Hussein finally fades for Iraqis
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"Yeah, they brought light, but still no electricity," jokes Amal, prompting a surge of laughter.
Such debates over Hussein today will determine his legacy as leader of Iraq. Amal says she loves history, and asked her teacher: "What will they read about Saddam in the future?" Her teacher answered: "History shows the good and the bad. It shows the facts."
Afterward, a fellow student was more succinct, and told Amal: "[History] will curse him."
"Just look at all these love letters!" beams Amal, opening a red and white box marked with hearts. It is stuffed full of cards an d letters declaring friendship with the Iraqi student - and it comes from South Korean students Amal met during a visit to Seoul last month.
Amal can barely describe her journey because she is smiling so much at the memory of a monthlong December trip that was launched when Korean parliamentarians read excerpts of Amal's diary of the war in Iraq that were printed in the Monitor.
"I saw things I never imagined," Amal says, showing a card decorated with Iraqi and Korean flags and calls for peace. She wipes away tears as she recalls her warm reception at Korean churches and schools. "I only left Baghdad once in my life, for a 1 1/2-hour drive to visit relatives," she says. "I didn't know where Korea was."
In fact, the daughter from a poor family of nine, followed by the Monitor since late 2002, had never seen a world map - a privilege she says was reserved for high-schoolers.
The troika of Iraqis invited to travel included Riyadh Hadi Aziz, dean of the college of political science at Baghdad University, and an Iraqi journalist from a newspaper created by a US peace group. Both of them were asked their views on the need for Korean troops in Iraq.
Amal spoke about what she knows best: her life and the war. She says the group visited a Korean war cemetery and laid flowers.
Over tea, Amal shared the student "love" letters, two clippings from Korean newspapers, and a pile of photographs that show a mature-looking teen speaking like a goodwill ambassador about her country and its conflict.
She says she carried a mixed message about the US occupation, and was surprised at the vitriolic anti-US views she often heard.
Amal was astonished that the president's "palace" was far smaller than those of Saddam Hussein, and "guarded by only two policemen." And she took note of the impact on her oil-rich nation of a decade of sanctions and three wars. "Look how they are living in Korea," she says. "We have experience and brains too, and more money. It's all Saddam's fault."
Perhaps the biggest surprise was finding that there were American troops in faraway Korea, too.
Amal says she was homesick "a little." She ate only rice, avoiding the unfamiliar foods. Her snapshots show her in front of the National Assembly with some members, and at a theme park - experiences that the rest of her family can hardly comprehend.
When she returned, just before New Year, Amal had a wealth of stories to tell her family. And "love letters" to read. "Cheer up!" reads one. "Someday this war will finish."
