Iraq

Iraq is presented through the aftermath of a missile attack on a plant, where the devastated site becomes both a landscape of scavenging and the setting for Khalid Kassem’s dangerous discovery. The opening juxtaposes the ruins with the ancient remains of Babylon, while the machinery buried beneath them suggests that the recent violence has left threats not yet spent.

The Plant in the Aftermath

The episode is set in March 1991, three weeks after the war ended. The plant has been left much as it was a day after the missiles struck: survivors have been hospitalized, accessible bodies removed, and the dead trapped in inaccessible areas left amid the wreckage. Summer heat hastens decay; flies and small rodents become nature’s cleaners, and the smell gradually lessens. Dust, sun, and wind soften the exposed concrete until it nearly blends with the baked earth.

The ruins lie only a few miles from Babylon. Their weathered appearance makes recent destruction seem ancient, as if the plant’s remains belonged to the same remote past as the nearby city. But the resemblance is only visual: this devastation is fresh, and reconstruction has not yet begun.

Scavenging and Discovery

Once the smell becomes bearable and dogs show no sign of growing more mangy, people from the vicinity begin exploring the site. The destruction is so extensive that even technically minded scavengers cannot identify the wrecked machinery. They take whatever they can sell, trade, or adapt for domestic use, then leave.

Khalid Kassem, thirteen and eager to be treated as a man, stays behind after his father and brothers depart. His small build, usually an obstacle to being taken seriously, helps him attempt a narrow opening in a collapsed wall. He has kept a small torch hidden rather than showing it off; its unbroken bulb and remaining battery give him a faint beam with which to inspect the chamber beyond the crack.

Inside, the blast-damaged basement contains metal crates, some intact and others split open to expose lightweight foam cladding. Beneath it, Khalid sees machines wrapped in transparent plastic. Remembering vacuum-sealed food packets he saw in Baghdad, he guesses that the wrapping is meant to keep the machinery fresh. The unfamiliar equipment is thus made legible to him through an everyday comparison, even as its actual purpose remains unknown.

A Threat Beneath the Ruins

Khalid’s exploration turns abruptly dangerous when a metal cylinder he has casually sent crashing to the floor begins to emit light. Western lettering means nothing to him, but he recognizes the emblem of the nation’s bitterest foe. He understands that the object which came through the roof without exploding is a missile—and that it may still explode.

He scrambles back toward the fissure, which seems too narrow to escape through. Fear makes him feel trapped; with one arm already through the gap, he struggles for a hold on the ruined outer wall. Ahmed grasps his hand and drags him painfully out. The plant’s ruins are therefore not merely the remains of a past attack: hidden within them is an unexploded danger that turns scavenging into a near-fatal encounter.