Baghdad
▪️ In a move that sparked widespread controversy among the Iraqi public, the Warith Foundation, affiliated with the Imam Hussein Shrine, signed a package of strategic agreements and partnerships with major American companies and institutions—including Thermo Fisher Scientific and Boston Children’s Hospital—during the Prime Minister’s official visit to Washington in July 2026.
▪️ The foundation’s leadership appears to have underestimated the scale of the public backlash and sharp criticism that followed, particularly given the highly sensitive political and regional context in which the agreements were announced.
▪️ To this day, the foundation has been attempting to contain the public anger by publishing a series of explanatory statements and posts portraying the agreements as an “unprecedented historic achievement.” It has highlighted ambitious promises, most notably the acquisition of one of the world’s most advanced systems for diagnosing genetic diseases and cancer in as little as five hours, in an effort to convince the public of the value of this technological cooperation amid continuing skepticism.