“The Long Betrayal of Iraq”
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Title: A People Betrayed
Author: Linda Melvern
Category: World History, Politics & Current Affairs
What happens when the world's most powerful nations arm a dictator, then destroy his country, leaving his people to pay the price? Sam and Sophie sit with Linda Melvern's A People Betrayed, a book that made them genuinely angry—and gutted them.
They trace Iraq's tragedy from the British carving up the Middle East after World War One, through Saddam's brutal rule, to the West's complicity during the Iran-Iraq War and the Anfal campaign. They walk through the fateful decisions after Desert Storm, the crushing sanctions, the failed inspections, and the 2003 invasion that turned into a sectarian civil war. Melvern names every country and corporation that enabled the disaster, and the episode unpacks her moral clarity.
If you've ever wondered how the international community could betray an entire people, this episode lays it out with devastating detail. The takeaway: this isn't just history—it's a warning about what happens when national interest and profit override basic humanity.
A People Betrayed by Linda Melvern. If you want the full written summary, the whole library is on 7minutebooks.com/app—over 6,000 titles, readable or listenable in any language, from $2.99 a month, $9.99 a year, or $19.99 lifetime.
Chapters
00:00The Colonial Origins of Iraq01:02Western Complicity Under Saddam01:58The Anfal Campaign and Kuwait Invasion02:57The Betrayal of the Uprisings and Sanctions04:39The 2003 Invasion and Its Aftermath05:42The Moral Clarity of the Book
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