Life in Iraq may no longer be the "prison" it was under the murderous regime of Saddam Hussein, but Tallal F. Abdalridah is still tormented by the fact that the U.S-led war on his country resulted in the loss of so many innocent lives and in so much social disruption.
Abdalridah, 28, whose father was "disappeared" by the Hussein regime, said in a recent interview that his biggest wish now is to experience as many foreign cultures as possible, something that was a "luxury" under Hussein's rule.
"I wanted to go out of the country," he said. "(Iraq) as a whole was like a prison."