- BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The Iraqi
leaned close and, in a gesture of sincerity and friendship, touched me
on the hand as he spoke.
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- "Saddam Hussein was a good president," the
man said. "Under Saddam, I had freedom. Now it's fear."
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- It was a short conversation on the outskirts of Baghdad,
mostly a monologue from Obaired Ahmand, an Iraqi businessman who smiled,
touched and waved his finger as he talked.
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- The questions were brief, the answers long. He spoke
English well and rapidly. It was one Iraqi's view of his country before,
and after, the war.
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- "I was a free person under Saddam," he said.
"I had security. I could walk down the streets and no criminals put
a gun in my face. Now, it's very bad. I have no security. Iraqis are afraid.
Criminals are running the streets of Iraq. Not the police. Not the American
Army."
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- Ahmand, in fact, likes the soldiers who are occupying
his country. They're good people, he insisted, and want what's best for
Iraqis. He even does a little business with the Army from time to time.
Whatever it takes to make a living.
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- American foreign policy, he said, has damaged his country
as much as the bombs that fell here in March and April.
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- "America removes Saddam. He's gone. Now what? My
wife is afraid to drive on the streets. My children can't go swim or go
out to play. It's the criminals. They make trouble for me, and they make
trouble for you. The Army doesn't stop them, so nobody stops them."
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- What about the reasons for the war itself?
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- "This is the important question," he said.
"This is what Americans don't understand. Saddam is not a terrorist.
Osama is not a terrorist. Israel brought the Sept. 11 attacks to America
and took down the big buildings."
-
- It's a theory widely repeated and believed by tens of
millions in the Muslim and Arab world. Ahmand also is convinced it's true.
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- "Four thousand Jews who worked in the New York buildings
all took the day off on Sept. 11. They knew not to go to the buildings,"
he said. The Israeli intelligence agency "Mossad was in a nearby place
and made it happen. Then, America attacks Arabs. It was Israel that killed
so many people. Don't you believe that?"
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- I told him no, I didn't believe it, and neither did Americans.
Many Jews died Sept. 11. Saudis flew the planes into the World Trade Center
and Pentagon. I told him I thought his was a preposterous argument.
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- He laughed.
-
- "OK, you say silly, I say it's so. I believe - I
know in my heart - America does what Israel says."
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- The United States also is making a mistake, Ahmand said,
by trying to form a new Iraqi government with an equal representation of
Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
-
- "Iraqis don't think about such things," he
said. "It makes no difference to us. Americans are making it an issue
and forcing this government, all these people in the same room. It causes
problems. That's all."
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- Just look at his family, Ahmand explained.
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- "I am Sunni, my wife Shiite. Iraqis don't care about
this. America puts the people it wants as government in the room. The arguments
start. No arguing before. Not with Saddam (a Sunni) in charge. Things were
good. Iraqis lived well under Saddam."
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- I know, I told him. I've been to Saddam's spectacular
palaces.
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- Ahmand laughed again and leaned closer.
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- "Yes, Saddam's palaces. Very nice places."
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- What about the rest of the country, the south, where
people live in mud huts, probably no differently than 1,000 years ago,
or the edges of Baghdad, where some Iraqis live in massive garbage dumps?
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- "It's not good," he said. "That's very
bad. America has bad places to live, too, is that correct?"
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- Yes, that's correct.
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- "Most people here have nice places, houses, apartments.
Now, 9 p.m., doors locked. Nobody goes outside. Everybody has a gun. The
electricity is on three hours, then off three hours. The water is good.
Plenty of water."
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- What about when the power is off three hours? Is it a
problem? Are people angered by the inconvenience?
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- "No problem for me. I have generators," he
said.
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- You speak of freedom, I asked him. Did you have the freedom
to speak under Saddam?
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- "Sure. Yes. Well, I knew some (government) ministers.
You couldn't criticize. Or. . . ."
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- Ahmand made a slapping motion across his mouth and smiled.
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- "If a person was a good boy, he had no trouble with
Saddam."
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- It's the thousands of common criminals Saddam freed from
prison at the war's end who bring the chaos to the streets here.
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- "Security," he said again. "It's the most
important thing for us. Will the American Army bring security to my country?"
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- It's a good question.
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- http://www.dmregister.com/opinion/stories/c5917686/21985051.html
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