Iraqis wary of US president's message of change

Many Iraqis seemed nonplussed at the swearing-in of Barack Obama, with some not knowing the inauguration was taking place and others consumed by the fallout from the previous presidency. President Obama's messages of change and remaking America have yet to resonate in the country that will help shape the legacy of his first years in office. Some Baghdadis were however impressed by his inauguration speech. "If he can do as well as he talks, then all our problems are over," said Abu Ali, the owner of a sparkling new restaurant, Shisha Cafe, in the city's Karada district. "I believe he is a good man, but many people in Iraq believe all American presidents are the same and that we are a playground for their interests," he added. "That's it." Another cafe-goer, Haitham Sarkis, said his family had long ago stopped listening to Obama's predecessor George Bush and become dispirited by his last three years in office. "He kept telling us one thing, yet we were living the other," he said. "This man never knew us and we are left with a massive mess that we must now pick up–not the new president." The US presence on the streets of Baghdad may be slowly diminishing, but the withdrawal of the occupying forces is not generating a rise in America's popularity. Iraqi children and youths regularly taunt each other by removing their shoes and threatening to throw them–mimicking the local journalist who humiliated Bush during his last visit in December. "Obama won't get the same treatment," said a nurse from the northern suburb of Adamiyeh, Um Nassir. "But he won't have too long to prove himself to us." Bush, however, is not a villain to all. "He always said history will judge him," said parliamentarian Samira Musawi. "But God will judge him as well and God has used Bush to remove the evil of Saddam and set the Iraqi nation free. It is now our responsibility to find the right way to direct this change."