British colonialism, then Saddam Hussain, Iran-Iraq war, Gulf War, American invasion.... and finally poor governance and spread of religious extremism.

That was a long string of bad luck, ending with US bombs and rockets killing thousands of civilians on the first night of the war, because Saddam had "weapons of mass destruction" that no one ever found. And Bush II is still walking the earth, for now. His father is still crawling around a room somewhere or drooling in his shoes. Thanks for that good information and I will look at those links.