Baghdad, Iraq
By NBC News’ Karim Hilmi
BAGHDAD – Inspirational words like "change" and "hope," in President Barack Obama's inaugural speech found a receptive audience in Iraq. Many hope that he will be faithful to his promises and that he will be able to fix the problems created by his predecessor, George W. Bush.
"I think Obama is going to be a better president than Bush. His foreign policy will depend on using dialogue and diplomacy to solve the world's major and sensitive issues,'' said Daood Hashim, a journalism professor in his mid-50s. "Obama said many times during his presidential campaign and inauguration speech that he is going to find a solution to the Iranian nuclear activities thru dialogue – and that is the ideal way to solve problems."
 |
| Ahmad Al-rubaye / AFP - Getty Images |
| An Iraqi boy follows the Arabic tradition of giving sweets on a happy occasion as others watch the U.S. inauguration ceremony on live TV at a cafe in Baghdad's Sadr City on Jan. 20. |
Likewise, S'adee Yassen said he appreciates Obama's ideas, as opposed to what he saw as Bush’s bellicose way of dealing with things. "In my opinion, Obama is going to be a peacemaker, whereas Bush was like a Roman warrior occupied all the time with attacking and invading other nations," he said.
CONTINUED >>
By NBC News’ Karim Hilmi
BAGHDAD – Many Iraqis were surprised when an Iraqi reporter hurled his shoes at President George W. Bush during a press conference with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Sunday. While some Iraqis were shocked, others said the shoe-throwing was an act of valor.
But in general, many Iraqis believe that the insult directed towards Bush has really reflected badly on them – particularly because of their long history of traditions and customs that focus on respecting the guest – even if that guest is considered an "enemy."
"It is a reckless act and it will have bad effect on Iraqi journalists," said Emad Saleem, 40, a reporter for the Saudi Akhabria satellite TV channel. "Our picture as people of the fourth power will be weakened."
Mais Hassan, a 35-year-old editor for the Iraqi Belad newspaper, agreed. "This is not the good way to express one's resentment. The correspondent could yell at Bush or curse him to show his objection to his policies in Iraq."
CONTINUED >>
By NBC News' Karim Hilmi
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraqis expressed hope Wednesday that Barack Obama’s victory in the presidential election would usher in a change in policy toward their struggling country, but many remained skeptical.
"The American policy is fixed and it won't change. Washington has its own agenda to carry on. We will wait and see if Obama is going to withdraw American forces from Iraq," said Alwan Awad, a bookshop owner in Baghdad. "Let him start a new era of extending bridges of cooperation and friendship with Iraq and the rest of the Arab and Muslim world."
Obama, president-elect in the United States, has pledged to change U.S. policy toward Iraq by drawing down troops and shifting them to Afghanistan, another country beset by conflict years after a U.S. invasion. This message resonated with some Iraqis.
"I loved this man's motto ‘change’ which has a large meaning and effect on the whole world," said Nawzad Kurdi, a shoe manufacturer in Baghdad. "I sincerely hope that this man will lead a new policy and strategy to show the real face of the Americans as friends and partners to people of the world and change the bad image which Bush drew for the Americans, particularly in Iraq."
CONTINUED >>
By Carla Marcus, NBC News Producer
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Slowly over time, Baghdad has become a more colorful city.
Though most of the city remains a dusty, beige hue, the grey, concrete blast walls that shield neighborhoods and government buildings from potential suicide bombers or other intruders have been transformed into large, public canvases for the city's artists and others who may be inspired to pick up a brush.
The idea to beautify the city began about two years ago, when students at Baghdad's Academy of Fine Arts proposed painting blast walls near their campus. Their work depicted images that were typically historical – Baghdad and Basra in the 1940's for example.
Soon local municipalities and government ministries commissioned the students and other artists who were still left in Baghdad – a fair number had fled Iraq – to paint the walls.
CONTINUED >>
By Kiko Itasaka, NBC News Producer
Baghdad isn't the best place for consumer therapy, but in moments of desperation, near the NBC News bureau here there is one small dusty shop selling alleged antiques, dusty carpets, and tattered post cards.
About a month ago, I bought some cards and decided it would be fun to send one to Petra Cahill, the msnbc.com World Blog editor in New York.
 |
|
| The postcard sent from Baghdad to New York on Sept. 19 was scanned before it was dropped in the mail. |
My first step was to determine whether or not the postal system actually works in Baghdad.
CONTINUED >>
By NBC News’ Karim Hilmi
Karim Hilmi, an Iraqi citizen, works in NBC News' Baghdad bureau and has a great passion for cinema.
BAGHDAD – I didn’t expect to see many people at the al-Khayam Cinema in downtown Baghdad when I went to see a movie on a recent afternoon.
Some were alone, just like me, some were with friends and a young couple on a date was chatting, laughing and eating popcorn.
 |
| Karim Hilmi / NBC News |
| Movie posters featuring some of the movie hits of the 80s and 90s are on display at the al-Khayam Cinema in downtown Bagdad. |
I felt relieved and happy to see Iraqis going to the movies again – like they used to almost 20 years ago.
