As jubilant Iraqis celebrated the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad’s main square, many Iraqis in the U.S. were also watching the events with jubilation while others were more reticent to celebrate quite yet.

For Entifadh Qanbar, director of the Washington Office of the Iraqi National Congress, today’s events brought both joy and sadness. He is very joyous and is finding it difficult to believe that today’s events have finally occurred. Yet, he also feels sad over the loss of relatives and friends under Hussein’s regime, and is regretful that they are not around to witness and cherish today’s historic developments.

Click the “Listen” link above to hear more reactions from Iraqis living in the U.S. as they watched today the toppling of Saddam Huseein’s statue and the collapse of his regime in Baghdad’s streets.

Guests:

Entifadh Qanbar, Director of the Washington Office of the Iraqi National Congress

Dr. Shaker Mustafa, Visiting Professor of Irish and Arabic Studies at Boston University, Former Vice President of the English Department atthe University of Mosul who left Iraq in 1990

Ithaar Darweesh, who fled Baghdad with his family in 1982, and works as a urologist in Cleveland, OH

Maha Hussain, Professor of Medicine and Urology at the University of Michigan and President of the Iraqi Forum for Democracy, grew up in Baghdad and fled Iraq one month after her graduation in 1983

Ala Faik, real estate agent in Ann Arbor, Michigan, who left Iraq to study in America in 1975 and never went back

Mazin Yousif, West Coast director of the Iraqi National Congress

Amar Latif, an Iraqi from Nashville, Tennessee who left Baghdad in 1982