After 45 years of toppling Iraq's monarchy, al-Sharif Ali in Baghdad
Iraq, Politics, 6/11/2003

Al-Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussein, a descendent of the Hashemite family, returned back yesterday to Iraq, 45 years following the revolution which toppled the Monarchy in the revolution of 1958. He vowed to build a country of "dignity, freedom and democracy."

Al-Sharif Ali told some 2,000 tribesmen and intellectuals who received him at the Royal cemetery in al-Azameyah quarters in Baghdad following his arrival from London in his private plane "we are very happy. We have been waiting for this day ( to come back) all of our life." King Faisal II was killed when rebellious Iraqi soldiers led by Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim Qasem raided the royal palace in Baghdad which led to years of military coupes and bloodshed.

Al-Sharif Ali who was surrounded by more than 10 private guards, added to the crowd in the cemetery after he had recited verses of the Koran to bless the souls of his predecessors of the Hashemite family buried there saying "we have come to an indispensable homeland, we seek to build the Iraq of the future, where people can be themselves, restore back their glories, sovereignty and independence in a secure and stable. An Iraq which fears God, honors religions, with no discrimination between one citizen and another only according to the volume of giving and commitment to the laws."

Al-Sharif Ali was two years old when members of his family fled the revolution of 1958. The very rich prince lived in Lebanon and then in Britain where he was a great success in the area of investments and banking.

Al-Sharif criticized Saddam's rule in comparison with the Monarchy saying "we, recall together with you the rule of the Monarchy when Iraq was proud of its Iraqi identity. Iraq had only known growth, prosperity, freedom and a popular practice guaranteed by the constitution only under the Monarchy."

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