George: Tucked away on a bend in the Tigris River, hard by the Western Iraqi desert lies Suq Shalan. Invading armies – from ancient Assyrian to modern American – don’t bother stopping here. And no one has ever asked any of its one thousand souls what they think or want. But if the promise of democracy in Iraq is more than mere Western propaganda to justify a war, then everyone will have their say -- and someone should listen.

Al Najim: We’ve got no food, no medication no electricity, no cooking oil. No one’s even bothered to even come and see us. They didn’t bring us any security – we are completely lost. We don’t know where we are going. And we don’t know our future. The countries that launched what they called “Operation Iraqi Freedom” say they will not even try to count the number of Iraqis they killed. There are certainly many thousand dead.

Al Zouhiri: My wife was completely burned and her clothes were burnt off -- and she was screaming, screaming and begging me to cover her nakedness.

George: In the southern town of Nasariyeh, Sheik Al Zouhiri puts a precise figure on what freedom has cost him -- it’s the number of dead in his family -- 14. The Americans bombed his house by mistake. They killed his wife, four children, his mother, his father, two sisters, a brother and four nieces and nephews.

Al Zouhiri: I am asking the USA “Is this liberation?” If it is so, how about our human rights and our humanity?

George: What’s left of Saddam’s Ba’ath Party headquarters in Nasariyeh … where people come to take what’s salvageable … and to ponder what’s happened to them. Ahmed – on the left - believes the Americans came to free Iraqis from Saddam … his friend, Aziz, reckons they came for the oil.
But they’re both grateful all the same.

Aziz Al Daoudi: I prefer any party to Ba’ath.

George: Anything’s better than the Ba’ath Party?

Aziz: Anything.

Ahmed: I think it will be good life if you want.

George: If you want. If everybody wants?

Ahmed: Everybody wants a good life. There is no trouble.

George: The people of Nasariyeh haven’t got much time to ponder what’ll happen next -- they’re simply trying to get through without water, electricity, medicines, sewage, wages or affordable fresh food. Already malnourished and dependent on food rations, Iraqis fear war will be followed by epidemic.
Some Iraqis may have strewn flowers for their liberators -- many more are simply very angry with what freedom has so far delivered.

Man: No electricity, no fuel, no water. Why? This is a question for George Bush. Why? This is freedom?

George: The Americans say they are bringing you freedom.

Man: Where is this freedom? Where is it?

George: The war has left the country with the world’s second largest oil reserves short of fuel to run its cars or its kitchens. Still, amidst chaos there are signs of life in the body politic of Iraq.

Sami Al Ubaydi: We want an Iraq as one people -- one nation without political, religious and ethnic divisions. And we want people to feel Iraqi whether they’re Turkomen, Arab, Kurd, Shia, Sunni, Muslim or Christian. We have to work together as Iraqis to build a new Iraq from the beginning.

George: Sami Al-Ubaydi, is a Sunni Muslim from the north running his political pitch past Shia tribal leaders of Nasariyeh in the south. This is a rare event … but what’s about to happen is unique … Mr Ubaydi’s going out on the street to drum up votes for the first legal, independent political party formed inside Iraq in about 40 years.
But he admits he’s afraid America won’t like the process – preferring to put in own puppets.

Sami: We reject any meetings that take place in dark corridors… or meetings that cut a shadowy deal for purely personal purposes.

George: When we get there, it’s not a big affair -- a gaggle of curious potential voters lured away for a short while from the business of survival.

Sami: We’re with you at any time. Ready to listen to your opinion and discuss it -- That’s what’s it’s all about.

George: This little meeting marks the start of something resembling what we recognise as the democratic process, and the hope that such a process represents.

Sami: All these people with me. All this – thank you very much. All people with us.

George: Is it good today to be a politician in Iraq?

Sami: Yes, very good. Very good.

George: Another form of political process is taking place elsewhere in the city … where after years of repression under Saddam, traditional leaders are trying to reassert themselves.
Here, tribal and religious leaders are quick to assure visitors that the Shi’ites of Iraq have no intention of following their Iranian neighbours in forging an Islamic revolution.

Sheik Ali Al Yousha: Iraq won’t become an Islamic republic because Iraqi society is a cocktail of different people. We’ve got Muslims with a majority of Shia, we’ve got our brother Sunnis, we’ve got Kurds, we’ve got all sorts of different ethnic and religious backgrounds and we take all that into consideration. Iraq doesn’t have religious extremism. It may have had political extremism, but it’s gone forever.

