Daily Life In
Iraq
By Dahr Jamail
29 May, 2004
The
New Standard
Sometimes
I forget that burnout applies to me too. After nearly two months straight
of chasing stories, it was obviously time for a break. Unlike home though,
one can't go take in a movie, take a jog or even a casual stroll. Walking
around anywhere in Baghdad, being a westerner, is never casual. So I've
spent most of my day off inside.
I asked one of my
Iraqi friends what most Iraqis do to relax nowadays, and he said about
all there is to do to relax is to sit around and drink tea. He said,
"I used to go swimming a lot, but the local pool got bombed during
the war, so I haven't gone swimming lately."
He used to go out
with friends late into the night, before the war. "We used to start
the evenings at 8 p.m., but now we have to end them by 7," he tells
me.
So a relatively
calm day in Iraq today... this roughly translates to more sporadic fighting
in Kufa where US troops killed several Iraqis, the naming of a new Prime
Minister who nobody voted for, two Japanese journalists being killed
when their vehicle was hit by a Rocket Propelled Grenade and a tenuous
"truce" in the works between coalition forces and Muqtada
Al-Sadr.
The tenuousness
of the entire situation isn't helped by the machinations going on prior
to the June 30 "handover." What happens next here is anybody's
guess.
It's been interesting
watching the new influx of retail goods: Pepsi, 7-up, and Coke are all
here in force. Snickers, Toblerone, and other western products as well...but
the most obvious are the huge stacks of air conditioners, refridgerators
and small generators that tend to form small canyons along the streetsides
of Karrada and Arasat, among others.
What other "progress"
can I report? A journo friend visiting a mutual friend of ours in Baqubah
gave me a ring on the cell tonight -- so the cellular service now includes
Baqubah, which is about 30 miles northeast of Baghdad.
Yet another gas
crisis has hit Baghdad. Due to the oil pipeline which feeds the refinery
at Al-Dora being blown up on May 12, production has dropped a bit here
since Dora provides roughly 30% of the gasoline for Iraq.
Some of the gas
lines are now over 5 kilometers long, and Iraqis are NOT happy about
it. Sitting in their cars for hours on end in 110 degree temps isn't
exactly helping things here, and most Iraqis (remember the 60% unemployment
rate) can ill afford to pay the 5-10 times higher blackmarket rate to
fill their cars or jerry-cans for their generators (remember that electricity
is still far below pre-war levels).
I was contemplating
going to Basra in June with a colleague, and told my translator Abu
Talat about it. In shock he said, "You want to go to Basra?"
I told him I was thinking about it, why? "It's not hot there, It's
HELL!" He was referring to the heat... which if it's that much
warmer than Baghdad, I may have to reconsider. Hopefully, insh'allah,
there won't be another gas crisis here in July or August.
That's enough of
my random thoughts for tonight -- time to get some sleep while our generator
is still powering the air conditioner. It's been going out at nights
now because of the gas shortage... so a few hours of good sleep before
waking up sweaty is calling my name.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dahr Jamail is Baghdad
correspondent for The NewStandard. He is an Alaskan devoted to covering
the untold stories from occupied Iraq. You can help Dahr continue his
crucial work in Iraq by making donations. For more information or to
donate to Dahr, visit The NewStandard.
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