This week on Babel, Jon speaks with Marsin Alshamary, a research fellow with the Middle East Initiative at Harvard’s Belfer Center. We talk about the ongoing crisis happening outside of Iraq’s parliament, why the current intra-Shi’a conflict is unique and how it echoes similar crises before, and where Iran and the United States stand. Then, Jon continues the conversation with Will Todman and Lubna Yousef about what a lighter U.S touch in Iraq might look like moving forward.


Marsin Alshamary , "The Sadrist Gamble: A Make-or-Break Moment for Iraq?," Italian Institute for International and Political Studies, August 4, 2022.

Marsin Alshamary, “The protester paradox: Why do anti-Islamist activists look toward clerical leadership?” Brookings, April 2022. 

Jane Arraf and Jon Alterman, " Not Your Mother's Iraq," CSIS, March 1, 2022.

Transcript, "Iraq's Political Crisis," CSIS, August 23, 2022.