U.S. obstructs Iraq's efforts to join China's 'belt-and-road' initiative (Part II) 

On March 30, 2024, while visiting Iraq, Dimitri Lascaris toured central Baghdad with Hussein Barood of the Iraqi Movement for the Belt-and-Road Initiative. First, Barood and Lascaris attempted unsuccessfully to enter the heavily protected 'green zone', which houses the U.S. Embassy and other Western facilities. They then toured parts of central Baghdad that had been devastated by sectarian violence following the illegal invasion of Iraq by U.S. and British forces in 2003.