Normal for some, at least; Mohammed was in Samawa this past week. “I didn’t hear a single gun shot the whole time I stayed there,” he writes.

What made this particularly interesting was the trip back from Samawa to Baghdad. While there are still hostile forces at work in Iraq, it’s good to see that the people have a sense of humor and appreciate their new-found freedom:

The traffic was heavy and we had to move slowly and it was annoying to them because they don’t have traffic jams in Samawa and here one of the young passengers stood up in the middle of the bus and with nice acting moves he started to mockingly imitate some Baghdadis who appear on Jazeera complaining : No water!…no electricity!…no security!

The whole bus burst into laughter; this sentence became some kind of a joke for it was repeated a million times by some selected Baghdadis on Jazeera. The provinces started to feel somewhat superior after decades of strong control from Baghdad. I smiled, ok we?ve become a joke for them but it?s alright and it?s time for the rest of Iraqis to feel that Baghdad is not superior and they should have a bigger role now in representing and building this country.

No doubt they will.