Iraqi Prisoners Speak Out

"This is not unusual behavior for them," he said.

Mr. Saleh said that he got his old job back as a food inspector with the Ministry of Trade, and that he was earning far more now than he ever did under Mr. Hussein's rule. But that has not slaked his anger and bitterness at the American occupation.

"I realized they came to obliterate a whole society, a whole civilization," he said. "And it's true. They managed to destroy that society."