July 23, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 22, 1424

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SULAIMANYA (Northern Iraq), July 22: It is not difficult to get inside Iraq nowadays, as this reporter found on Monday morning, crossing the Iraqi-Jordanian border along with a Kurd driver and a Pakistani journalist.

No one at the Jordanian or the Iraqi side of the border actually checked the party’s luggage.

The Jordanian side of the border was not expected to cause much of a problem for the small group anyway. And as expected all things were handled smoothly by the Kurd driver who seemed to know everyone on a first-name basis.

On the Iraqi side, only three Americans were seen. The three were in army uniforms but were relaxing near the visa section of the border post.

Our passports were handled by Iraqi people, including the official who stamped them. With the passports stamped, the group proceeded to enter Iraq.

One early impression is that the Kurds generally dislike Saddam Hussein and are happy that he is no longer in power. On the other hand, they are cautious about the people who have replaced Saddam and his men in the corridors of power.

“Saddam no good,” said Abdul Samad, the Kurd who drove this reporter to Sulaimanya. When asked about Osama bin Laden, he said almost everyone in the Middle East liked the controversial Saudi.

When asked why he hated Saddam so, Samad said: “Because he was and still is an American agent.” He did not elaborate.

In view of Saddam’s repression of the Kurds, it is hardly surprising that the deposed Iraqi leader is not a popular figure in the region. At least one portrait of Saddam’s had been vandalized. A piece of paper bearing an advertisement of a bakery had been pasted over the portrait. Something like this was unthinkable in pre-war Iraq, one Kurd told Dawn.

At a pole near a petrol pump in Northern Iraq were written the words: “Allahumma Ahfazul Iraq”. An elderly Kurd pointed out that the words “val Qaid”, which originally followed the words that were clearly visible had been painted over by some vandals.

The only Kurd we met who backed up Saddam said Saddam was “battal”, that is brave.

A former chief accountant of Sulaimanya University and a businessman both said the old government was a “bad one” and that they hoped that the Kurdish economy would improve in the near future. “Now that the government in Baghdad is a good one, we hope to see improvement in all walks of life,” said the accountant.