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| Iraq |
| Life was better... |
| 2006-03-16 |
| March 16 (Reuters) - Approaching the third anniversary of the U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, Reuters reporters asked Iraqis: "Is your life better or worse than under Saddam?" This is what some of them said: *"Every day I feel like I am waiting in a queue for death," said one Baghdad lawyer, too frightened to be named in print. *"In terms of security, life before was much better," said businessman Adel Hussein, 45, in the Gulf city of Basra, heart of the oil industry. "But economically, now it's much better." *In the violent northern oil city of Kirkuk, labourer Ali Salman, said: "Before the war ... torture and killing took place in secret. Now it's all in public. The meaning of freedom is different: Nowadays you're free to live. And free to kill." *"Where is the new democracy? Why is this happening to us?" asked Hamad Farhan Abdulla, 57, a farmer from south of Baghdad who came to the city morgue looking for the body of his nephew, who he feared had fallen victim to death squad killers. *"The ghost of death chases us everywhere," said Thanaa Ismail, a 45-year-old teacher from the mainly Shi'ite southern city of Diwaniya. "I have cancer and need treatment in Baghdad but security has got worse and I've had to skip some sessions." *"Life has no meaning at the moment and our fate is unknown," said Na'im Kadum, a 33-year-old unemployed man from Diwaniya. "I don't see any improvement and I am pessimistic." *"If the percentage of the good life was one percent before, it is zero percent now," Salim Mahmood, 46, said gloomily as he sold tea and coffee near a Baghdad restaurant. *"It was better under Saddam. Now we have chaos and we have lost our security. Our country is in a big mess now," said Baghdad housewife Kareema Hussein, 46. *"Security, and life in general, was better under Saddam's regime," said housewife Hameeda Hussein as she went shopping in Najaf, a southern city where Saddam's military used tanks and helicopters to crush a poorly armed Shi'ite uprising in 1991. *"The situation was better under Saddam, at least I could walk at night and go to other provinces. Now, we can't move about freely," said Talib Moosa, 30, as he sold chocolate on a Baghdad street. *"After the war we were introduced to new concepts like human rights and democracy. But on the ground we haven't seen them yet. We need security," said Abdul Kareem Ahmed, a 50-year-old driver in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. *"Before, people feared prison. Now people fear everything. Even in your own house you can't feel safe or trust your neighbour," said Basra housewife Um Ahmed, 35. *"Generally everything was better before. Now there is chaos. Every month there are delays in delivering food rations, fuel shortages, a huge rise in prices and deteriorating security," said Khawla Hachim, 35, a housewife in Kirkuk. *"The situation in Iraq is miserable. No one can guarantee their security when they go out. This didn't happen when Saddam was there," said Najat Hameed, a 32-year-old woman in Kerbala, a Shi'ite city where Saddam is generally reviled *"Life after Saddam is better," said Imad Ahmed, 45, a technician from Arbil, capital of largely autonomous Kurdistan, which has escaped much of the violence in the rest of Iraq. "Job opportunities have increased for me and for many others." *"Before the war, life was better because all Iraqis, including Kurds, shared the same enemy," television anchorwoman Sara Abdul Wahid, 36, from the Kurdish city of Dohuk, said of Saddam. "Now there is more than one and we can't differentiate between friend and foe." *"Before, we didn't earn enough to meet the cost of living, but now we have more than enough. Despite the deterioration in security, I think we are better off today," said Ali al-Sharifi, 29, a government employee in Najaf. *"I used to leave for work without worrying. Nowadays if I get back home with no harm I just thank God for that," said Ali Jassim, a 55-year-old salesman in the Sunni town of Ramadi. *"What has the current government done for Iraqis? While they have been protecting themselves behind concrete walls, people are bleeding. Saddam was better than these selfish people," said Ahmed Abdul Hussein, 39, a labourer in Kerbala. |
| Posted by:Sleremble Spineter7889 |
| #21 Yep, those whom Saddam put in mass graves - their anti Saddam opinions are known only by accident after their bodies are found. the validity of their beliefs or actions known only to their families and Allah. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-03-16 22:32 |
| #20 My goodness, Zenster. Where did that mad as a hatter bit come from? I had to read it twice, I did! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-03-16 22:05 |
