But scratch the surface, and many voiced indignation at the crippling trade sanctions — imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait — and at what they see as an attack on their national pride from the arms searches U.N. inspectors have just resumed.

....Young children milled about, some in colorful clothes, eating sweets and fruits. But many of their parents, conditioned by years of war and sanctions, were angry.

Hassan Sabti, a 45-year-old lawyer, said the weapons hunt was a farce.

"They want to attack Iraq," Sabti said. "Whether the inspectors come here or not, they want to hit (Iraq). But we told them to come so we can avert an attack."

The Eid festival has been hard hit by the sanctions, which have reduced a well-to-do population enjoying the fruits of their country's oil wealth to little better than poverty.

The average Iraqi made the equivalent of more than $700 a month before the embargo. Now, a government employee's monthly salary is worth as little as $15. They manage to survive on government subsidies or handouts of staple foodstuffs. Not a whiff as to WHY there are sanctions against Saddam's government, not a hint of the accusations brought by the world community, by the UN Security Council, against Iraq regarding the propagation of weapons of mass destruction - just the deprivation and indignities visited upon the people BY THE SANCTIONS, not by the regime that necessitated the sanctions in the first place after invading its neighbor, tossing missiles at Israel, and committing genocide against its own people.

And we complain about al Jazeera and the Islamic government press - maybe this particular service should be called "al Reuters."

And speaking of the benevolent Iraqi government: they have just been accused of torturing their own Olympic athletes. I wonder how the Reuters writer will spin that one: tough love?