ladileathrnek
04-09-03, 12:13 PM
I KINDA LIKED THE IDEA OF PUTTING THEM IN CAGES FOR THE IRAQI'S HERE TO "VISIT"....BUT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT AN IRAQI SOLDIER WHO SURRENDERED DURING THE 1991 GULF WAR IS DOING LIVING IN THE US??????
Iraqi-Americans Rejoice at Saddam Defeat
Wednesday, April 09, 2003
DEARBORN, Mich. — Members of the Iraqi community throughout the United States rejoiced Wednesday at the apparent collapse of Saddam Hussein's government.
Standing on car roofs, cheering and waving American and Iraqi flags, people in Dearborn, Mich., breathed a sigh of relief as they realized the day they never thought would come appeared to be imminent: Saddam is on his way out of Iraq for good, if he's not already dead.
"Today is my birthday," said Ali Al-Ghazali, 46, a native of southern Iraq. "But it's also the birthday for all Iraqis."
"If President Bush will allow, I would like to shake his hand," he said, standing alongside his 74-year-old father, Musa Al-Ghazali.
Southeastern Michigan is home to about 300,000 people of various Middle Eastern ethnicities. The area's Arab community is centered in Dearborn.
The sense of jubilation was echoed by the dozen or so men watching the news on the Arabic language television network Al-Jazeera.
The relief was clear on their faces as they watched the images on TV.
But even as they celebrated, it was clear that the wounds left by Saddam's regime would take much longer to heal.
Some even had some creative ideas on how Saddam and his regime should be punished.
"Don't kill them," said Hadi Al-Baghdadi, a 42-year-old Iraqi living in Dearborn, referring to Saddam and members of the ruling Baath party. "Put them in cages in a zoo. And then we can use the admissions fees to rebuild Iraq."
Late Wednesday morning, a crowd of about 100 people and a dozen honking cars paraded by the Karbalaa Islamic Center in this heavily Arab Detroit suburb.
A Dearborn police officer spoke to one man who was perched atop one parked car. The officer congratulated the man, then urged him to be careful and not fall off.
On the East Coast, Bashir Mohsen couldn't believe what he was seeing on his television: Iraqis were climbing a huge statue of Saddam in Firdos Square, tying ropes to it in order to pull it down and hacking at its base with a sledgehammer. Men and women later dragged the head of the statue through the streets with ropes.
"This is great!" said Mohsen, an Iraqi-American who runs a computer business in Jersey City, N.J. "So far it seems to be going well. People were expecting a lot more fighting in Baghdad. I'm glad (Iraqi troops) gave up and realized he is not what he said he was. I can't wait for them to put a new government in."
It was the first time Mohsen, who immigrated to the United States 20 years ago, had allowed a reporter to publish his name since before the war began. Only now, he said, is he reasonably certain Saddam's loyalists cannot harm his relatives living in Baghdad.
Mohsen said he believes Saddam's regime had fallen as of Wednesday.
"If he was still in power, no one would be on the streets," he said. "But look at all the people!"
In Manchester, N.H., Salah Flaih jumped up and down as he watched the toppling of the statue on a TV set in his convenience store.
"Oh, the Iraqi people are happy now," said Flaih, 49, a former Iraqi army officer who arrived in New Hampshire with his wife and two sons 2 years ago. "It's the happiest moment in my life. It's my liberation day."
But not all Iraqis shared the enthusiasm.
Hussein Al-Rikabi, a former Iraqi soldier who surrendered to U.S. forces in the 1991 Gulf War, now lives in Paterson -- also an enclave full of Iraqi nationals and exiles from other Middle Eastern countries such as Syria, Turkey and Lebanon. Al-Rikabi was rooted for the liberation of his country at the start of the war, and encouraged U.S. troops to oust Saddam.
Two weeks later, though he took no joy from the apparent disintegration of Saddam's government.
