Faisal Saeed Al Mutar - “I lived in Iraq when the west invaded” Iraqi’s Honest Take on Neocon Wars and Middle East Today

19 snips

Aug 16, 2025

Faisal Saeed Al Mutar, an Iraqi refugee and co-founder of Ideas Beyond Borders, shares his profound experiences during Iraq's tumultuous times. He reflects on the chaos of Saddam Hussein's fall and the U.S. invasion, emphasizing the importance of promoting secularism and critical thinking in the Arab world. The conversation tackles the failures of U.S. foreign policy, the dual role of Qatar in regional conflicts, and the urgent need for empowering youth with ideas instead of weapons. Faisal's candid insights reveal the ongoing struggle for genuine reform amidst dictatorship and extremism.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

How Hitchens Helped Launch A Career

Faisal met Christopher Hitchens in Baghdad and later kept contact by email, which helped launch Faisal's career in U.S. policy circles.
Hitchens told Faisal he supported the Iraq war "because of people like you," showing personal conviction behind his stance.

INSIGHT

Winners And Unfinished Business In Iraq

The Kurdish region clearly benefited most from the 2003 intervention, becoming more prosperous and secure than federal Iraq.
Iraq remains "unfinished business," with power vacuums enabling Iranian influence and proxy control.

INSIGHT

Containment Fueled Iran's Regional Power

Faisal argues Obama's approach empowered Iran by normalizing and containing rather than confronting it.
That empowerment fuelled militias and regional instability rather than producing cooperative moderation.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Faisal Saeed Al Mutar joins The Winston Marshall Show for a powerful conversation on freedom, reform, and the unfinished business of the Middle East.

Faisal is an Iraqi refugee who lived through the chaos of Saddam’s fall and the U.S. invasion. He recounts his journey from Baghdad to America, and how those experiences shaped his mission to promote secularism, literacy, and critical thinking in the Arab world. He exposes how extremism thrives on ignorance, and why authoritarian regimes—from Iraq to Qatar—use culture, religion, and oil wealth to maintain power.

They discuss the failures of U.S. foreign policy, Trump’s controversial deals with Gulf states, and the ongoing struggle for genuine reform in a region caught between dictatorship and jihadism. Faisal argues that real change must come from empowering young people with ideas, not weapons.

All this—the Iraq War, Qatar’s influence, the dangers of authoritarianism, and one man’s fight to build a freer Middle East…

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To see more exclusive content and interviews consider subscribing to my substack here: https://www.winstonmarshall.co.uk/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

Substack: https://www.winstonmarshall.co.uk/

X: https://twitter.com/mrwinmarshall

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/winstonmarshall

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/winstonmarshall

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

04:52 Christopher Hitchens' Influence and the Iraq War

17:23 Obama's Foreign Policy and Its Impact on Iraq

28:22 Trump's Foreign Policy and Qatar's Role

45:51 Qatar's Influence on American Institutions

52:15 Syria and the Persecution of Minorities

1:05:51 Recognition of Palestine as a State

1:29:23 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.