4 Years After Hussein's Fall, Regret in Iraq

On April 9, 2003, the day Baghdad fell to invading U.S. troops, Khadim al-Jubouri took a sledgehammer to a statue of Saddam Hussein. "It achieved nothing," Jubouri says now. "We regret that Saddam Hussein is gone, no matter how much we hated him." (By Jerome Delay -- Associated Press)

That did not mean he approved of the U.S. presence in Iraq, Jubouri said, but he blamed that on Hussein.

"I hated this guy because he's the one who brought the Americans, and we hate the Americans and the occupation," he said.

By 2005, many of his customers had begun leaving the country, at a pace that quickened last year as sectarian violence deepened after the bombing of a Shiite mosque in Samarra. He has sold only four motorcycles in the past year, he said.

He called the new Baghdad security plan "a failure from the beginning." Although he has noticed that Shiite militias have faded from neighborhoods, suicide bombings have not stopped, he said. Every time he hears an explosion, he worries that his friends and relatives are among the victims.

Under Hussein, he never faced day-to-day corruption, Jubouri said, but now he must pay bribes just to get a license or file a police complaint.

"I feel lost now," he said.

In his garage are dozens of classic motorcycles -- Harleys and BMWs, Triumphs and BSAs. Many are old and rusty, badly in need of repair. But the violence has shut down many nickel and chrome factories. And without electricity, how can he operate his equipment? And without customers, why bother?

"Now, Friday is better than Saturday, and Saturday is better than Sunday," he said, looking longingly at his Fat Boy.