When The Cheering Stops

Jubilation and chaos greet the fall of Saddam's regime, leaving Iraqis and Americans puzzling over how to rebuild the nation

How do you recognize freedom on the street if you've never met her before? The people of Baghdad got to dance and kiss Marines, argue politics in the park and pray in a mosque that had been padlocked for years. But maybe liberation feels real only when it includes the chance to be bad. Vandalism and violence were not just freedom's product; they were its proof. You know it is a new world when you can slap your shoes on the tyrant's face, spit on it and slash it, when you can break a window and steal a chair, wheel a...

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