"I DON'T THINK ANY MUSLIM CAN FORGET THIS"

"I hope God will give Iraq strength and make it strong and united after all these years of pain, sickness and war," said Thabet Karim Jassem of Baghdad, part of 300 Iraqis who arrived at a haj terminal in the port city of Jeddah, near Mecca.

Jassem was among thousands of Iraqis that had been stranded on the Kuwait-Iraq border last week over visa problems.

More than 32,000 Iraqis were chosen by lottery to perform the haj this year, the first pilgrimage for post-Saddam Iraq.

"We remained nine days at the border, it was a very miserable time for thousands," said Bakkar Rasoul, a Kurdish eye doctor from Suleimaniya. "But I am really happy that we are free and God helped us to visit Mecca."

"I and many people are thankful towards the United States because they were able to release us and we will definitely never forget. I don't think any Muslim can forget this," he said on Sunday, standing by Kurdish and Iraqi flags beside the Iraqi pilgrims.