Economic sanctions were placed on Iraq in 1990, after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. It banned all foreign imports except some food and medicine – making daily life incredibly difficult and essentially eliminating any chance of escaping reality at the movies.
Making matters worse, for the past five years, since Saddam’s regime was ousted in 2003, religious fanatics and extremists have controlled almost all of Baghdad’s neighborhoods, enforcing a ban on art in general. Painting, sculpture, music, singing, plays and showing movies were all taboos.
Many artists, actors and singers were killed, kidnapped, tortured, displaced or forced to change their professions. Some art galleries were bombed by extremists.
But now, since the U.S. military surge has increased security in Baghdad, four movie theaters and three live drama theaters have re-opened and many actors, directors, singers, and painters have returned to the country.
CONTINUED >>
By Carla Marcus, NBC News Producer
BAGHDAD – Attacks carried out by female suicide bombers have become as common an occurrence here as roadside bombings, political assassinations and public mourning. No longer do I react with surprise when I hear about an explosion triggered by a woman.
Just last week on Oct. 8, a young woman in Baqouba blew herself up in front of a courthouse – killing 10 people and injuring 17. She was wearing an abaya, a traditional black robe, which allows explosive devices to be easily concealed. According to the doctor who examined the remains of her body, she may have been as young as 14.
 |
| AFP - Getty Images file |
| In this police handout picture, an Iraqi policeman attempts to unwrap an Iraqi woman's suicide vest after she surrendered in Baqouba on Aug.24. |
A day earlier, Iraqi authorities in the same region arrested a 38-year-old woman named Ibtisam Edwan, suspected of recruiting females to become suicide bombers – including a 15-year-old who gave her first name as Rania and turned herself into Iraqi police in August. In extensive video footage released by Iraqi police, she was wearing an explosives-laden vest at the time of her arrest, but denied that she planned to stage a suicide attack.
Although violence in Iraq is down overall, the spate of attacks perpetrated by women is certainly on the rise. By NBC News’ tabulation, the Baqouba courthouse attack last week was the 31 suicide bombing involving a woman to take place this year. By comparison, eight occurred in 2007, and a total of four in 2005 and 2006, according to U.S. military officials.
The majority of suicide attacks by women take place at police and army checkpoints, though headquarters of Awakening Councils (groups of Sunnis, some of them former militants, who have banded together to take on violent Sunni insurgents) are also popular targets.
CONTINUED >>
By NBC News' Karim Hilmi
BAGHDAD – A few weeks ago, Arab satellite channels were airing live coverage of the Democratic Party convention. At a cafe in my Baghdad neighborhood, the TV was tuned into the goings-on in Denver.
The cafe was full, as it is usually is after working hours. But hardly a head was pointed in the direction of the TV as the Democratic Party raised its collective voice to welcome Barack Obama. Most just kept playing dominos, backgammon, cards and drinking tea and Pepsi.
That’s despite the fact that Obama has some Islamic roots – his father was raised a Muslim and the presidential candidate spent four or five years in predominantly Muslim Indonesia as a child – and that he and his Republican opponent, John McCain, have divergent opinions on their handling of Iraq’s future.
Why? Busy lives – and a weary fatalism born of 25 years of Saddam Hussein and five-and-a-half years of American occupation.
CONTINUED >>
By Cheryll Simpson, NBC News Foreign Editor
BAGHDAD – Disembarking from the plane at Baghdad International Airport I was hit by a wall of heat and humidity, a complete contrast from the wet and cold fall day I had left behind in London less than 24 hours before.
This being my first Iraq assignment, I usually work as a foreign news editor in our NBC News London bureau, my eyes and ears where cued up the minute I arrived to take in the full Baghdad scene.
The airport was full of Western contractors and security types all looking a little battle weary. The absence of many Iraqi’s, and any other women, was glaring.
After passing through immigration, I was met by our local Iraqi office manager and encountered my first taste of daily Baghdad life – the power went out and we stood there hopelessly in the dark waiting for the baggage belt to spring to life. No light, no luggage.
CONTINUED >>
By Tom Aspell, NBC News Correspondent
BAGHDAD – President Bush announced plans on Tuesday to pull 8,000 more combat and support troops out of Iraq by next February, but not all Iraqis are happy about the security situation here.
At Baghdad International Airport a handful of returning Iraqis, who were recently denied residence in Sweden, blamed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for their disappointment. "He visited Sweden and painted too rosy a picture of conditions here in Baghdad. So Sweden is no longer accepting Iraqi applications for asylum, and we were sent back here," said one of the Iraqis at the airport who had been turned away.
To be fair, involuntary repatriation may not be the fate it once was. Baghdad's security has definitely improved. When I was traveling down the road from the airport to the center of the city recently there were fewer checkpoints than during my last visit in June. And the high-speed security convoys escorting important visitors now appear to have blended into the traffic streams. Dozens of shops abandoned by fearful merchants have been reopened and there is a noticeable absence of armed police patrols in the streets.
CONTINUED >>
