Iraqi looks for conversation

Dwain Burger jumped at the chance to speak with a visitor from Iraq on Friday in Marion Square, but he didn't like what he heard.

"I think if people came into my country to make me free, I'd be appreciative," said Burger, of Mount Pleasant. "I'll bet this whole thing is sponsored by MoveOn.org," the political action group.

Iraqi graduate student Haider Hamza was in Charleston as part of a road trip through Southern states to meet Americans and exchange views about Iraq and the war there. A film crew from "This American Life" has been tagging along to tape some of the conversations, and they set Hamza up in a booth with a sign that read "talk to an Iraqi."

Spooked by the television cameras, most people steered clear of Hamza's booth, which looked a bit like the one from the "Peanuts" comic strip where Lucy would offer psychiatric advice for 5 cents.

Among the handful of people willing to speak with Hamza on-camera were Carol and Gary Fratianne, a couple from Ohio who were in town for a wedding.

"So, would you rather have it (Iraq) the way it is now, or like it was under Saddam Hussein?" Gary Fratianne asked Hamza.

"I would give my right arm to have it the way it was before," Hamza replied. "I've been to 15 funerals, and my brother was kidnapped."

Several people with whom Hamza spoke seemed to be looking for affirmation that life is better in Iraq, or could be some day, because of the United States' military involvement and the toppling of Saddam.

Won't Iraqis be better off in a democracy? And what about the billions spent improving public services?

"It's like if I say to you, 'Gary, I'll give you a brand new 2007 car, but first I'll cut your leg off,' " Hamza said. "You would probably not want the car."

Carol Fratianne told Hamza it's been hard for people like her to sort through the news about Iraq and decide which direction they think American policy should take.

"What would you do at this point, because we're there now?" she asked Hamza.

Hamza would not venture a guess what might happen if American troops were to pull out of Iraq, and said: "I don't have a solution."

After talking with Hamza, Gary Fratianne said he understood that Hamza had worked as a journalist, and he thought Hamza was trying to put across a particular view.

"Freedom isn't free," he said.

Alex Blumberg, producer for "This American Life" said it's been interesting following Hamza around and hearing comments.

"We've had people lecturing him about what life was like under Saddam and what it's like now," Blumberg said.

During a stop in Fayetteville, N.C., on Thursday, an 11-year-old girl whose father is serving in Iraq apologized to Hamza, telling him the United States should not have attacked his country.

Hamza is looking to talk with average Americans, but Hamza is no average Iraqi.

The son of an Iraqi ambassador, Hamza grew up in Germany and did not live in Iraq until he was 14. In college, he was president of the student union, an organization that was affiliated with Iraq's Ministry of Information.

After the United States invaded Iraq, Hamza went to work as a translator for the U.S. military and as a freelance reporter for ABC News and Reuters. Now he's a student at The New School, in the Fulbright Program administered by the U.S. State Department.

"Some of my best friends are in the (U.S.) military, and they encouraged me to come to America," Hamza said.

Reach David Slade at 937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com.