| #19 I understand there are still folks in Russia who pine away for Stalin. Pinin' for the gulags? What kind of talk is that?, look, why did the economy fall flat as piss on a plate the moment we abandoned communism? The Ukranian Red prefers kippin’ during work hours! Remarkable worker, id’nit comrade? Lovely uniform. Look, I took the liberty of examining that worker when it got off shift, and I discovered the only reason that it had been sitting on its chair was that it had been NAILED there. (pause) Well o’course it was nailed there! If I hadn’t nailed that worked down, it would have nuzzled up to that old Iron Curtain, dug under with its spoon, and VOOM! Émigré, Émigré! “VOOM”?!? Mate, this worker wouldn’t “voom” if you poured four million cups of coffee down his neck. ‘E’s bleedin’ comatose! No, no! ‘E’s pining! ‘E’s not pinin’! ‘E’s pissed off! This worker is no more! He has ceased to drink. ‘E’s nekulturny and gone to meet ‘is quota! ‘E’s a psikhushka. Bereft of wealth, ‘e drinks like a newt! If you hadn’t nailed ‘im to his chair ’e’d be pushed ‘round in a wheelbarrow! ‘Is liver is now ‘istory! ‘E’s on a bender! ‘E’s fallen off of the wagon, ‘e’s shuffled out of the ration line, run down a side street and joined the bleedin’ perestroika agitprop! THIS IS IVAN DENISOVICH! |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-03-16 18:56 |
| #18 Well the problem is that the people who would have found that life was not so good under Saddam are in mass graves. So, even for them life was better under Stalin. Got it. ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-03-16 18:26 |
| #17 Well the problem is that the people who would have found that life was not so good under Saddam are in mass graves. |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-03-16 17:59 |
| #16 LOL! |
| Posted by: 6 2006-03-16 17:09 |
| #15 "Well, yeah, my neighbors were dragged away in the middle of the night, but dammit, when Saddam was in power I didn't have trouble with my cable reception." |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2006-03-16 16:26 |
| #14 I understand there are still folks in Russia who pine away for Stalin. |
| Posted by: kelly 2006-03-16 14:46 |
| #13 UB: How about being even slightly more scientific, like percentages by areas, by sect, tribe, etc. Since the point of the news media is to change the world (i.e. disseminate anti-American points of view), they're not going to let us know this information. Especially since it might show up their anti-American propaganda offensive for what it is. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2006-03-16 13:49 |
| #12 How about being even slightly more scientific, like percentages by areas, by sect, tribe, etc. |
| Posted by: Unique Battle 2006-03-16 13:47 |
| #11 1781 Revolutionary War combat end 1783 Treaty of Paris war end 1787 Constitutional Convention 1788 First Elections 5 years is a better figure. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-03-16 12:38 |
| #10 The US was almost certainly better off under King George than the first ~10 years after the Revolution. Since then things have taken a turn for the better. |
| Posted by: JAB 2006-03-16 12:28 |
| #9 This is b.s., maybe technically true for the moment... But Democracy and freedom are going to give Iraqis much better lives for the next 100 years. I mean if they really want, maybe we could just give Saddam back control... 'what?? whats that you say? Ohhhhh yeahh he was a tyranical dictator, responsible for the deaths of some 300,000 innocent people.... |
| Posted by: bgrebel 2006-03-16 12:18 |
| #8 Take your pick folks, people being fed feet first into wood chippers, brides being raped on their wedding night, Olympic athletes being tortured for losing and all this amidst intense corruption, economic stagnation and autocratic minority rule. Or, finding out that part of your own population who are of similar faith are willing to slaughter you endlessly because they are now free to do so. One you have no control over and never will, the other can be changed if you have the stones to do it. What is it, stones or no stones? |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-03-16 11:47 |
| #7 Not by Arabs, moron - that was another shining example of MSM stupidity attributed to others. Suck you thumb somewhere else, memeboy. |
| Posted by: Glert Thetch2165 2006-03-16 10:32 |
| #6 "Our troops will be welcomed with flowers and candy" "Mission Accomplished"!! |
| Posted by: Bystander 2006-03-16 10:28 |
| #5 "War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." --John Stuart Mill |
| Posted by: eltoroverde 2006-03-16 09:33 |
| #4 Interesting that at least one of the interviews was done at a morgue. Kinda self-selecting. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-03-16 08:46 |
| #3 A "Poll' will say whatever the pollsters want. Especially when the pollsters get to pick and chose which answers to publish. In short, a bullshit aeticle. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2006-03-16 08:15 |
| #2 I wonder how long it took Reuthers to pick-and-choose these gems? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2006-03-16 08:13 |
| #1 "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security." - Ben Franklin |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2006-03-16 07:38 |