Returning To A Changed Baghdad

After Six Months In Syria, An Emotional Move Home For An Iraqi Family

(CBS)  For the first time in six months, Labib Abu Ali is back in Baghdad.

He brought his whole family - including his wife and four kids - by bus from Syria.

At home, they enjoy simple pleasures: a family meal at the kitchen table, a soccer game behind the house. These are simple pleasures that have been so difficult to achieve, CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor reports.

“First of all, welcome back to Baghdad,” Glor said.

“Thank you very much,” Ali said.

What made him feel it was safe to return back home?

Through a translator, Ali said, “I made this decision because I can go outside now and I don't see killings, or explosions, or mortars.”

While away, Ali escaped the violence, but there were other issues.

In Syria and Jordan, where most of the Iraqis went, refugees are not allowed to work. It's why they're so eager to return. Now, 20,000 have done so between mid-September and the end of November.

Still only a fraction of those who left, but progress - made possible because of the surge.

The U.S. military is quick to acknowledge Baghdad is not back to normal. It’s not completely safe. But there’s no question it’s easier to move around. You can see evidence of that all over the capitol city.

In barbershops, chairs fill up. Not long ago it was too dangerous for a man to get a shave or a western-style haircut. It was sacrilege, punishable by death.

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Read more from Glor at Couric & Co. Blog.

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At Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad’s club soccer teams are back, and thousands watch. Public gatherings were unheard of last year.

Many refugees who return find their homes occupied by others, or badly damaged. The Iraqi government has no real plan to handle this.

Ali is one of the lucky ones.

What does he hope for himself and his family?

“What I hope for my family and for all of Iraq is the return of happiness,” Ali said through a translator. "I hope we will see more Iraqi groups come together. We need smiles to return. I hope we can find smiles."

The good news for him: In his own backyard, on his own kids’ faces, he can see those smiles already.

[morris61]

Return to Baghdad,isn''t that still classified as a war zone?This is more sick plutocracy run media humor.Are all the US visitors inside Baghdad still wearing bullet proof vests?To say we need a change in Washington,DC is an immense understatement.

[werchange]

RON PAUL IS THE NEW WAY
What we need is a President who will show us the way. Not the old way. Not the same way, but a NEW way. Think about this for a minute. What if we pulled all of our troops out of South Korea? They''ve been there for 50+ years. What if we quit worrying about Iran, but instead, realized that its having a nuclear weapon will not mean the end of the world? What if we pulled all of our troops out of the Middle-East, and brought them all home? What if we realistically addressed the National Debt, and paid attention to REALLY DOING SOMETHING about stopping illegal immigration? These are the ideas of Presidential candidate, Ron Paul. He''s a ten term Congressman and a physician who has delivered over 4,000 babies. He''s an intellectual who''s published four books, three of which are devoted entirely to sound economics and one to foreign policy. He was raised on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania as a pious Lutheran, but now he attends a Baptist church. Paul is given to mulling things over morally. Whenever he recollects the helicopter pilots he treated as an Air Force Flight Surgeon (Captain) during the Vietnam War, a war which he now says was "totally unnecessary and illegal," he laments, "They were gung-ho. I''ve often thought about how many of those people never came back." Candidates with the high level of personal integrity and proven track record of adherence to The Constitution, Congressman Paul has always demonstrated only come around once in a lifetime

[cfin5]

%u201CWhat I hope for my family and for all of Iraq is the return of happiness,%u201D Ali said through a translator. "I hope we will see more Iraqi groups come together. We need smiles to return. I hope we can find smiles." -----------------------Good for them. There''s NO PLACE like home. Wonder if Iraq has some kind of rule like our 2nd. Amendment to retain their happiness?.....Can''t wait to see our guys come home to their loved ones.

[mh4cbs1]

The following has been the NeoCon strategy since day one:

We shall scare the people with fake terror-alerts, fake WMDs, and mushroom clouds.

We shall lie our way into the needless Invasion.

We shall kill whoever gets in our way.

It doesn''t matter how many hundreds of thousands must die.

We shall declare victory over the crushed people and devastated cities. Their blood will be quietly swept under the rug as the media hails our triumph.

And the oil will still be there at the end of the struggle for our corporations to exploit.

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Like the good Christian citizens of Nazi Germany, most Americans buy the same propaganda, ignore the horrors in front of their eyes, wave the flag, and give even more loyalty and power to their triumphant leaders.

[mh4cbs1]

A Christmas message for Geroge Bush:

Merry Christmas! Let''''s not forget the teachings of Jesus on this holy day.

For Jesus taught us to Do ''''shock and awe'''' with death and destruction unto others, before they might strike us, or maybe plan to strike us.

Let us rejoice our fear, hatred and revenge, for it gives us the power of pride.

Let God give us the Wisdom to spend our hundreds of billions of dollars on cost-effective weapons, rather than squander it on lesser causes like poverty, infrastructure, health or education.

God Bless America, and to hell with the rest of the world or anyone else who gets in the way of our "interests".

And finally, Merry Christmas to Haliburton, Blackwater and the War Industry. Your $686 Billion is yours to spend in 2008. Have fun.

[libsluvsuvs]

Posted by veteran71 at 11:10 AM : Dec 25, 2007
+ report abuse

Posted by MCVet at 06:11 AM : Dec 25, 2007
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just like the terrorists..I love seeing you guys squirm and babble at any positive news concerning the war..YOU CAN ONLY LIFE IN A STATE OF DENIAL FOR SO LONG..

[mcvet]

I sincerely hope these poor people can get back to some sort of life like before George Bush... I hope that for America as well. Will America EVER live down this horrible thing that we did to these simple but harmless people. Fight them there rather than here? There was NO "Them" before Bush! Sieg Heil Bush!!

[yongamerica]

leafntree has lost its luster. no longer green and tall. Its leaves have fallen like its wisdom, all to the ground. its wood has soften with decay and bugs perfect for a California fire. Put leafntree out of our misery with a grand verbal pyre.