http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030907/wl_nm/iraq_iran_dc&cid=574&ncid=1473NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Seventy-year-old Badria sits at the steps of the gold-domed Imam Ali mosque, crying in disbelief that she has managed to see one of the most revered sites of Shi'ite Islam.
"I thought I would die without seeing it," said Badria, one of thousands of Iranians who can now visit Iraq (news - web sites)'s holy Shi'ite cities freely thanks to the downfall of Saddam Hussein.
Saddam, a Sunni Muslim, waged war against Iran from 1980 to 1988. He imposed strict limits on the number of pilgrims from Shi'ite-dominated Iran allowed to visit sites they revere such as Najaf and Kerbala.
Now age-old ties between the neighboring countries, both with majority Shi'ite populations, are being revived. That is a source of joy for many such as Badria, and of new business opportunities for others already reaping the rewards of a lucrative cross border trade.
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