-This is Baghdad's central Tahrir Square.
It's usually a busy roundabout,
but since demonstrations broke out here last month,
it became a vision of a different sort of Iraq.
Iraq is currently witnessing
the largest antigovernment demonstrations in decades.
In fact, the young men and women on the streets in Baghdad,
across much of the South,
have become the largest grassroots movements
in Iraq's modern history.
-Are you Iranian?
-No!
-Are you American?
-No!
-Are you American?
-No!
-Are you Israeli?
-No!
-Are you Baathist?
-No!
-Are you Iraqi?
[cheers and applause]
-They're protesting the failure of an entire political system.
Corruption is rife.
Iran-backed militias act with relative impunity,
and although Iraq has significant oil wealth,
youth unemployment is rising.
In some places, the water is now undrinkable.
From day to night, protestors have sang, danced,
and faced off against Iraqi security forces
who fire tear gas, live rounds,
and beat young protestors if they can grab them.
The crowds have built barricades to hide from police attacks.
And more recently
battled for control of another nearby square and bridge.
[gunshot]
When I was reporting there a few nights ago,
riot police were firing military-grade smoke
and gas grenades,
and they were aiming for people's heads and chests.
One just missed me.
So far, hundreds have been killed,
and there are thousands have been wounded.
Amid the violent crackdown,
Tahrir Square has become the center of Baghdad protests
and a template for the kind of society
that the protestors say they want to live in.
Hundreds of people have come together
to provide the crowds with what they need.
There's free food, free haircuts,
tent after tent of volunteer medical workers,
and so many cups of sugary black tea.
When protestors are wounded on the front line,
it's the three-wheeled motorcycles called tuk-tuk
which race them to safety.
Once confined to Baghdad's poorest areas,
the tuk-tuk have become the symbol of the spirits
and the bravery of this revolution.
In daylight hours, people come together to sweep the streets.
At night, they light candles for their dead.
From the top of the so-called Turkish Restaurant
you can take in the whole view.
Abandoned for decades,
the protestors have made this building as their castle.
They've rigged it with electricity.
There are carpets and water supplies,
even a small free library.
Police are not allowed inside.
Almost 60% of Iraq population of 40 million
has grown up with a political system
molded by the United States after the ousting
of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
But now they are saying, "We had enough."
♪♪