As appalling as Bush’s actual actions toward Iraq were, his pronunciation of Iraq is a pretty common one for his generation of US English speakers. I suspect th

As appalling as Bush’s actual actions toward Iraq were, his pronunciation of Iraq is a pretty common one for his generation of US English speakers. I suspect that if you looked at 20th-century editions of authoritative US English dictionaries or pronunciation guides, the /aɪˈɹæk/ pronunciation would often be listed there. The “correct pronunciation” of a country’s name in a foreign language, is not necessarily the one that natives of that country use. Languages around the world have altered the pronunciation of a country’s name when borrowing that word.