I couldn't find the post that this was excerpted from...
In any case, has anybody ever heard of Ahamd Kuba before?
Asia Africa Intelligence Wire, March 21, 2003 pNA
Exiles expect a hero's welcome for `liberators' Iraqis abroad say the time is ripening for their compatriots to topple Saddam.Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2003 Financial Times Information Ltd.
Byline: Jacqui GoddardCoalition troops may feel the force of President Saddam Hussein's bombs and bullets, but they will also be met with bouquets from his people, according to Iraqi exiles.
There's a great fear of war among most Iraqis, but fear of their president is even greater.
"I believe the Iraqi people will welcome these troops with flowers," said Ahmad Kuba, who spent 40 days in a Baghdad jail in 1979, enduring daily beatings and torture for his political beliefs.
"The message from them is: `Please come in and have this war - just do it against the regime and not against us'. They have suffered for a long time under Saddam Hussein, they have paid a heavy price, they have lived in hell," he said.
"They are fearful today, yes, but they are hopeful. They are ready for President [George W.] Bush to bring change."
Now living in St Petersburg, Florida, Mr Kuba escaped from Iraq across the Jordanian border after 30 government agents armed with machine-guns entered his Baghdad home, where he was staying after his release from jail in 1979. The agents rounded up his family, who had been singled out because they distributed anti-Hussein leaflets. He said his parents were arrested and his father later died through torture.
When Mr Kuba left Iraq, he had 1,000 dinars, or US$3,500 (HK$27,000) at the time. Now, 1,000 dinars is worth almost nothing, he said.
"People got poorer and poorer, but Saddam? He got richer. I wish his palaces could be left intact in the bombing so they can stand as a symbol of the evil of this man. He gave his people nothing to eat, but he used all their money to feed his ego."
For Aziz Al-Taee, head of the Iraqi-American Council, yesterday was a day of double irony. As the US-led coalition forces attacked Baghdad, he was marking the 20th anniversary of the day he left his country.
As Shi'ite Muslims, the Al-Taees are a natural target for the Sunni regime. Mr Al-Taee's brother-in-law was hanged, his 16-year-old cousin was mutilated and his brother was tortured to the point of madness.
Apart from his London-based sister, Mr Al-Taee's family is still in Iraq. "But that's just one family," he said. "This situation is bigger than just us - it's about 24 million people."
Some reports from inside Baghdad have told of anger and distrust of the US-led coalition.
But Mr Al-Taee said: "The feedback we are getting from inside Iraq is that the people feel powerless, but they feel that finally they can see some light at the end of the tunnel. They are terrified about what could happen to them, they fear Saddam Hussein could kill them, then blame it on the [coalition] troops."
Though few would mourn the Iraqi president should he be killed, many would prefer to see him brought to trial, he said. "They want to show him a taste of Iraqi justice, then Muslim justice and then American justice," he said. "Then he can die, and face hell's justice."
Both men predict a popular uprising against Mr Hussein when US-led troops advance on Baghdad. Mr Kuba believes many of the Iraqi soldiers and commanders are ready to surrender while strategic leaders will already have been bought off by US agents.
But Iraqi exiles also fear a bloody fight from the Republican Guard. "Saddam paid for their loyalty and he will want his money's worth," Mr Kuba said.
There is also deep concern that Mr Hussein's loyalist henchmen are rounding up potential leaders of any popular uprising.
Through friends who fled Baghdad three days ago, Zainab Al-Suwaij - who left Iraq after the 1991 Gulf war - has painted a grim picture of life there.
"The government officials are brutally treating the people there and they are taking the people who they suspect are against the government to jail . . . Some of the people who the government suspects are going to be taking part in the uprising, they are taking them as hostages," the head of the American Islamic Congress said yesterday.
Her friends, she said, had described how people in Iraq have been listening to foreign broadcasts for news, storing and buying food and filling sandbags to build their own bunkers.
"People are afraid . . . and at the same time, they are very excited and very happy to get rid of Saddam soon," she said. "But they know how stubborn he is."
Recalling the 1991 Gulf War, she said: "After the end of the war, Iraqi people rose up against Saddam Hussein's regime . . . but Saddam gathered his troops back and crushed us.
"So now the time is coming back again, and I think Iraqis are willing to rise up. But this time, they need to see the force there to support them."