What was life like in Iraq during Husseins reign?
It’s hard to explain the fear. When you walked outside your door, you always thought something bad was going to happen to you. That was the biggest thing. It was a republic of fear. … Two months after they (American forces) got into Iraq, I was talking to a friend of mine in Baghdad. I told him congratulations. He didn’t want to talk to me. He said he was still afraid. He said, “I don’t want to say anything. I am afraid they will come and get me.” Do you have many friends still there? Not so many. Most of the people my age, especially in my area, left. I know in my hometown, more than 200,000 people left in the last 10 to 15 years. What do you think of what is happening in Iraq now? I think it’s sad. I think there’s no reason for people to get killed. People’s lives should mean more than that. … I think the problems right now are we don’t understand each other, or we don’t try to understand each other for some reason. I think before everything, people have to learn how to like each
