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international | anti-war / imperialism | news report

Thursday April 22, 2004 11:01

by Jim

All in One Year. Give it a decade and wait until you see!

BAGHDAD, IRAQ —
Cars spin down the street at night, tricked out with blue neon lights and sporting CDs dangled from their rearview mirrors. Thriving shops blare 50 Cent's In Da Club, while the young techie at one of the numerous local Internet cafés prefers to blast Nirvana. Cell phones with personalized ring tones and text messaging are literally everywhere. And teenage gamers while away their afternoons playing Vice City and Tom Clancy's Medal of Honor. Anytown, USA? No: Welcome to the new face of Baghdad, where, to quote Army Sgt. First Class Woods, the kids "want to be like Mike, not like Mahtma."

Everywhere you look in Baghdad, there are signs of capitalism. The streets are festooned with signs for Samsung and Iraqna, the major local cell-phone provider for the city. Satellite dishes — the possession of which was punishable by the state under Saddam — now hang from houses throughout the city. It is difficult to walk down Rashid Street because of all the large hand carts overloaded with televisions, computers, air conditioners, and microwaves.
The locals are snatching up not only Western goods, but Western culture. As you might expect, this is particularly true among the youth. In addition to listening to Western music, increasingly available thanks to the Armed Forces radio station, they also follow the lives of music celebrities in Arabic magazines, which chronicle events like Britney's Vegas wedding. With the proliferation of televisions and satellites, Arabic music videos — strikingly similar to Western videos — have become popular. And once rock and roll is introduced, sex and drugs must follow — well, maybe not, but the taboo against alcohol is loosening, as many of the local men sneak around in the evening to taste the forbidden elixir away from the condemning eyes of wives and clerics.
But perhaps the biggest influx of Western culture is in the area of fashion. Young women are increasingly abandoning traditional Iraqi garb in favor of more form-fitting clothes. And while the middle-aged woman across from the palace in Adhamiya may scream "Whores!" as the girls pass by in their more revealing Western garb, she does so only as a break from indulging in her own Western pursuit: hocking Pepsi on the street corner. Men are also quickly snatching up clothes emblazoned with English words, only to ask passing Americans to tell them what their clothes say. (Imagine their chagrin when they learn that their shirts' logo is not really English, but rather a Greek word for victory.)
There is also a particular fascination not only with things American, but with Americans themselves. If you tell someone from Baghdad that you are from America, you are likely to be met with excitement and the common exclamation: "I love America." They will want to know where you are from in America, and what you think of Iraq. Without prompting, they will tell you what their lives were like under Saddam, and how they have changed. And their children are likely to be drawn to the American soldiers — waving, smiling, and running to meet them. For those whose impression of Iraqi sentiment has been shaped by the nightly news, the Iraqi response to Americans may be the biggest surprise to come from a trip to Baghdad.
With all these changes, it should come as little surprise that Baghdad is experiencing growing pains. While modern conveniences are becoming increasingly common, many neighborhoods are still struggling to manage basic functions like trash disposal. Having tasted freedom and capitalism, the people want more, and they want it now. This leads to a growing impatience among the locals at the pace of rebuilding, and at the level of security. This impatience is deliberately aggravated by those who are not happy about the influx of capital and higher standards of living; those who would rather see women covered from head to toe and relegated to the home; and those who would, to paraphrase a senior Coalition official, return this country not just to the reign of Saddam, but to the seventh century. Hence, walking down Rashid Street, you are likely to hear random gunfire; in the Karada region of Baghdad, when a neighborhood begins to prosper, a bomb is likely to go off. The mission of the terrorists is simple: strike at progress, and prevent Iraqis from feeling comfortable in spite of newfound comforts.

But it is too late to turn back the clock. As the locals experience greater freedom, they demand more of it, not less. There is still a long way to go: the trash, random violence, panhandling, and vendors selling bootleg DVDs and fake Rolexes make Baghdad look like a Middle Eastern version of pre-Giuliani New York. But Baghdad has come a very long way down the road of freedom and capitalism in just one year — progress that should encourage Americans as much as it angers freedom's enemies.

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Comments (5 of 5)

Wonderful news

by John

Thu Apr 22, 2004 12:27

This is wonderful news. Western capitalism and freedom are starting to flower allready in what has for so long been an economic desert. The Iraqis are craving for it. Goodbye socialism! I predict in 5 years there will be an Iraq tourist office in Dublin and Ryanair will be offering weekends in Baghdad for 50 euros return. Thats's the story of, that's the glory of capitalism. I look forward to going myself, and having a burger and diet coke in McDonalds on Rashid St, and watching the girls in their short skirts walk by. Baghdad will be the new Dublin, but with sunshine.

Source?

by jeff

Thu Apr 22, 2004 14:24

This is a piece written by a guy called Jim.

And that is all we know.

We do not know who filed the report, if Jim actually wrote it, or who Jim is?

Try harder- as far as I'm concerned at the moment, there is a Sunni and Shia rebellion, and Fallujah is suffering under collective punishment.

I find it hard to believe that people are telling people they love America. Maybe they love kidnapping Americans.

I find it hard these days to believe any reports coming out of Iraq. Now, unless my brain is suffering irreperable damage from a hiding I never got, I am going to find this piece especially hard to believe, seeing as it was filed by Jim and that is all he is going to tell us.

One other point; I may like Arabic music and kebabs, but it does not mean I like everything particular to that culture.

Likewise, many young Arab men in Europe like Vice city computer games and pop music, but they are still going to choose al Jazeera over Fox, and that includes any future versions of Fox in Arabic.

3000 people died on Sep 11. Many people mourn their deaths world wide.

In Iraq, 13,000 people died as a result of the coalition invasion. I'm sure they have a lot of angry relatives. I know I would not like members of my family to be labeled ' colateral damage'.

On a final note; why are the young men playing video games not playing racing car games, etc? Could it be, that in Vice City, one actually gets to kill Americans?

Oh, and the point about women in western garb- Saddam always allowed women to wear western garb, Jim.

People would rather be called Mike instead of Mahtma ( which is not even an Arabic name)? I reckon people would rather call Jim Dick.

We are the Slave Stokers for fires that Burn for Demons that would Destroy us

by .

Thu Apr 22, 2004 14:35

“All in One Year….

-Welcome to the new face of Baghdad, where, to quote Army Sgt. First Class Woods, the kids "want to be like Mike, not like Mahtma………

“If you tell someone from Baghdad that you are from America, you are likely to be met with excitement and the common exclamation: "I love America."

Jim,
I wonder where you get your information from.
According to Journalist Lara Marlowe (Irish Times) who was actually in Iraq until recently...
1. "the Majority feel they would prefer old the regime" as they are in constant fear and insecurity
2. The Suni & Shia tribes are uniting and resolving differences as they have found mutual interests-their opposition to the American (and British) Occupation.
3. one year on and
-estimated 10,900-15,000 iraqi body count
-estimated 650 US body count.

Another perhaps not so rosy point of view

by Jo Wilding

Thu Apr 22, 2004 14:49

Jo Wilding
April 17th, Falluja/Baghdad

waste of space

by irritated

Thu Apr 22, 2004 17:37

There are nearly 5000 words in that last comment piece. Could you not have just put the link there? Why did you have to do both. jesus.

Oh and by the way, Jim, nobody who has been following the Iraq occupation from balanced sources will believe your shite.

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Comments (5 of 5)