Liberation Update
VOICES OF FREEDOM
“I can honestly say now that I’m proud to be an Iraqi. Because of what has happened, because there is freedom here like I have not known before. Now I can talk—to you, to people I could never talk to before. I am a simple man. I am just a worker. But even these simple things—talking—give me hope.”
Khalid Nemah, an Iraqi taxi driver, Chicago Tribune, 8/05/03
“Baghdadis now freely surf the Internet and send e-mail without a government official pacing behind them.”
The New York Times, 8/05/03
“Iraqis are very thirsty to learn what is happening outside of Iraq.”
Abbas Darwish, owner of a Baghdad shop that sells newspapers, The New York Times, 8/05/03
“Recruitment for Iraq's post-Saddam army started on July 19, and this week, a two-month basic training course gets underway to produce its first 1,000-strong light-armoured mechanised infantry battalion.”
Agence France Presse, 8/05/03
“I can put my head on the pillow and sleep deeply. I can rest now.”
Ayad Hosni,, a barber in Baghdad, Knight Ridder, 8/05/03
“But neighborhoods in and around Baghdad, staggering from uneven electrical power and water supply, also buzz with normal summer delights. Ice-cream stands are jammed, soccer fields swirl with the dust of matches and bookstores down from the Shabandar [café] are open all hours and selling posters of imams and politicians once-reviled by the ousted regime. Booksellers grin when asked about their new reality.”
Chicago Tribune, 8/05/03
“You never knew who was sitting next to you. In the past no one would dare to just speak out. Now everybody is talking. About federalism, about a monarchy. ... I think our aims are just one, to eliminate persecution for anyone ever again.”
Jafar Adel Amr, a tool salesman in Iraq, Chicago Tribune, 8/05/03
“I can’t be optimistic or pessimistic. I don’t want to say we can do it or we’ll do it well. But the way we’ve suffered in the past 30 years, we will try to create a new way.”
Jafar Adel Amr, at the Shabandar café in Baghdad, Chicago Tribune, 8/05/03
“Iraq without its marshes is like the United States without the Grand Canyon. One of the communities that suffered the most under Saddam is the marsh Iraqis. If we're ever going to see justice done in Iraq, part of that justice is restoring these peoples' way of life. This is a matter that goes beyond the environment.”
Azzam Alwash, an Iraqi exile who has returned to Iraq to restore the wetlands, Los Angeles Times, 8/05/03
“The only way for me to leave was to escape the country. If I had just quite and gone home, I was afraid that the people who worked for him [Uday] would have stalked me and killed me.”
Uday’s former bodyguard, Los Angeles Times, 8/02/03
“Freedom is much sweeter. I can get up in the morning and decide whether I want to shave or not; if someone in my family is sick, I can stay home with them. I don’t need to ask permission.”
Salim Kasim, one of Uday’s chief mechanics, Los Angeles Times, 8/02/03
“It brings us to the future, this train.”
Mohsin al Naif, watching the first train pull into Rabiyah in over a year, Associated Press, 7/31/03
“Their textbooks were filled with Hussein's regime as well: Math texts substituted S and H for the variables X and Y, reading comprehension paragraphs discussed ‘Zionist aggression’ and using oil as a political weapon, and other exercises promoted joining the Popular Army as an everyday activity such as buying a music cassette or acting in a play. … That is changing, as Iraqi teachers and parents team up with U.S. and international organizations to root the former Iraqi dictator out of textbooks and replace militaristic rote learning in Iraqi classrooms.”
Chicago Tribune, 7/31/03
“We didn’t believe these things, but we had to say them. Saddam was there in all the books, even the math books.”
Ghada Jassen, a fifth grade teacher in Iraq, Chicago Tribune, 7/31/03
“We don’t want patriotic education anymore. Nothing about war. We want flowers and springtime in the texts, not rifles and tanks.”
Dunia Nabel, a teacher in Baghdad, Chicago Tribune, 7/31/03
“Long live great Iraq!”
Iraqi students, who are no longer required to salute Saddam at the beginning of class, shouting their new salute, Chicago Tribune, 7/31/03
“We want to have a real education, to be a progressive country. Education is very important to the reconstruction of our society. If you want to civilize society, you must care about education.”
Al Sa’ad Majid al Musowi, a businessman on Baghdad’s city council, Chicago Tribune, 7/31/03
“This is where all the money went—all our money went. I am astonished and angry.”
Salih Fadhil, viewing Saddam’s palace in Tikrit, The Daily Telegraph (London), 7/31/03
“It just reminded me of how powerful Saddam was.”
Mudhfar Awad, after seeing Saddam’s palace in Tikrit, The Daily Telegraph (London), 7/31/03
“Water is returning to the Mesopotamian marshlands, turned into salt-encrusted desert by Saddam Hussein.”
