As Iraq War officially ends, Minneapolis program aims to repair ethnic hatred

The last US combat troops left Iraq over the weekend after nine years of war that left nearly 4,500 US soldiers and more than 100,000 Iraqis dead. Thousands more were injured and millions displaced. Much of the country remains in ruin. As physical rebuilding of Iraq continues, one organization has been trying to mend the relationships between ordinary Americans and Iraqis. Since 2004, the Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project in Minneapolis has been repairing cultural and ethnic damages from the war, one family at a time. The group has hosted 40 Iraqi professionals in Minneapolis in an effort to dispel stereotypes of Iraqi and American culture. FSRN’s Joe Cadotte caught up with some of the Iraqi doctors visiting Duluth and files this report.