Happier New Year In Baghdad

I just came back from the playground with my boys. There, I met a grandmother caring for her daughter-in-law and two delightful grandchildren. Grandma had come in to San Diego from Anchorage to do so, because her son is in Iraq, on his second tour with the Army. He being in Iraq made this New Year a better one for Iraqis.

Reuters reports that, “In a safer Baghdad, Iraqis party for 2008.”

A woman buys a present in preparation for new year celebrations in Baghdad, December 31, 2007.
REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen

2008 arrived in a less-violent Baghdad, and residents said it was the first real party they had seen in years.

At the stroke of midnight, exuberant locals fired into the air with automatic rifles, sending red tracer fire streaking over the city, as fireworks lit up the sky.

While the city is still far from peaceful and many of the festive gatherings had a tentative feel, many said it was a happier occasion than they could have dared to hope just a few months ago….

Salah al-Lami, 27, the singer who performed at the Palestine ballroom and then for another New Year's Eve crowd at the Sheraton Hotel across the street, said it was the first time he had sung before a live audience in four years.

"This will be the year that we take our freedom!" he told Reuters after singing through a boisterous set in front of a packed dancefloor.

"When I went up on the stage and started singing I felt like I was performing for my family."

From a Grandma's family in San Diego and in Iraq, a happier New Year for Iraqis.