Iraqi student living in land of opportunity

She's a student worker. She enjoys exercising in the bubble. She is a reporter on FP-TV News. She hates cafeteria food, and her favorite ice cream is Black Raspberry.

The brown haired, brown eyed senior seems like your average Franklin Pierce student. But there is something about senior Diana Ruhda that is different than every single Franklin Pierce student that has ever attended this University. Diana is the only Franklin Pierce student from the country of Iraq.

She lived through the bombings the Americans dropped on Iraq in the early 1990s, and she lived through the bombings of March 2003, and still Diana could talk for hours about how much she loves America and current President George W. Bush.

Diana was born and raised in Baghdad, Iraq. She was raised in a large family as the oldest of five children. Her father, a pediatrician, and her mother, a civil engineer were both subscribers to American magazines and raised her to love America. Her parents loved America so much and wished they could migrate to the land of hope, but could not. As a result they named their first daughter "Diana" and she learned the English language at a young age.

The 21-year-old girl came to America in 2005 to enter Franklin Pierce, and has not been home since. Diana became interested in Franklin Pierce after she had visited Washington D.C. for a conference while in high school. At the conference, she met Leslye Arsht, a member of the Franklin Pierce Board of Trustees. Diana was later sent a student brochure of the school and she immediately fell in love with it.

Although Diana is a happy student majoring in Computer Science with a minor in math and political science, she has many life experiences that many of her classmates here can not relate to.

Diana lived under the ruling dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. She described his reign of power and awful, and explained that everybody feared him, his sons, and his secret police.

Diana remembers a pregnant woman her mother met in the hospital. The woman was planning to migrate to America, but was overheard by Saddam's secret police. As a result the pregnant woman and her husband were put in prison. This incident stopped Diana's parents from ever planning to move to the United States.

Diana also remembers a story that her aunt once told her of a fellow employee that worked with her in the State Department. Diana's aunt's colleague had a poster of Saddam on his office wall. Suddenly the man was missing. His family, friends, and co-workers had no idea where he disappeared to. "No one knew anything about him, then a few days later, [his office] got a call from the intelligence that said he was in a prison in Baghdad," explained Rudha. "A few weeks later, he was released," Her aunt was shocked to see that he was brutally beaten. The reason for his punishment was that the picture of Saddam on his office wall was ripped and he was blamed for it. "They tortured him extremely bad. They beat his head; they threw blocks of ice on him"

Diana explained that if anyone did something wrong in Iraq, Saddam would punish your whole entire family. Men were usually beaten and tortured while women were usually raped in front of their husbands and families. According to Diana, everyone in Iraq was hurt by Saddam equally.

Diana believes that Saddam knew his people loved America and therefore strongly opposed all western beliefs. "The average Iraqi loves America, and they see it as a model."

During the United States 2000 presidential election, Rudha's father, who consistently followed American politics and was hoping for Bush to beat out Gore because he knew that Bush would help the people of Iraq and stop Saddam's reign of terror.

She still remembers the exact day America bombed Iraq and wished it occurred sooner. According to Diana, she and the people of Iraq have been anticipating a war with America because they desperately wanted a whole new life and a new beginning.

America bombed Baghdad from March 21, 2003- April 9, 2003. While many Americans prayed for the innocent citizens of Iraq, Diana remembers these days as some of the most pleasurable of her life. She described the three week period of bombings as a vacation because she had no school during this time and her parents did not have to attend work. Diana enjoyed the long period of time she got to spend with her family. "We knew they were going to bomb, it was not a surprise," said Rudha. "We didn't go to school. My parents didn't go to work. Everyone knew not to go to work, it was fun and everybody socialized."

She remembers that the first day of the bombings was very quiet and it did not feel as though her country was being attacked. "The bombs sounded like thunder, not scary, not loud"

Diana like many other Iraqis were relieved and rejoiced when Saddam Hussein was captured and later killed. Diana explained that Al Qaida still resides in Fallujah, and the city is labeled as a terrorist city. For this reason she hopes the Americans do not pull out of Iraq because she believes terrorists would easily take control of the country. She also fears that Iraq would be taken over by Iran. Although Diana has confidence in the American Government in whatever the outcome of the Presidential Election is, she believes John McCain would help Iraq more than Barrack Obama.

While news stations, movies, magazines, newspapers, and even Saturday Night Live criticize and poke fun of President George W. Bush, Diana Rudha loves the man and thinks of him as a savior. When asked what she thought about George Bush, her eyes grew wide, her face lit up, and a huge smile appeared, and she said, "I Love him!"

Diana has always dreamed of seeing President Bush and bringing him flowers and saying thank you. Diana credits him, for the current freedom in Iraq.

Diana now feels lucky to live at Franklin Pierce. She is adapting to the American culture and has learned a new word each day she has been here. "Everyone is welcoming and I don't feel like an alien or stranger."

Diana is now a member of Student Government and the International club and she strongly believes in women's rights. She enjoys Franklin Pierce University and feels very fortunate to be studying in America. After she graduates in May she hopes to move on to Graduate School and get her Masters in Political Science. Diana wants to be a politician. When asked about what her ultimate dream is, she stood tall and smiled and laughed and said with confidence that she wants to someday be the president of Iraq.