This week on Babel, I speak with Jane Arraf, the Baghdad bureau chief for the New York Times. She's spent more than a quarter-century as a journalist in the Middle East, working for National Public Radio, CNN, the Christian Science Monitor, and other leading outlets. I talk with Jane about the way that Iraq is becoming surprisingly normal, how Iraqis think about sectarianism now, and the way in which corruption affects nearly every aspect of society in Iraq.  Then, Will Todman, Danny Sharp, and I continue the conversation about corruption in Iraq and across the Middle East.  Jane Arraf, “Reveling in the Joys of Books, and Reading, at a Baghdad Book Fair,” New York Times, December 18, 2021.   Jane Arraf, “After Years as a Battleground, Investment Boom Lifts Iraqi City,” New York Times, July 10, 2021.   Transcript, "Not Your Mother's Iraq," CSIS, March 1, 2022.

This week on Babel, I speak with Jane Arraf, the Baghdad bureau chief for the New York Times. She's spent more than a quarter-century as a journalist in the Middle East, working for National Public Radio, CNN, the Christian Science Monitor, and other leading outlets. I talk with Jane about the way that Iraq is becoming surprisingly normal, how Iraqis think about sectarianism now, and the way in which corruption affects nearly every aspect of society in Iraq.  Then, Will Todman, Danny Sharp, and I continue the conversation about corruption in Iraq and across the Middle East.  Jane Arraf, “Reveling in the Joys of Books, and Reading, at a Baghdad Book Fair,” New York Times, December 18, 2021.   Jane Arraf, “After Years as a Battleground, Investment Boom Lifts Iraqi City,” New York Times, July 10, 2021.   Transcript, "Not Your Mother's Iraq," CSIS, March 1, 2022.