LIBERATION
WITH THE 5TH MARINES, Iraq, April 7 (UPI) -- It started with the kids. Somehow it always does -- curiosity elbowing aside shyness of strangers and parents' admonitions for caution.
"Ameericaah?" a little girl asked a Marine who had entered her village and taken a defensive position as others began to search homes. The streets were deserted. People peered around their gates.
The Marine smiled, wiggled his fingers in the girl's direction and her fear -- and that of the rest of the townspeople -- melted. Within minutes people had left their houses and began to shake hands with the Marines.
Liberation from the strictures of the regime of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had come for a nameless village just a few miles from downtown Baghdad.
The US military--doing more to improve human rights around the world in one day than Amnesty International can do in a lifetime.











