Voices of Iraq

I’m told the links from USA TODAY’s website where this and other stories were lost when they redesigned the website so i have gathered some of the images from my second time in Iraq, immediately after the fall of Saddam in 2003. A USA TODAY reporter, Mark Memmott and I were not embedded with the military but spent our time meeting every day Iraqis from all walks of life – the equivalent of a Supreme Court Justice, a school principal, a taxi driver, an extended family in Al Saddar City (formerly Saddam City), sharecroppers in the countryside, etc. Our objective was to tell the stories of these people and what the impact was on them personally after Saddam’s ouster.         – michael

Dnyah Ibrahim, 14, sells fresh fruit from the market in Al-Saddar City (formerly Saddam City) . Photograph by Michael Madrid, USA TODAY.
Iraqis dance and chant, “we will give our blood and souls for Saddam Hussein” as Kuwait Red Crescent Society and journalists arrive at the edge of Safwan, Iraq. Three tractor-trailer loads of food and water were delivered to the town as more than a thousand people came to take the relief packages. Photograph by Michael Madrid, USA TODAY.
Iraqis jostle for food and water distributed by Kuwait Red Crescent Society at the edge of Safwan, Iraq. The packages contained cheese, pita bread, boxed juice and milk, water. Photograph by Michael Madrid, USA TODAY.
Iraqis wait in line in 115 degree heat at a propane gas station in Baghdad. People trade empty propane tanks for full ones and pay 250 Iraqi Dinar per tank of the fuel that is used primarily for cooking fuel. Photograph by Michael Madrid, USA TODAY.
Al-Saddar City Family- Um Taleb, 63, washes dishes by window light and kerosene lamp at her family home in Al-Saddar City. Electricity service is only available for as few as two hours a day in their home.  Photograph by Michael Madrid, USA TODAY.
Naieem Wadi, 48, talks about his son’s injuries as Dr. Ziad Hammad, 30, looks on at Al Shahid Adnan Hospital in Baghdad. Haider Naieem Wadi, 16, said a mine exploded while he was looking for fire wood at a former military camp in Diwaniya on June 1, 2003. Wadi said the area had been an Iraqi military camp prior to the US forces occupation of the area. US military had been exploding a cache of Iraqi ordinance in the days preceding Wadi’s accident. The boy lost his eyesight in the blast. Photograph by Michael Madrid, USA TODAY.
Noger Beshar, 6 at home in Abdullah’s Village outside Al-Kut in south-central Iraq. The village has no electricity or running water. Photograph by Michael Madrid, USA TODAY.
Gufran Jabar, 7, enjoys the breeze near her home in Abdullah’s Village outside Al-Kut in south-central Iraq. The canal at left is used for bathing, drinking, irrigating crops, etc., the boys have just had a swim in the canal to cool off. Photograph by Michael Madrid, USA TODAY.
Hana Abdul Sattar, 60, is Pricipal of Khalid Ivn Al-Walid Elementary School in Baghdad. Her husband, Gen. Dakeel Ali Al-Hahili, was detained as a prisoner of war in Iran for almost 20 years and now faces hardship caring for him. Saddam’s military regime provided medical care for him until Saddam’s ouster. Photograph by Michael Madrid, USA TODAY.
Iraqi women have endured much in recent years, especially those who have lost husbands to war and Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime. Fatan Shibab, 36, who is assistant principal of Khalid Ivn Al-Walid Elementary School in Baghdad, talks about the death of her husband Saad Hazim Al-Dabag. Her husband was killed in 1984 during the Iran-Iraq War and was faced with raising her daughter Lina, now 19, with only the help of her family. Photograph by Michael Madrid, USA TODAY.
Thousands of Shiite Muslims bow down in prayer at the Shiite Kadumayah Shrine in Baghdad. Photograph by Michael Madrid, USA TODAY.
Selwa Thamer and her day-old daughter, Rusul at home in Abdullah’s Village outside Al-Kut in south-central Iraq. At Thamer’s feet is an old tire that serves as the baby’s cradle. The village has no electricity or running water. Photograph by Michael Madrid, USA TODAY.