Iraq One Year Later

By: Marissa Cleaver

Updated: Fri 9:13 PM, Mar 19, 2004

One year ago bombs began exploding over Baghdad in an effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Iraqi’s now living in the U.S. have been watching the war unfold with great interest.

“Actually we feel worse over there in Iraq. Things change with the American troops over there. People die in Iraq all the time (when) they do bombing,” said native Iraqi Saleh Al-Maleki.

Al-Maleki works in an Iraqi owned grocery store in Lincoln. He still has family living in the town of Basra.

He says even though the war is officially over he worries about insurgents who frequently target civilians for bombings.

“I call my family, sometimes (they’re) safe, sometimes not….It’s very dangerous. You don’t know when you will die. It’s not safe,” he said.

More than anything Al-Maleki wants to Saddam Hussein back in Iraq to face his countrymen.

“We’d like to take Saddam Hussein to his people to judge him. He killed lots of people over there.” He said.

Al-Maleki hopes along with most Iraqi’s that a new constitution and elections will bring safety and order to the country.

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