Iraq

The man who orders the expedition is Nur al-Din.

The son of the most powerful prince in what we call northern Iraq and Greater Syria.

Nur al-Din is a renowned conqueror.

He's determined to unite the Muslim territories between the Euphrates River in Syria and the Nile River in Egypt, and he appoints Saladin's uncle, a general in his army, to lead the Egypt expedition.

Hassan Al-Hassan of the International Institute for Strategic Studies says recent escalation may have disruption, disrupted the talks.

The targeting of Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, Houthi advances, uh, in, uh, Yemen's western coastline, and then the, uh, increasingly close coordination we're seeing between Iran-backed groups in Yemen and Iraq, uh, all of these, I think, uh, also, uh, create, I think, uh, conditions that are not ideal for a substantive summit, uh, to produce a, a substantive and clear outcome.

Hassan Al-Hassan there.

The Saudi pipeline can carry about 7 million barrels a day, making it a key alternative to Hormuz.

Hassan Al-Hassan of the International Institute for Strategic Studies says the recent escalation may have disrupted the talks.

The targeting of Saudi Arabia's east-west pipeline, Houthi advances, uh, in, uh, Yemen's western coastline, and then the, uh, increasingly close coordination we're seeing between Iran-backed groups in Yemen and Iraq.

Uh, all of these, I think, uh, also, uh, create, I think, uh, conditions that are not ideal for a substantive summit, uh, to produce a, a substantive and clear outcome.

Hassan Al-Hassan there.

Oh, yeah.

Was it the Iraq, Iraq football team the other year played that friendly, and then a bunch of them just ran away?

Yeah.

Wasn't a couple of, um- Our Latinos, was it Ecuador? They decided to hang out here and-

And so as a kid, I always wanted to travel.

So I joined the military, and my first deployment was to Iraq.

[laughs]

Right.

Definitely not the glamorous adventure I hoped I would, uh, you know, I hoped I would experience.

Well, let me ask you this.

Well, let me ask you, okay, you went to Iraq, what was, joining the military, what did you expect in travel? Just help me out.

What, w- what, what did you expect that, uh, they may station you or you may go that you felt would be adventurous or glamorous?

Iraq experienced in the 1990s one of the most comprehensive sanctions regime ever imposed on a country in the 20th century.

There was no electricity in Iraq.

Everything was bombed.

The infrastructure was bombed.

with?Yeah.

I wanna do some sort of bi- uh, biographical stuff because I think that leads directly into your, um, award-winning book, The Uncomfortable Life.

Um, so you've told a story in a, in a New York Times piece, or the story was told in a New York Times piece about, um, your experience leaving Iraq as a doctor at, at 25.

But it, it would be useful if we can s- start there because I think that, um, sets the scene a little bit for why you became interested in this work.

And so as a kid, I always wanted to travel.

So I joined the military and my first deployment was to Iraq.

Right.

Wow.

Definitely not the glamorous adventure I hoped I would, you know, I hoped I would.

Let me ask you this.

Let me ask you, OK, you went to Iraq.

What was joining the military? What did you expect in travel? Just help me out.

So I started just doing clinical work and then started to realize no one knows what to do with these children.

There's still these problems, of course, in Syria and in southern Jordan and Iraq.

But I started in Afghanistan and just understanding like, Where do they go? How do we help them? And how do we get them not to recruit other children that they were enmeshed with who would be released much faster than them? I think the biggest problem is politics.

Even repatriating adults and families is completely, from my experience, quite confusing, chaotic, and not clear.

On the international front, talks on the future of the strategically important Strait of Hormuz have been postponed.

Oman was due to host a meeting between Iran, Iraq and Gulf countries today aimed at finding a way forward for the crucial waterway.

But Oman says the talks have been delayed to create conditions for more constructive dialogue.

The Strait of Hormuz is a major route for global oil and gas supplies, and the ongoing blockade has helped push oil prices above $100 a barrel.