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Posted on 04/09/2003 9:59:06 AM PDT by ewing
Edited on 04/29/2004 2:02:23 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Cable News Network just showed a big impromptu parade with Iraqi Americans waving big USA flags in appreciation for the liberation.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Wednesday, April 9, 2003
BY JIM SCHAEFER, NIRAJ WARIKOO AND TAMARA AUDI FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
Hundreds of people in Dearborn celebrated the apparent fall of Saddam Hussein's regime Wednesday by honking horns, parading on foot and waving U.S. and pre-Hussein Iraqi flags.
The peaceful demonstration began about 11 a.m., shortly after U.S. troops in Iraq helped civilians topple a large, metal statue of Hussein in a Baghdad square.
In the predominantly Arab neighborhoods of east Dearborn, a group of 75 to 100 men, mostly Shiite Muslims, emerged from homes and businesses, congregating on W. Warren, the city's major Mideastern thouroughfare, many with tears streaming down their faces.
Some chanted ``U-S-A! U-S-A!'' and ``Thank you, George Bush! Thank you, George Bush!'' Some men chopped a wooden portrait of Hussein to pieces with their hands.
They paraded east on Warren to Schaefer, past groceries, restaurants and bakeries topped by colorful Arabic-language signs. Police corralled the group on Schaefer, and the men retraced their steps to Warren near Greenfield, the boundary with Detroit.
By midday, as women, children and others joined the group, the crowd swelled to as many as 1,000, police said. There were no reported problems.
``Today's the best day of my life,'' said Ahmad Al-Aboudi, a 16-year-old from Detroit dressed in a baseball cap and baggy black jeans. ``I've been in America 15 years. This is my best day,''
Al-Aboudi said he was brought to the United States as an infant after Hussein's police killed his father in 1991. ``I'm going to go back and kill Saddam myself,'' he said.
An old man in brown robes threw toffee candy to others, saying, ``Peace be with you'' with each toss. Women hugged each other, saying in Arabic, ``A thousand congratulations,'' a phrase usually reserved for weddings and births.
Circles of young men danced underneath a Marathon gas station marquee, waving dozens of American flags of all sizes and pre-Hussein Iraq flags. Families shook hands, men kissed each other on the cheek. Religious men in traditional black robes and head scarves walked through the crowd, slowly smiling and nodding.
A young teenager wearing a University of Michigan ballcap and sweatshirt waved two flags above his head - in his right hand, the American flag; in his left, the colors of pre-Hussein Iraq.
Children rode their fathers' shoulders, clinging to their mothers' robes, and smiling and waving for media cameras.
At one point, a green BMW drove through the crowd with a huge placard picturing Hussein's head with skulls pouring from his mouth. People threw snow and rocks at it, then tore it apart, threw it to the ground and stomped on it.
Many of the men in the crowd left Iraq after Hussein's regime squashed a 1991 uprising of Iraqi Shiites after the Gulf War. Metro Detroit is home to one of the largest populations of Arabs outside the Middle East, and Dearborn, on Detroit's western edge, is the center of the Mideastern community.
In Detroit, along Seven Mile near Woodward, the mood among Iraqi Christian shopkeepers and others was more restrained. Most went about their business and there were no outward signs of celebration. The only hint of the events in Baghdad were two men posing for a photographer, both flashing peace signs and smiles.
``The people will be celebrating on the inside for the next two days,'' said Amer Hanna Fatuhi, executive director of the Chaldean Cultural Center of America. ``Many have family over there so they are still worried about them. Maybe in a week we will have a big celebration.''
By 1:30 p.m. in Dearborn, police asked the crowd to disperse, but encouraged them to attend a rally at 5 at Hemlock Park, east of Schaefer just north of Ford Road.
The crowd on West Warren thinned considerably, many honking horns as they left.
In the doorway of the nearby Karbalaa Islamic Center, a fashionably dressed woman wearing jewelry, perfect lipstick and a gold headscarf watched people leaving the celebration.
Her eyes were teary, her face covered with lipstick from kisses.
``This day, this moment, is like a fantasy,'' she said.
Contact JIM SCHAEFER at 313-222-5995 or games@freepress.com. Staff writer Dan Shine contributed to this report.
Note to liberal lurkers: Under the direction and resolve of President GW Bush Coalition forces liberated Baghdad in 3 weeks. What have you done?
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