"They're killing everyone they see," he said Wednesday. "What kind of control is that? How can you be happy about killing children? They're killing for oil and for money. Where is the liberation?
"This is not the way to change a government, by bombing hotels and things that belong to the people."
Iraqi-Americans Rejoice at Saddam Defeat
Wednesday, April 09, 2003
DEARBORN, Mich. — Members of the Iraqi community throughout the United States rejoiced Wednesday at the apparent collapse of Saddam Hussein's government.
Standing on car roofs, cheering and waving American and Iraqi flags, people in Dearborn, Mich., breathed a sigh of relief as they realized the day they never thought would come appeared to be imminent: Saddam is on his way out of Iraq for good, if he's not already dead.
"Today is my birthday," said Ali Al-Ghazali, 46, a native of southern Iraq. "But it's also the birthday for all Iraqis."
"If President Bush will allow, I would like to shake his hand," he said, standing alongside his 74-year-old father, Musa Al-Ghazali.
Southeastern Michigan is home to about 300,000 people of various Middle Eastern ethnicities. The area's Arab community is centered in Dearborn.
The sense of jubilation was echoed by the dozen or so men watching the news on the Arabic language television network Al-Jazeera.
The relief was clear on their faces as they watched the images on TV.
But even as they celebrated, it was clear that the wounds left by Saddam's regime would take much longer to heal.
Some even had some creative ideas on how Saddam and his regime should be punished.
"Don't kill them," said Hadi Al-Baghdadi, a 42-year-old Iraqi living in Dearborn, referring to Saddam and members of the ruling Baath party. "Put them in cages in a zoo. And then we can use the admissions fees to rebuild Iraq."
Late Wednesday morning, a crowd of about 100 people and a dozen honking cars paraded by the Karbalaa Islamic Center in this heavily Arab Detroit suburb.
A Dearborn police officer spoke to one man who was perched atop one parked car. The officer congratulated the man, then urged him to be careful and not fall off.
On the East Coast, Bashir Mohsen couldn't believe what he was seeing on his television: Iraqis were climbing a huge statue of Saddam in Firdos Square, tying ropes to it in order to pull it down and hacking at its base with a sledgehammer. Men and women later dragged the head of the statue through the streets with ropes.
"This is great!" said Mohsen, an Iraqi-American who runs a computer business in Jersey City, N.J. "So far it seems to be going well. People were expecting a lot more fighting in Baghdad. I'm glad (Iraqi troops) gave up and realized he is not what he said he was. I can't wait for them to put a new government in."
It was the first time Mohsen, who immigrated to the United States 20 years ago, had allowed a reporter to publish his name since before the war began. Only now, he said, is he reasonably certain Saddam's loyalists cannot harm his relatives living in Baghdad.
Mohsen said he believes Saddam's regime had fallen as of Wednesday.
"If he was still in power, no one would be on the streets," he said. "But look at all the people!"
In Manchester, N.H., Salah Flaih jumped up and down as he watched the toppling of the statue on a TV set in his convenience store.
"Oh, the Iraqi people are happy now," said Flaih, 49, a former Iraqi army officer who arrived in New Hampshire with his wife and two sons 2 years ago. "It's the happiest moment in my life. It's my liberation day."
But not all Iraqis shared the enthusiasm.
Hussein Al-Rikabi, a former Iraqi soldier who surrendered to U.S. forces in the 1991 Gulf War, now lives in Paterson -- also an enclave full of Iraqi nationals and exiles from other Middle Eastern countries such as Syria, Turkey and Lebanon. Al-Rikabi was rooted for the liberation of his country at the start of the war, and encouraged U.S. troops to oust Saddam.
Two weeks later, though he took no joy from the apparent disintegration of Saddam's government.
"They're killing everyone they see," he said Wednesday. "What kind of control is that? How can you be happy about killing children? They're killing for oil and for money. Where is the liberation?
"This is not the way to change a government, by bombing hotels and things that belong to the people."