IRAQ: TWO YEARS AFTER START OF U.S.-LED INVASION MUCH OF BAGHDAD IS STILL IN RUINS.
Record ID:
584717
IRAQ: TWO YEARS AFTER START OF U.S.-LED INVASION MUCH OF BAGHDAD IS STILL IN RUINS.
- Title: IRAQ: TWO YEARS AFTER START OF U.S.-LED INVASION MUCH OF BAGHDAD IS STILL IN RUINS.
- Date: 19th March 2005
- Summary: (BN12) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (MARCH 18, 2005)(REUTERS-ACCESS AL) 1. TIGRIS RIVER WITH GUTTED BUILDING OF Al-SINAK TELECOMMUNICATIONS CENTRE 2. CLOSE OF BOMBED BUILDING OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS CENTRE 3. CLOSE OF DAMAGE CAUSED BY BOMBING TO BUILDING 4. ELECTION POSTERS ON BUILDING SHOWING FINGERS DIPPED IN INK 5. BOMBED BUILDING OF YOUTH MINISTRY 6. DEFACED MOSAIC PICTURE OF SADDAM HUSSEIN ON BUILDING 6. CLOSE OF DAMAGED MOSAIC OF SADDAM 7. STREET WITH MONUMENT OF MILITARY JET OUTSIDE AIR COMMAND HEADQUARTERS IN BAGHDAD 8. EMPTY PLACE WHERE PICTURE OF SADDAM ONCE STOOD 9. U.S. MILITARY VEHICLES DRIVING IN STREET 10. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic), GHASAN QAIS KADHIM, SAYING: "My memories about the war are full of death, killings and destruction. I do not have nice memories and the days that followed the war, they are not good." 11. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic), SALAH YOSUF MOHAMMED, SAYING: "They (U.S. forces) are the ones who have the weapons of (mass) destruction. We saw missiles that hit and destroyed Baghdad and we do not see our mass destruction weapons. They possess mass destruction weapons and they hit us by mass destruction weapons. We saw the dead, the wounded and tragedies and sufferings. We do not get any benefit from this war. What is Democracy? The democracy, which we saw is that of destruction, beheading, the killings and looting and all of these things are caused by them (U.S. forces)." 12. MARKET STREET IN BAGHDAD 13. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic), ISRA ZUHAIR, SAYING: "We hope that we will not experience such a suffering again and we call on our new government, which will be formed, God willing, to provide security and democracy and do not repeat the tragedy caused by the former regime. We ask God and the officials to unite Iraqis and we ask the neighbouring countries to help us in building our country as we are one nation." 14. SKELETON OF FORMER BUILDING OF COMMUNICATIONS 15. CONSTRUCTION WORKERS REPAIRING COMMUNICATIONS MINISTRY BUILDING 16. MINISTRY BUILDING BEHIND BARBED WIRE BARRICADE 17. ELECTION POSTERS FIXED ON BUILDING 18. EMPTY PLACE WHERE SADDAM PICTURE ONCE STOOD AT THE BACKGROUND IS THE TWO HALVES DOME OF THE MARTYR MONUMENT 19. ELECTION POSTERS WITH WORDS READING " TO CONFRONT TERRORISM WE CHOOSE FREEDOM." 20. MONUMENT REPRESENTING NEW IRAQ REPLACING SADDAM STATUE AT FIRDOS SQUARE 21. FIRDOS SQUARE WITH MONUMENT AND MOSQUE Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 3rd April 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD,IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA4SVLYS5WDELGKK5PRNU1IPX1B
- Story Text: Two years after the U.S. invasion, Baghdad is less
safe and less secure with many buildings still in ruins.
When U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq two years
ago, Iraqis thought that once Saddam Hussein was toppled,
Iraq would become a flourishing western-style democracy.
The second anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq
arrives as a new government is being formed in Baghdad.
U.S. military officials and Middle East analysts say although progress
is being made against a stubborn
insurgency, it may take years before the security situation
and the political process in Iraq are completely
stabilized.
