This morning I heard an interview with an Iraqi woman, now living in the US, who is an oncologist and medical school professor. She was on John Gambling's show on WABC 770 AM Radio out of New York City. Obviously I didn't see her name, but it sounded like Maha Hussein (there was no mention of the similarity of her name to Saddam's, but I tuned in a few seconds after the interview began).

Dr. Hussein said that the reason the Iraqi people are not openly helping the coalition forces is that the distrust from what they saw as an abandonment in Gulf War I goes too deep. Her analogy (paraphrased) was, "A woman bitten by a snake is not going to be bitten twice." Gambling asked her at what point would the Iraqis openly support the coalition in their task. She said, when Saddam is gone. He said, Does that mean the entire country secured? Saddam's people removed, and Baghdad secured? She said, yes - when there is no possibility that Saddam's regime could be resurrected following the departure of the coalition forces.

Gambling also asked whether Iraqis living elsewhere in the world would return to help rebuild Iraq. Dr. Hussein said there would be two types of Iraqi returns. First would be those who would move back to Iraq, which they still consider to be their home. Second would be Iraqis who have built lives in other countries and consider those countries home now. They would not return to live in Iraq, but would offer time, knowledge and skill transfers to help rebuild Iraq. Dr. Hussein said she herself has offered to return for a time both to contribute her expertise as an oncologist and to teach about her specialty to others in Iraq. She said there is a particular need for oncology (cancer) specialists, because of the types of weapons Saddam has used against Iraqis in the past.

(The shows on WABC 770 are not archived, so there is no transcript or audio available online.)