Which Way, L.A.?

Iraqi American Reaction to the Capture of Saddam Hussein

Today-s LA Times reports that many Iraqi exiles and immigrants here in the United States are now speaking much more freely about what their families suffered during the regime of Saddam Hussein. Southern California is home to America's second largest concentration of Iraqis--some 40,000 Catholics, Kurds and Muslims. We get a sample of their reactions to yesterday-s capture of the former Iraqi dictator, and to his failure to put up a fight. Dr. Maha Yousef, who left Iraq in 1977, is an orthodontist and a member of the Iraqi National Congress who lobbied for the Iraq Liberation Act. Salam Al-Marayati, whose family fled from Iraq to the United States in 1964, is executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles. Making News: Howard Dean in California Howard Dean came to Los Angeles today, taking issue with President Bush on what the dramatic capture of Saddam Hussein really means for the future of the United States. While the Democratic candidate for the President-s job called the capture of the former Iraqi leader a good thing, he disagreed that it had made America safer. Laura Mecoy covered Governor Dean-s Los Angeles appearance for the Sacramento Bee. Reporter's Notebook: Wiesenthal Center Says Saddam Should Be Tried in Iraq President Bush said today that Saddam Hussein should be tried by the Iraqi people in a way that is credible to the rest of the world. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, an expert on war crimes tribunals and the dean of LA's Simon Wiesenthal Center, suggests tribunals similar to those of Nazis at Nuremberg, Germany in the aftermath of World War II.