The Foreign Service Journal, March 2004

shop) in the Sahn. As we ate and conversed, an acquaintance of his named Waleed entered. He had been a military participant in the intifada against the former regime. The conversation quickly focused on Saddam’s arrest. At the end of our conversation, Waleed offered to show me how he celebrated the arrest of Saddam. I followed him into a building located on one of the smaller streets in the shrine area. I had reservations about entering the building with this perfect stranger, but it constituted a rare opportunity for me to witness a segment of Iraqi society inaccessible to CPA personnel. On the second floor there was a tiny, two-room apart- ment. He led me into one of the rooms and above the bed I noticed a strange, large hole in the ceiling. He then con- fessed that it was in this space that he hid illegal weapons and secret documents since the intifa- da. He had promised himself that he would uncover and dispose of those items once Saddam was captured, and he kept his promise the night of the arrest. There was a definite sense of pride as he showed me the hiding place. “The next time I fix the ceiling it will be for good,” he exclaimed. The images that the world wit- nessed on various news programs in early December echoed the unham- pered celebration that took place in some Iraqi streets following Saddam Hussein’s capture. But the more somber reactions I was fortunate enough to witness in Najaf that afternoon also symbolize the patience, dedi- cation and pride of the Iraqis. — George Farag Public Affairs Officer, CPA Najaf, Iraq F O C U S 58 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A R C H 2 0 0 4 Surprisingly, there were no animated discussions or wild cheering in Najaf at the news of Saddam’s capture.