It's March and the madness is upon us, hello, everyone, I'm Carl Azuz. Later on today, we're going to tell you exactly how all of this came together. But we're starting today with an anniversary, it was exactly ten years ago on March 19th, 2003, that the war in Iraq began.
"At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and protect world from great danger."
"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended."
"By removing Saddam Hussein from power, America is safer and the world is better off."
You guys have grown up with this war, you've seen images like those, may be learn phrases like weapons of mass destruction or shock and awe. For years, the war in Iraq is part of our daily lives, when it began ten years ago, Iraq was under the control of Saddam Hussein. The longtime president was forced out of power and in the hidding as U.S. and coalition troops moved through the country and took control of Baghdad, the capital city. Hussein was captured in December of 2003. The war went on for eight more years, as U.S. coalition and Iraqi forces fought against insurgence. By the time the war did end, Iraqis had voted in their country's first free election in half a century. Tens of thousands of lives, troops and civilians have been lost. And for many of the peope who lived through it, like the family that Arwa Damon sat down with. Life had changed forever.
"And why did you stow?"
"I still got hope back then."
"You know, we didn't lose hope."
"Right now, it's worse than 2006, 2007 or 2008?"
"Of course. This is what we said, it's entrenching."
"That's frustrating. I was depressed, all my close friends left the country."
"Did you ever say I want to go to?"
"No, because I know that she is doing the right thing that what we're not leaving. And I know that there is a hope."
"We trust her."
"But you've changed your mind now."
"Six, seven months ago?"
"When I walk, I don't feel comfortable, because I feel threatened that someone might hurt me, or you know, or harass me, or do anything to me. And I can't feel safe unles I'm with my mother or with someone who is older than me."
"So you guys just online all the time?"
"Yeah, I spend most of the times on my phone here."
"One is not enough, so it's mostly their lives."
"So you're living in a virtual world, effectively."
"Yeah, yeah, we can say that."
"And when they meet, now they meet at home."
"A lot of people have a tendency to look at the numbers. They looked at the numbers of people who were killed from, but from everything you, you three are describing. that's not your barometer."
"No."
"No, it's about how to live like human being."
"There is no future here."