Waleed Ibrahim: Did U.S. Bring Democracy? Iraqis Have Doubts

Waleed Ibrahim is a correspondent at Reuters.

Sitting in a barber shop in Baghdad's Shi'ite Sadr City slum, three friends agreed after a long and hard argument that U.S. forces brought democracy to Iraq.

But they found it difficult to utter the words without raging about the flip side of what they saw as the U.S. occupation of their country.

"OK, we have democracy. We can talk freely with no fear. We can demonstrate and vote freely. All these are available, and all were not before 2003," said student Hussain Ali, 20, as he waited for his haircut.

"But why don't you ask us about the other side of the story of the U.S. presence in Iraq? Why don't you ask about their crimes, atrocities, the pain and anguish that we suffered because of their military presence here?" Ali said, his face turning red with anger.

On April 9, 2003, U.S. forces toppled a statue of dictator Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad, marking the end of more than 35 years of iron-fisted rule by Saddam's Baath Party.

Then-U.S. President George W. Bush said Iraq could become a model of democracy in the Middle East.

But Iraqis who applauded the event and dreamed of a better future were disappointed as their nation descended into vicious sectarian warfare in which tens of thousands died. Recalling those years, many talk about the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib, and what they call the U.S. misuse of power...