Baghdad Blogger

The American pro-consul in Iraq, Paul Bremer, laid out plans for a Defence Ministry and an independent broadcasting system, in preparation, he said, for handing power back to Iraqis.

As we discovered in our poll, most Iraqis believe their lives have improved, and will improve more as a result of the end of dictatorship.

The Baghdad Blogger, now Guardian columnist Salam Pax, reported on one of the consequences of the new freedom - the opportunity taken by many to practise their religion.

SALAM PAX:
A couple of weeks ago, one of the most important events in the Shia calendar took place. Ashoura, the day Imam Hussein was killed, a central figure for Muslims all over the world. In Baghdad, Shia neighbourhoods are preparing for it in a way they haven't done for decades. As a kid, it was a time when my mum and aunts would wear black and we would have to cook certain food which I didn't like. My grandmother would tell us kids what Ashoura was like in Karbala 30 years ago. This year, for the first time in three decades, the Shia are able to commemorate this event freely. I went to see the start of the celebration in Baghdad to get an idea of what I should expect.

We are here at the shrine. I have never seen this before, it is amazing. It is a bit too emotional actually and the kids they had were whipping themselves with these chains. It is actually quite interesting. All these rituals were banned under Saddam's regime. Maybe, just maybe we will be needing some of these Iranians to bring back some of the traditions, we kind of lost. I mean, for example all these chain whips. They have been imported from Iran. This sort of stuff, it's like these two countries coming together and this cultural thing.

A couple of weeks ago I spent 4 days in Karbala to witness the most important event for Shia Muslims - Ashoura - the day Imam Hussein was killed. This is my video blog of the event.

After all these years of hearing how big an event Ashoura used to be, I will finally get the chance to see what it was really like. Tents and cooking pots at the entrance of the city are the first big surprise. As you come into Karbala you are welcome to have a meal and take a rest in one of the big tents set up to host all the visitors. During the next three days, 2 million Shia from as far as Pakistan are expected to come into the city. For Shia all over the world and especially Iraqis, these days are very significant. Celebrating Ashoura is an assertion of your Shiaism. The death of Imam Hussein marks a point in history that's central to the Shia, Sunni split. On these processions, the story of the Imam's death is told over and over. It is a very tragic and emotional story. So the idea is that you should feel the pain suffered by the Imam and remember the great loss to Islam.

We are now in Karbala and we are almost three days before the actual big event. What's really remarkable is that first of all there is a heightened feeling for security, you have checkpoints everywhere, cars are not being let in. The second very interesting thing is that you have people from Iran, there are too many people from Iran around here which is just so very interesting, so very few Iraqis, and everybody thinks I'm Iranian.

Iranian currency is accepted everywhere and with thousands of pilgrims coming into the city each day, Karbala is becoming one of the richest cities in Iraq. There's lots of money to be made, whether it is selling souvenirs or building slightly change-looking hotels. A simple room in Karbala is $200, the same room in Baghdad is $30. All these pilgrims give the place an atmosphere of a carnival. It did make me think that the people of Karbala might not exactly appreciate being crowded out of their city.

ABDUL KADIR AL MUSAWI:
AUTHOR:
Karbalai are happy during these events, they leave their houses for the visitors. Some Karbalai put up tents, some give food for free, tea. Everybody is involved.

SALAM PAX:
People in Karbala didn't want to turn this event into a political rally. But some Shia parties made sure their voices were heard at universities, if not on the streets.

JAWAD AL MALIKI:
SPOKESPERSON, SHIA DAWA PARTY:
Iraq today is occupied and the occupier comes from across oceans and is an infidel who doesn't believe in Islam

SALAM PAX:
One of the traditions is the students' procession. Theirs used to be the only one coloured with politics. But today they just wanted to go and celebrate Ashoura.

UNNAMED MAN:
My presence in Karbala taught me a lot of stuff, for example the chest beating.

UNNAMED MAN:
Thanks be to God, there is space for people to do chest beating and laments.

SALAM PAX:
What's very important for me - what are the priorities now here in Karbala? Is it going to be Shia first and then Iraq, or is it going to be Iraq, together, whether it is Sunni, Shia and Kurdish and then we put in the religious identity. It is not only me interested in this issue. The head of the debating society at Karbala University had this to say.

HAMID DAHER:
TECHNICAL INSTITUTE, KARBALA:
A Shia should put his country at the top of his priorities, before sectarian issues. This doesn't mean he will abandon his loyalty to the family of the Prophet. Nor interfere with the pride of belonging to a nation.

SALAM PAX:
His thoughts were also shared by many students. As hundreds of them from all over Iraq came that night to join the students' procession in Karbala, the loudest calls were for unity among Iraqis and for throwing out the occupiers. The name Karbala comes from two Arabic words meaning return and calamity. Shia come here to mourn the death of the Imam, he said he would die here.

Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw next. I know this ritual is banned in Iran. But in the current political and religious situation in Iraq, it is very difficult to tell people what they are not allowed to do, we've all had enough of that. But many religious leaders have spoken and there was a leaflet being handed out in the city. What you have is pictures of all the Ayatollahs, and even more pictures. And basically what they say is - it's OK, cut yourself to pieces. We are almost 24 hours away from the big day, so we will see.

I really need to get this over quickly because my beard is itching already. There is a rumour that an ambulance has been stolen, which isn't a good sign. A couple of times before attacks have been made using ambulances. And believe me, ambulances are going back and forth and back and forth all the time because of all the masses of people. Usually they will not stop and ambulances come in and out. We will have to see about it. It doesn't feel very good. But not everyone thought there was much of a security risk. They were very fatalistic about it.

UNNAMED MAN:
Let me tell you one thing, we believe all of this under the protection of Imam Hussein. Whatever force you use, we will still be under the protection of Imam Hussein.

SALAM PAX:
And it is under the protection of Imam Hussein I went back to my aunt's house to prepare for the long night ahead. Tonight is the big night. Nobody will be sleeping and everybody's preparing to spend the night outside. For the first time, there are almost as many Iraqis on the streets as Iranians. The rituals start with the morning prayer call at 5.00 am. The first thing to do is for all the processions to go around the shrines, wearing white and carrying their swords. The numbers of processions going through the two shrines, you know with knives and everything are amazing. If all the people with knives are going to start hitting themselves and like an hour with these knives, we'll have a river of blood. For three hours the processions kept going back and forth.

Around 9.00am things start quieten down a bit and the streets from getting less crowded. I ventured down looking for a cup of tea. Men were going back to the clinics to get their wounds fixed up.

One hour later, around 10.00am we heard the first explosion. We didn't pay much attention to it but as the second and the third went off. I, my mother and my cousins tried to get out of the centre of the city as quickly as possible. We were lucky, the fifth and sixth explosions did most of the damage. We left Karbala early next day. Despite the attacks killing scores of people, the pilgrims were not deterred and there were more cars coming into the city than leaving.

I'm back in Baghdad. The beard is away, freshly-shaven. One thing that I'm afraid people will have with them, everybody will remember the first Ashoura after the fall of Saddam's regime as the Ashoura with the big explosion but I will remember an amazing festival.

On the face of it the attacks resulted in the Iraqis, Shia, Sunni and Kurds standing together in condemnation of this violence. Everybody blamed outsiders. Why? Could it be we are avoiding the issues within Iraqi society? Should we resolve the conflict within Iraq before looking for scapegoats? Or is our unity as a nation still too fragile?

This transcript was produced from the teletext subtitles that are generated live for Newsnight. It has been checked against the programme as broadcast, however Newsnight can accept no responsibility for any factual inaccuracies. We will be happy to correct serious errors.