basma zaiber. koby langley. iraq war veteran. zainab al suwaij. a graduate of the university of baghdad and came to the united states in 2005. it is won wonderful to have you here. thank you for coming. you gave me nice and very gracious quiet approving nods when i managed to pronounce your names correctly. i'm thankful for that. nonverbal affirmation. let's start with the physical -- the basic landscape of iraq and iraq's infrastructure. i think one of the things americans -- it is hard for us to remember is that the country that we invaded in 2003 was a country that had been really devastated. devastated by a bombing campaign in the first gulf war and by sanctions that wering the strictest the world had ever seen. what was the situation on the ground in iraq when we entered in terms of infrastructure and what do we have now? >> in addition to talking here now, my message is -- >> far more useful. iraq was in shambles. unlike the perception we have of the u.s. that the war started in 2003. the war started in 1991. iraq was pretty much destroyed b