“U.S.-U.K., Liberators of Iraq from Saddam’s Terror.”
A banner hanging outside the entrance to central Suleimaniyah in Iraq, Chicago Tribune, 7/05/03
“I’ve been like a blind man during Saddam’s time. Look at my hair. It’s already turning gray, and I don’t even know how to get on a plane at the airport yet. I haven’t done anything. Now the future is very different. I’m free. I can travel, and no one will follow or arrest me.”
Dana Mohammed, a 19-year-old Iraqi, Chicago Tribune, 7/05/03
“It was a cruel system. We were living under terror and we all suffered from it. It was for our own survival not to talk about politics. We could not even discuss our personal problems openly.”
Balkis Al-Shamary, a clerk in an Iraqi shop, Agence France Presse, 7/03/03
“During the Saddam years, we did not even have hopes. We were living only to survive. Now I have lots of dreams and hopes.”
Hansam Hassan, a pediatrician at Baghdad’s Al-Alwiya Children’s Hospital, Agence France Presse, 7/03/03