While some reconstruction plans have been slowed
because of the insurgency, U.S. defense officials say there
has been a significant increase in the number of projects
and amount of money being spent in Iraq, but many buildings
in Baghdad are still in ruins, awaiting reconstruction.
While explosions are an almost daily part of life in
some parts of Iraq, Iraqis said the war brought them misery
and tragedy and memories full of scenes of death and
destruction.
"My memories about the war are full of death, killings
and destruction. I do not have nice memories and the days
that followed the war, they are not good," said Ghassan
Kadhim, a resident of Baghdad.
Two years since the U.S. forces marched into Baghdad
with no trace of Iraq's "deadly arsenal" of weapons of mass
destruction, most Iraqi people are convinced that it was
only a pretext used by the United States to topple the
government of Saddam Hussein.
"They (U.S. forces) are the ones who have the weapons
of (mass) destruction. We saw missiles that hit and
destroyed Baghdad and we do not see our mass destruction
weapons. They possess mass destruction weapons and they hit
us by mass destruction weapons," said Salah Yosuf Mohammed.
Mohammed, like many Iraqis said the war did not bring
any benefits for the Iraqis.
"We saw the dead, the wounded and tragedies and
sufferings. We do not get any benefit from this war. What
is Democracy? The democracy, which we saw is that of
destruction, beheading, the killings and looting and all of
these things are caused by them (U.S. forces)," he said.
Regarding day-to-day life, electricity, even in
Baghdad is often only available for two hours at a time,
petrol prices have increased ten times and there are queues
waiting for the limited supply, the sanitation system and
sewage system are not operating, the health care system is
in shambles and most of the destruction wrought by the U.S.
invasion has not been repaired.
Unemployment has doubled to 60 percent as Iraqis watch
U.S. contractors do work they should be doing as part of
the U.S. corporate invasion of Iraq.
And two years after the U.S.-led invasion, Iraqis are
split between hope and despair as the insurgency puts many
Iraqis at risk adding to the risks created by the U.S.
military.
They have experienced the act of casting a vote in the
first free and fair elections in Iraq's modern history. But
lawlessness prevails and Iraq remains mired in acts of
ferocity.
More than eight million Iraqis voted to elect a
275-National Assembly that is widely considered to be a
first step on Iraq's path to self-rule - and at the same
time brought closer the day when Iraqis finally see the
Americans leave.
"We hope that we will not experience such a suffering
again and we call on our new government, which will be
formed, God willing, to provide security and democracy and
do not repeat the tragedy caused by the former regime. We
ask God and the officials to unite Iraqis and we ask the
neighbouring countries to help us in building our country
as we are one nation," said Isra Zuhair.
While the violent insurgency continues in some parts of
the nation, interim leaders are hoping the creation of a
government will weaken support for militants responsible
for attacks on coalition troops and Iraqi security forces
and civilians.
The promise of a new Iraq, something many Iraqis yearned
for but never expected to see delivered by a U.S.
occupation force, has turned into selective, sometimes fond
remembrances of Iraq under Saddam.
Saddam was omnipresent in Baghdad. It was hard to
ignore Saddam's stern face looking down from billboards,
statues, memorial plaques, festive paintings and colourful
mosaics. The starting gun went off for the desecration of
Hussein's image during the first week in April when the
Iraqis pulled down his statue in front of the Palestine
Hotel. Within a few days, most portraits in town were
damaged or at least partly defaced. Saddam's toppled bronze
likeness in Firdos street on April 9, 2003 was replaced by
a freedom monument .
Life before the invasion was restricted and policed by the regime
and by UN sanctions imposed after the 1991 Gulf
War. But it also was predictable and, for the vast majority
of Iraqis, the way things had been for as long as most
could remember - since Saddam took control in 1979. A
police state without surprises, Iraq two years ago was a
place where people knew what to expect. They did what they
were told and in exchange had stability, jobs and few
expectations.
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