The Booze Is Back in Baghdad

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  • Posted By: jroberts0078@msn.com @ 06/23/2008 9:51:00 PM

    I think it is a great story.... my husband spent several weeks living among the iraqi people when we was over there with the 1st Cav. Division a year ago. He came home with tons of great stories about how friendly and giving most of the people were. He was excited to hear about things opening back up. He got to witness several schools reopening for both boys and girls as well as hospitals and stores. He got to play soccer with the kids and will go on and on about the tea and food the people made for them. TO BAD so many people only hear/listen to the negative......... the alcohol in this article was the choice of the writer, there are tons of these stories... schools, banks, stores. Any of which could have been used.

  • Posted By: existentialist @ 06/23/2008 9:06:18 PM

    Pink - Sounds like you need to expand your world experience and stop believing the propaganda that others dish out. Fermented mare's milk in the middle of the desert is a unique experience and one that is as ancient as men and horses. It isn't all that tasty but its all the more wonderful around a fire in the desert twilight with new friends sharing stories about life and learning about each others cultures. There is more room for all of us on this patch of universe than the any of the dogma allows...

  • Posted By: existentialist @ 06/23/2008 9:05:58 PM

    Pink - Sounds like you need to expand your world experience and stop believing the propaganda that others dish out. Fermented mare's milk in the middle of the desert is a unique experience and one that is as ancient as men and horses. It isn't all that tasty but its all the more wonderful around a fire in the desert twilight with new friends sharing stories about life and learning about each others cultures. There is more room for all of us on this patch of universe than the any of the dogma allows...

  • Posted By: loriw @ 06/21/2008 10:27:54 PM

    Geezz, I'm glad that our troops are over there helping them rebuild schools, hospitals and train their police so that their citizens can open booze stores. How about a good book store or grocery/market?
    My son-in-law is over there in the Green Zone...for what...this?
    Newsweak....can you at least give us an article with some real purpose to it?

    • Posted By: vango333 @ 06/22/2008 12:24:28 AM

      Isn't a "booze store", as you call it, just as important as a school or book store? This article isn't about booze though, it's to show how their society is turning into something normal, even if it???s a slow progression, it is happening and this is the important part. Even though we don't see any mentions about schools or bookstores in this article they are happening every day, spend some time and do research. No need to flame "Newsweak" for not covering your view points on how something you feel is more important.

      • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 06/22/2008 10:31:50 AM

        No a booze store is no different to them than a porn store next to a schoole to us, you do the math!

        • Posted By: DBachrach @ 06/23/2008 8:14:18 PM

          Actually pink, that's not true. Prior to us going into Iraq, liquor stores were a common site. Just as it's a common site to see Saudi's in Bahrain or the UAE boozing it up. Porn is hidden just the way alcohol is. It's there, they all know it's there, they just pretend it's not. Hell, even Iran religious leaders have been caught selling girls to the UAE and elsewhere as slaves/protitutes. Stop trying to shove your religous ideals down our throats.

    • Posted By: vango333 @ 06/22/2008 12:25:30 AM

      Isn't a "booze store", as you call it, just as important as a school or book store? This article isn't about booze, it's to show how their society is turning into something normal, even if it???s a slow progression, it is happening and this is the important part. Even though we don't see any mentions about schools or bookstores in this specific article they are happening every day, spend some time and do research Newsweek has covered it. No need to flame "Newsweak" for not covering your view points on how something you feel is more important.

  • Posted By: uncahal @ 06/23/2008 7:31:52 PM

    Gee, that's just really swell.Booze and death.....Amerika's number one exports.

    • Posted By: DBachrach @ 06/23/2008 8:09:21 PM

      Yeah uncahal, that's all we export. Don't forget the majority of the worlds grain, the technology to make the world better, the money to support those that can't (or won't) support themselves etc. etc. Yeah, we're the ones that blew up the majority of the innocent men, women and children there. We're the ones that invented alcohol (um, if memory serves me correctly many muslims drink fermented milk and honey - saw it almost every day while working in Iraq, Saudi, UAE, etc, etc.). Don't preach how we're the cause of your problems. People like you are the cause of the problem. Whaaaaa, I don't get my way, so I'll blame it on America. Whaaaaa, I don't like things so I'll call myself a relgious martyr and blow up innocents instead of trying to improve things....

    • Posted By: CHATO4444 @ 06/23/2008 7:57:13 PM

      It simple...go somewhere else to live where you can live your ideal life. Get out.

