I never thought I would be a Blogger. I always thought it is wasting time to be in front of a machine for a certain time to write personnel opinions and explanations of different stuff and no one would read them.

With the increasing attention paid to blogs around the world, I found myself ready to speak things out. Especially when I am an Iraqi reporter living in Iraq and reporting on car bombs, kidnappings, life, and political process. I feel like not everyone is reading what I report on, but I might give a chance to curious people, who have the time to spend reading me, to see what is really happening in the country through what I’m going to post here that might not find the way into a newspaper. I hope you get the benefit of this.

First of all, I feel like I should explain why I chose “24 Steps to Liberty” as a name to the Blog.

In a visit to the USA earlier this year, I had the chance to fulfill one of my thousand dreams, which is to see and actually touch The Statue of Liberty. I was waiting for that moment when I see the statue with my own eyes and Live. Not through pictures or movies. I think being an Iraqi left me thinking a lot about the statue because it’s always been, and will always be, a symbol of freedom and justice. Since long, long time ago when I was a child, I always imagined myself standing before Mother of Exiles and speaking to her using my few English words I get in school everyday. Of course I don’t remember what exactly I used to say, in my imaginary meeting with her, but I remember the answers I pretended I got from her. Something like “Yes, I love you too,” or “I will wait for you,” or “Come now.” Just these short answers because I couldn’t form long ones or more sophisticated sentences with my weak English that time. I remember the dialogue was always about how much I wanted to leave Iraq and I lacked the freedom I saw in movies. Even when I was a child, I knew there was something missed in our life that is Freedom. Given my family background in politics and opposition to Saddam Hussein and his regime, I always heard conversations inside the family that I wasn’t supposed to repeat outside. I and my siblings were always taught that nothing said within the family could be repeated outside the house, especially political arguments and discussions, or the result will be “Death.” I was eager to face Mother of Exiles. After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, I felt I needed to update my conversation with her and tell her face to face that I am freed and I kept my promise of visiting her, and here I am.In the boat that took us, two friends of mine and I, I didn’t feel others around me. I didn’t look at people or noticed the loud voices I heard when I first got into the boat. My eyes gazed at the statue almost all the way to it. I wanted to see her from all sides. I even didn’t talk to my friends. I just needed time between her and me. No on else. While the boat approached Statue of Liberty, I was talking to her. “Here I am. Welcome me. I said I am coming one day and here I am. I am ----, do you remember me?” I repeated this all the time. My dream wasn’t only to see the statue, but to touch her also. I wanted to touch my dream to feel it wasn’t a dream anymore. It is true. And I did. I touched the nearest thing to the statue I could get, because it is not allowed to be on the top of it to actually touch the metal. Inside the monument, the guide was giving us the tour and history of the statue. At the end she said “Now you will take 24 steps to liberty.”