by the U.S. Department of State

About the author: The U.S. Department of State is the primary U.S. foreign affairs agency. It works to promote peace and stability in the United States and throughout the world.

Representatives from a delegation of Iraqi women leaders said their country's politics and infrastructure were much improved since Saddam Hussein's regime was ousted by Coalition forces in April [2003].

The women, some of whom serve on the Iraqi Governing Council or the Baghdad City Advisory Council, spoke to journalists at Washington's Foreign Press Center November 19 [2003].

Raja Khuzai, a Governing Council representative, said that due to the oppression of the Ba'thists, "every honest Iraqi was happy with the war and welcome[ d] the war."

"You don't know a dictatorship unless you live in it," she said...