Iraq

Few countries have the caliber of attractions, that are essentially off-limits to tourists, as Iraq. Here’s a country that can lay claim to some of the earliest and grandest expressions of civilization, with a human history spreading back tens of thousands of years, and yet this precious global heritage has been utterly overshadowed by decades of war, ethnic strife, and terrorism.

Foreigners aren’t advised to travel anywhere in Iraq, which, since 2014, has become part of the battlefield for the jihadist organization ISIS, the Iraqi government, and international forces. Even the semiautonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan in the north—which had generally been a much more stable and tourist-friendly part of the country even during the Iraq War of 2003-2011—is now embroiled in the fight against ISIS and travel there is as discouraged as elsewhere.

Because of the ongoing horrors, we’re robbed the experience of paying our respects to Iraq’s cultural treasures, which are prodigious to say the least. The modern-day country includes much of Mesopotamia—the "Cradle of Civilization" of the Tigris-Euphrates valleys—and the often-overlapping ruins of Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires are some of the most significant archaeological sites in the world. The Ziggurat of Ur, the ancient hub of Nineveh, the remnants of Babylon, the mighty Persian arch of Taq Kasra—these are only a sampling of the in situ wonders. The National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad, meanwhile, renovated and refurbished since its much-publicized Iraq War looting, has a stellar collection of Mesopotamian artifacts.

It’s unlikely that everyday visitors will be enjoying Iraq’s attractions—the glorious antiquities, the desert-and-mountain scenery, or the friendly welcomes of its long-suffering common people—anytime soon. For now, the country’s prospects remain as they’ve been for decades: utterly uncertain.