4 years later, some miss hated tyrant of Baghdad

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0704090513apr10,1,6967459.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

4 years later, some miss hated tyrant of Baghdad

By Sudarsan Raghavan
The Washington Post
Published April 10, 2007

BAGHDAD -- In a garage filled with classic motorcycles, Khadim al-Jubouri stared at the 4-year-old magazines he usually keeps in a wooden desk. All of them contained photos of a burly man wearing a black tank top and swinging a sledgehammer into the base of a bronze statue of Saddam Hussein. The man was al-Jubouri.

Days earlier, he might have been executed for his actions. But it was April 9, 2003.

Crowds of chanting Iraqis, some clutching stones and sandals, swarmed Firdaus Square to deliver blows to the statue. Then, with the help of an American tank and a winch, it toppled, creating one of the defining images of the U.S.-led invasion. Over one photo of al-Jubouri, a headline reads: "The Fall of Baghdad."

"It achieved nothing," he said after putting away the magazines.

Four years later, with violence besieging the country, al-Jubouri cares most about security and order, and he has seen little of either. He blames Iraq's Shiite-led government and its security forces, and he wishes for a return of the era led by the man whose statue he helped tear down.

"We got rid of a tyrant and tyranny. But we were surprised that after one thief had left, another 40 replaced him," said al-Jubouri, who is a Shiite. "Now we regret that Saddam Hussein is gone, no matter how much we hated him."

more...

NOW can we call George the Butcher of Baghdad? He's earned it.

January 3, 2007
Many adults in Iraq believe the coalition effort has been negative, according to a poll by the Iraq Centre for Research and Strategic Studies and the Gulf Research Center. 90 per cent of respondents think the situation in their country was better before the U.S.-led invasion.

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/14282

in 40, that's not particularly surprising.

Now the teacher is occupying.