“You can’t imagine how beautiful Baghdad was. How the nights were before, when families stayed out in parks until the morning’’
But BUSH'S LIBERATION put an END to THAT!
"Iraqis chafe under curfew, yearning for festive nights" by Leila Fadel, Washington Post | July 11, 2010
BAGHDAD — Just before midnight each evening, Iraqis rush home to beat the curfew. In the wee hours the streets are empty, save for Iraqi security forces, American convoys moving equipment, and a few brave children using the empty streets as soccer fields.
But now a group of advocates, poets, and journalists want to take back the hours of darkness....
On this summer night, the demand at a peaceful sit-in of about 30 people is not about services or security. It’s simple. Return the fun to Baghdad nights. Lift the curfew....
Under a green statue that is supposed to symbolize freedom, men sang songs of nostalgia, sadness, and the love of night. It was here that Saddam Hussein’s 39-foot statue was pulled from its pedestal in 2003 with the help of an American tank. But the new statue has faded with the toll of more than seven years of war, and Iraqis say that it represents an ideal that many have never really tasted.
The years since the American-led invasion have seen the rise of a Sunni insurgency and Shi’ite militias, terrifying raids on Iraqi homes, and a bloody sectarian war. Now, violence is lower, but it still lurks in attacks that happen nearly every day. Iraqis are stuck in limbo as they wait for their government to form nearly four months after a national election.
“You can’t imagine how beautiful Baghdad was. How the nights were before, when families stayed out in parks until the morning,’’ Ajili said....
By 11:30, the gathering had largely broken up. Many who demanded a change weren’t willing to risk breaking the curfew. A few stayed all night as the streets around them emptied. As the city slept, they prayed for it to wake again....
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It never started for the Iraqis.