George: The Americans see a danger of Iranian-backed Islamic movements rising in holy cities like An Najaf and threatening their plans for a secular pro-Western Iraq.
They tried to manipulate the outcome by expediting the return of a friendly exiled cleric … but his opponents promptly stabbed him to death in a mosque.

George: In the alleyways of the howsas – the religious communities – influential Shia clerics believe the US wants to shut them out of the new power structure … before going on to launch “Operation Iranian Freedom” next door.

Ryad Al Noori: We hope that Iraqis will be the only ones to decide which sort of government they want. We can’t allow a big, hidden hand to choose the Government for us.

George: The message is: don’t meddle -- there’s just one job to do and then get out quickly:

Ryad Al Noori: It’s been said they are liberators, but if they are liberators, they shouldn’t do what they did in destroying the infrastructure of the whole country. They destroyed it and they have to restore it.

George: This suspicion of America is almost universal in the south where everyone remembers how George Bush senior encouraged the Shia to revolt against Saddam in 1991 and then deserted them to a fate in which thousands died. Suspicion of American intentions rose further when the Pentagon’s favourite exile, Ahmed Chalabi, returned with a militia trained by U.S. special forces, and paid in American dollars.
In a region in which control of an army spells ultimate power, Chalabi’s arrival has reinforced impressions that the US intends to shoe-horn its friends into power – friends obligated to look after America’s interest over Iraq’s.
It’s a message the Americans claim they didn’t intend to send.

Steele: I do not see this – nor does anybody in my chain of command see this -- as a militia for any opposition leader, nor would any unit of this type end up being a militia for any opposition leader.

George: What about Iraqis perceiving it as being a militia for Ahmed Chalabi or an opposition figure?

Steele: I’ve not heard any discussion of that in any of the meetings that I’ve attended. There may be people who see it that way, but I'm not aware of it.

George: Chalibi refused to talk to us … but the militiamen told us they owed they loyalty to him and the Americans -- and with Saddam routed, they have an idea who their next enemy might be.

Samir Leftah: We don’t want to fight the Islamists because they’re Iraqi citizens. But we beg them not to stick their noses into our business. We are Iraqis, and we can solve our internal problems. We don’t want them getting involved and creating a mess and divisions.

George: It’s almost inconceivable now, but back in the 1970s, Iraq was prospering on oil with standards of education and health that were the envy of most developing nations.
But despite Saddam’s wars, economic neglect and years of international sanctions, there are Iraqis who believe the ultimate humiliation is still to come. Mohammed Abdul Hamid spent eight years in jail accused of belonging to a banned Shia political party – though he says he never did. Mohammed would far rather live under Saddam than see his country devastated and dishonoured by the occupation of a nation like America that he believes has no respect for his religion, his culture or for the dignity of his people.

Abdul Hamid: The freedom that the USA is going to offer us will pollute us more than serve us. And the USA is going to corrupt the people and corrupt their morality. And by doing so the U.S. will distract us while they are taking our oil.

George: In the Shia-dominated south, antagonism and the suspicion run deep -- from the cities to rural villages like Suq Shalan.

Samir Shibil: For God’s sake – if they have a God – they came here to get rid of Saddam and now they have to get out of the country and leave us an Iraqi government that we’ve chosen – not a puppet regime that does what they tell it to do for us.

George: The war ended with near-perfect timing for Iraq’s Shia to celebrate their faith with a 14-hundred year old pilgrimage that Saddam banned. Two million set out to mark the martyrdom of a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed and in doing so a long-oppressed community began to rediscover its voice. The Americans showed commendable discretion by keeping well in the background.

U.S. Soldier: They’re remarkably compassionate, remarkably family oriented, remarkably generous and loving people. And I'm overjoyed that I'm with them. They’re beautiful people.

George: There is hope; even some goodwill to build upon.
How America goes about getting what it wants – a pliable, friendly Iraqi leadership – and yet one that genuinely reflects the competing demands of the Shia and other groupings – will be crucial. And then it has to get out quickly. The alternative is almost unthinkable -- chaotic upheaval, Iraqis turning on Americans and each other, collapse of the State … and the almost inevitable emergence of a new strongman -- a new Saddam.