cities it is certainly one of the most dangerous. discreet an ordinary heroines. who is a kurd investor are opposed and fortune in the opening of a private school a generous act which has attracted m.p.'s attention i don't know. i'm terrified. if i do the day after or not that was broadcast to promote the school to physio and so i got a telephone call and i'm with you in the us you join with the know your first hobby hello about any hello you are you know a nothing at hobby that is simple bought it. a man introduced himself as a member of a terrorist organisation and demand money for that and my colleagues were terrorized through. other like so's the school for

a month and then i said we have to open it again we can't just give him. michael but we have to we're still life has to go on. that. neither the terrorists nor anyone else can stop me from working as a mystical only god is the master of my destiny. sigrid laboratory to mccurry was able to build a new most sophisticated robot which all unfortunately doesn't give a darn about anything tunes mission to teach music creation why it should care about humans and world this is why you should care only. when their own country john to offer them a living even loving mothers sometimes have to leave their children behind. i don't

like to work just to bed longa. is the dream of millions of migrants that their children might choose their own motherland. i was. stunned. school. is new. i want my children to win over moscow. russia has become this stepmother land. migrants working hard to find a way home. choose your language. we could know if they still some of. us choose to use the consensus to. choose the opinions that immigrate to. choose the stories that in high school life choose to access to often.

when we reach must to the second biggest city in iraq it has been locked down by the army. the previous night two bombs went off in the suit. i have to negotiate with the military chiefs for three hours before they let me in. across what appears to be a dead city and yet today mosul is in party mode. my name is ahmed and about i'm a law student today is a festival the university day that's why we can see all the troops they're here to protect us. the situation is very difficult the country is undergoing a wave of anonymous attacks and assassination my dream is quite simple i just want to live in an iraq that's safe and pete it's a magnificent country mustn't forget that it was once respectfully known as mesopotamia the land between two rivers i dream of peace. but peace seems

impossible. the americans have gone but now kurds shias and sunnis battle for control of the city even the mosques are under military protection the internet in killing goes on in the name of allah. a leave muscle with no regrets. this road fraught with danger can also hold certain surprises and. stops to help a friend even in iraq one can run out of petrol. it's hilarious we have the world's second biggest oil reserves and were short of petrol and gas. were reduced to filling up on the black market at exorbitant prices. common sense would suggest that petrol was available in quantity and free perhaps not free but not too expensive anyway. but john.

as soon as we arrive on the outskirts of tikrit saddam hussein's former stronghold where arrested by the police i have the feeling we were expected. after a few hours of questioning were put under house arrest in a hotel and forbidden from going out. and the situation eases the following afternoon when we're granted two hours of freedom but we're still under close surveillance. the next man who joins us in the taxi is in mourning his name's feel he's a journalist and he lost his best friends just two days ago. but god will save iraq . sorry.

you had to draw your they want to make iraq a wretched country a bloke at the nice b. . but that would be assassinate the best among us the terrorist who kills a journalist like my colleague at the news channel who kills a religious man in economic or teacher certainly doesn't do it for religious reasons it's obvious he does it mostly for money because our religion does not tolerate all these crimes the only motive for these crimes is money and they're ordered from outside to kill our best people any of us. in the city center the mosque still bears the name of the man who built it was saddam hussein and i. come to pay a final homage to his murdered friend i knew all on april second two thousand and twelve rounds a holiday. and a journalist for a local t.v. station was killed instantly when his carts bloated.

down. a relaxing evening along the banks of the tigris overseen by the palace of the local hero sadam. saddam was always surrounded by members of his own tribe and many here miss the man who built a sunni state much to their advantage. they came in just for the americans didn't come here to look for weapons of mass destruction nor to hunt down certain are saying they came to rob us and to kill us asian iraq it was a unified country but at the moment when they arrived at the americans that triggered divisions by creating ethnic conflicts just you know this very well. they destroyed everything and then they left but they don't know but in reality they're still here they make people think they've gone but they're still present their aim is to create discord in iraq with all my life that is all.

