Salah Aziz has seen first-hand the struggles of many Iraqis trying to cope with the rebuilding of their war-torn country, but he sums up the future in a single word - hope.

"There are more freedoms," said Aziz, an Iraq-born U.S. citizen. "There are peaceful feelings toward the future; people think the (economic) instability is a temporary situation, so people have hope.

"During Saddam's regime, there was no hope for change. Saddam killed the hope."

Aziz, who visited his home country this fall, was awakened Dec. 14 by an early-morning international call and told of Saddam Hussein's capture.

The United States' mission in Iraq could not have been fully accomplished without that event, Aziz said.

"You could not eliminate the regime without capturing the head of the regime," he said.

Aziz, who has a wife and three children, said his family is one of the few from Iraq that live in the city. He and his wife have lived here since 1988. But Aziz, an Iraqi Kurd, never keeps the needs of Kurdish people far from sight.

After the Gulf War, millions of Iraqi Kurds fled the country. For almost a decade, nonprofit organizations assisted in providing food and medical help to the people after they returned.

In 1997, Aziz and some other local people began the American Society for Kurds, a nonprofit organization that advocates for human and educational rights of Kurdish people. The organization provides relief assistance such as its work with local governments on health programs for children.

Because of his work with the local Kurdish advocacy group and a desire to visit family, Aziz traveled to Baghdad in recent months.

"Baghdad right now is very unstable; crime has increased," he said. "Because of the number of attacks, people stay in their houses unless they have real work to do outside. The situation is better in other cities."

Since March, his parents, who are elderly, go outside rarely. Men travel in groups to shop for food and other necessities for themselves and more vulnerable family members.

Students are on the lookout for anonymous postings in school bathrooms and on walls that sometimes warn of potential bombings.

"When people read the fliers, they don't go to school that day," he said.

Everyday life for people in Baghdad means spotty electricity and water usage.

In Baghdad, gas shortages, two-day lines for gas and increased prices are major points of irritation, he said. The difficulties of life are harder on the older generations, who are suffering the most from the lack of consistent electricity and social services such as health care.

"For the new generation, they are still searching for a way to be employed and be active again," he said. "But with the economy still being unstable, they are not achieving that."

While the unemployment rate is very high, he said, the economy is generally recovering. One sign of improvement, he says, is pay.

He noted that the "average Iraqi employee makes about $100 a month, which is six times more than during the Saddam period."

The Tallahassee Democrat, Page 1: Local Section, December 29, 2003