The Christian Science Monitor, 7/31/03
“The return of water had an immediate effect on the people [the Marsh Arabs in Iraq] whom the war had freed. They are fishing again from boats that had not floated for years. Water seems to hold the promise of reviving an old way of life.”
The Christian Science Monitor, 7/31/03
“We have full freedom to print anything we want. The coalition doesn’t interfere in our work but, of course, we have our own red lines.” Ishtar el Yassiri, editor of the new satirical Iraqi newspaper Habez Bouz,
Financial Times (London), 7/31/03
“Volleys of Kalashnikov gunfire erupted above the dusty village of Haush al- Jinoub in southern Iraq. Children and weeping women thronged around the bus as it drew to a halt. Out stepped Thabed Mansour, frail and weary after 12 years of exile, for an overwhelmingly emotional reunion with his wife and family. Mr Mansour was one of 244 men who returned to their native country yesterday in the first formal repatriation of Iraqi refugees since the war ended.”
The Times (London), 7/31/03
“It is like the soul coming back to the body.”
Ibrahim Abdullah, a refugee returning to Iraq, The Times (London), 7/31/03
“Since Iraq’s liberation, the dominant theme of Western news reporting has been the guerrilla attacks against U.S. troops. The focus obscures a larger truth: Life is returning to normal in Iraq—better than normal, actually, because this ‘normal’ is Saddam-free. All of the country's universities and health clinics have reopened, as have 90 percent of schools. Iraq is now producing 3.4 gigawatts of electric power—85 percent of the pre-war level.”
National Post (Canada) commentary, 7/29/03
“The tension is reducing every day. We are seeing a change. People are starting to realize that the soldiers are not here to occupy Fallujah forever—they’re here to help us rebuild.”
Taha Bedawi, mayor of Fallujah, The Washington Post, 7/29/03
“It’s a chance to defend our country for our people. It’s good to work with the American soldiers. They give us new training and a mutual respect.”
Omar Abdullah, a recruit for Mosul’s newly formed joint security group, Associated Press, 7/29/03
“I want to serve a new Iraq.”
Shevin Majid, a former Kurdish fighter who is now a recruit in the Mosul joint security force, Associated Press, 7/29/03
“We’re happy, we’re rid of Saddam Hussein; the torture and executions of 35 years are over. We should wait to see what the Americans will do.”
Ahmed Abdel-Sahib, in Najaf, The Washington Post, 7/28/03
“Most Iraqis aren’t worried we’ll stay too long; they’re petrified we’ll leave too soon.”
Paul Gigot, The Wall Street Journal, 7/28/03
“There is a certain harmony. But you can not rebuild a city or country—a country destroyed by war—in one month.”
Mohammed Tahar al-Abid Rabu, a member of the Mosul city council, Agence France Presse, 7/28/03
“More and more businessmen are coming to Iraq. It is a rich country and the Iraqi market is enormous. All the world wants to come and do business here.”
Captain Adel Khalaf, director of the port at Umm Qasr, Agence France Presse, 7/27/03
“For the first time I feel really free.”
Latif Yahia, Uday’s former double, after hearing of Uday’s death, Agence France Presse, 7/26/03
“The Iraqi people have got rid of two of the biggest criminals in history. Their victims and the sons of their victims, who lived for 35 years under oppression, are feeling proud and happy.”
Muwaffak al-Rubaiei, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, Agence France Presse and Reuters, 7/25/03
“We are more free nowadays. My father gave me the full freedom to marry whom I choose.”
Raina Nuri, a woman in Baghdad, Christian Science Monitor, 7/25/03
“We heard about Uday and Qusay being killed and, frankly, we are happy.”
Fadil Abbas, in the Sadr City suburb of Baghdad, Associated Press, 7/24/03
“We felt better after the regime fell, now we are really happy—we have been freed from our nightmare.”
Alaa’ Kathem, an Iraqi soccer player who had been punished for losing games, Financial Times (London), 7/24/03
“If it’s really him, we will be so very happy. We will be able to start a new regime of Olympic sport in Iraq. OK, he’s gone. We start a new life.”
Jaffer al-Muthafer, an Iraqi soccer player, Los Angeles Times, 7/24/03
“Iraq is now free from torture. Free from Uday.”
Amu Baba, a legendary soccer star in Iraq, Los Angeles Times, 7/24/03
“We feel safer now because we used to hear lots of stories about girls. We were so afraid to go out in case Uday saw us.”
Farrah, a 15-year-old Iraqi girl, Newsday (New York), 7/24/03
“My father died because of Saddam. I don’t want to speak about the reasons. But I was so happy. I was at home when I saw it on the TV. I woke up my aunts and told them the good news. I used to hate those guys so much and so I felt so at ease in my heart.”
Osama Zaid, a distant cousin of Uday, after learning of Uday’s death, Newsday (New York), 7/24/03