over. as we leave tikrit we come to a village the heart of saddam hussein's kingdom where he was finally caught. on december fourteenth two thousand and three saddam was captured at dawn in his hideout in a farmyard a miserable rattle two meters underground. disheveled and distraught he surrendered to the american forces. in his possession were two kalashnikovs and seven hundred fifty thousand dollars. by. the nose taxi is

a gas guzzler and we need more petrol. but it was here. we seek out the black market powell business which fills the coffers of a few politicians civil servants and terrorist groups to. the oil money benefits everyone apart from the iraqi people. not all part. of. the temperature hits more than forty degrees and the machines are cool down with a hose. for the men it's time to wash and pray before sitting down for a meal. that surprised by my presence but soon opened up. for the sunny custom as the whole affair was an american manipulation.

movement the greek word kuwait plays a key role in the arab world and. the americans used the country to trap saddam of like them fearing i mean. how did before they set the date up and he took it it was a prearranged ambush. it's time to leave and head for lucia khaled doesn't like stopping for too long. kidnappings are frequent here and for the criminal gangs everyone has a price probably including me. the killing in the kidnappings may be motivated by political or religious convictions but increasingly simply for profit. i've lost count of the checkpoints along the way but the controls this morning seem interminable. i don't know who this fee for victory sign is aimed

at as we finally enter the ravaged city of fallujah. joe was the scene of one of the most violent american offensives. g.i. summerlee killed youngsters and whole families here any time last always a collision of a. pair of blue eyes and caused a lot of fatalities. fallujah is the most ravaged city in iraq of them and. i guess that's the american answer but. the heat is unbearable and the motor is overheating the local grocer helpless to cool it. he's a man driven by anger he experienced the battle of fallujah at first hand and how

hot it was watch i am what they are you can not democracy no it's quite simply about killing and stealing our wealth our lands with burnt from the effects of the white phosphorous bombs and now our children are gone disfigured. heads are not well as they are so beloved all the god living with us go and see the hospitals and you'll see mothers throwing away their babies deformed by all the chemical weapons on the alley and all could do if there is justice in the world bush will have to answer for his war crimes and crimes against humanity he claimed iraq had weapons of mass destruction but where were they these weapons. although i do know that this was a killer using white phosphorous bomb while the mamma thought and not even the mosque was saved from his barbarity look at the ruined minarik. that's bush's democracy and the judge holier of them about the other bullshit i be at. on november seventh two thousand and four

a deluge of iron and fire rains down on the city of two hundred mosques fallujah had to die it was a last stronghold for the al qaeda mujahideen. twelve thousand marines three hundred tanks and one hundred also helicopters were launched against villages. the biggest urban battle in iraq was under way. the american victory was total the casualty figures speak for themselves one hundred american soldiers were killed and on the iraqi side it's estimated there were between four and five thousand victims most of them civilians. the battle left a city in ruins where death continue to take its toll. in their offensive it's

thought the u.s. troops used white phosphorus bombs and depleted uranium weapons banned by all international conventions. so our new passenger is not administrator at the general hospital. since the battle of fallujah ended he's got a record of the children born with congenital malformation. for him there's no doubt the americans were responsible for this tragedy. for me the administrator's office becomes an empty. the chorus. up i

looked at the war is far from over in fact it's still going on for the stigmata rivera and their involvement in two thousand and five we know to expect crease in genetic malformations a new born babies how lots of. voters only show a tiny part of their reality just for the month of january we recorded forty three cases. wealthy british style. time to. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy

with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds of report . more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. corporations are today. american english for the spring or early stages of military operations. treats people. in the old slave. has allowed us to continue the policy of return. plays to bring the.

old. gold. leaflets. that speak. to. her. mum is a good. place. to sleep. in a. little while.