Still Believe?

Do you still believe we're making a positive difference in Iraq?

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Hawra and Haider began their married life cowering under the "shock and awe" American bombardment of Baghdad in March 2003.

When it was over, and Saddam Hussein had fled, they believed "Operation Iraqi Freedom" had delivered a bright new future, free of fear and the economic sanctions that impoverished them.

Three years on, as they celebrate their third wedding anniversary, those dreams have died as insurgency and rising sectarian violence have brought new fears, and more poverty.

Haider Khaleel, then aged 26 and married for three weeks when the first bombs fell on his city on March 20, was working as a house-painter. He thought his degree in mathematics might finally land him a well-paid job in business when peace came.

Hawra Mohammed, 10 years younger than her husband, believed the opening of Iraq's sanctions-bound oil wells, would make gray Baghdad bloom like Dubai and other wealthy cities on the Gulf.

"I dreamt of being the local agent for an international company. I would be able to travel and make a fortune," Haider said as he labored in the small grocery store he now runs.

"But the bombings and shootings have killed all my dreams."

"After the war, I thought the situation would be better than in Saddam's time," said Hawra, sitting in the kitchen at their modest home nearby. "I wanted to travel freely with my husband abroad ... to live as other people all over the world do.

"I imagined Baghdad would be like Dubai or even better," she said, laughing at her own fantasy. "But that was just a dream."

The arrival of two children has brought happiness, but also more worry about what fate holds for them: "I can't say what our future is," she said. "Our dreams have vanished."

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