  • Posted By: ananimo @ 06/23/2008 7:21:59 PM

    Thanks alot Operation Freedom ! You really set the Iraqi's free. It's really vital that you tarnish our pure culture by desensitizing our people and spreading your stupid low life morals like drinking. God Bless the land of the drunks. Dam Idiots!

    • Posted By: DBachrach @ 06/23/2008 8:05:24 PM

      Yeah ananimo, under the religous zelots the wondeful culture of the Iraqi's was really great. Beheadings, mass bombings, murder of women and children just because they didn't dress or act or say the things you wanted. Yeah, your pure culture. Wonderful. Hiding women because you're afraid you can't control yourselves. Afraid that given the light of day, the mullahs preaching hate would run like the cockroaches they are. Soooo wonderful....tell me, do you think the 4th century was so wonderful? Truly?

  • Posted By: Savitar @ 06/22/2008 12:02:00 AM

    Don't worry, loriw, there are plenty of grocery stores, i.e., open-air food markets, in Baghdad. I'm not sure about the bookstores - those would be a little harder to pick out at 200' and 120 KIAS. Liquor stores, or any sign of a more relaxed and secular society are indicators that the people of Iraq have decided to they are tired of the insanity of the sectarian violence and will no longer listen to those who seek to prolong it. Downside is, the only ones in Iraq now forbidden to touch alcohol are the soldiers of the U.S. Army.

    • Posted By: DBachrach @ 06/23/2008 8:02:12 PM

      loriw, yeah, there a books stores and such open. But like normal, you don't hear about them. And your son-in-law would be able to tell you that if he wasn't in the green zone all the time. No, it's not 100% safe, but it is getting better.

    • Posted By: loriw @ 06/22/2008 3:44:11 PM

      Sadly , the open air food market has been bombed at least twice in as many months.

  • Posted By: CHATO4444 @ 06/23/2008 8:00:51 PM

    This is great. I own a wholesale beverage company and now I can sell my products again in Iraq. Thank you so much. It is time to celebrate.

  • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 06/21/2008 10:44:08 PM

    SLAP SLAP SLAP I THOUGHT WE WERE NOT INVADERS AND OR CONQUERES??? GUESS I WAS WRONG! SO WHERE IS THE 51st STAR FOR THE NEW STATE OF IRAQ? BOOZE IS AN AFRONT TO
    T-H-E-R-E RELIGION! IF YOU CARE ENOUGH TO KNOW. EVERY LIQUER STORE=50 DEAD TO COME VERY VERY SOON. THAT'S LIKE COMMING HERE AND TURNING A CHUCH INTO A SOFT PORN THEATER!

    • Posted By: DBachrach @ 06/23/2008 8:00:17 PM

      Actually pink, booze isn't an afront to their religion. The quaran says they can't drink alcohol made from grain or grape. So they get around it by drinking fermented milk and honey. And yeah, pink, you are kind of a religious nut job.

    • Posted By: DBachrach @ 06/23/2008 7:57:39 PM

      Acutally, it's not an afront to their religion. They drink fermented milk and honey. The Quaran simply says they can't drink alcohol made from grain. And yeah, pink, you are kind of a religious nut job

    • Posted By: Noliving @ 06/22/2008 10:20:47 PM

      You do realize that alcohol is an afront to christianity, read the bible. The correct spelling in this case is their not there.

      • Posted By: dewcooper @ 06/23/2008 11:23:37 AM

        Alcohol is not an afront - didn't Christ turn water into the best wine? The Bible speaks against being drunk, in excess.

    • Posted By: fd3000 @ 06/22/2008 12:12:42 AM

      Note the lower case... We are not there to support t-h-e-r-e religion but we are there to spread freedom, to paraphrase our president. I never supported this war but I am glad to see a progressive side to Iraqi society. All we ever hear about are the religious freaks. Think if the world formed its opinion of the US based on stories of Westboro. My only question, Mr. Kaplow, is if these Iraqi progressives support a pullout of US troops or do they think it will erupt into a battle of extremists?

      • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 06/22/2008 10:35:30 AM

        sucide bomber, woman, today-told ya so!

      • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 06/22/2008 10:34:36 AM

        ya your right we did invade them, so they are ours to do with as we see fit, right? I might be a freak but not a religious one, but one forged from respect!

      • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 06/22/2008 10:30:29 AM

        so we walk in a respect is out the door cause it not our way but theres, no wounder they DO NOT WANT US THERE! A booze store is no different to them then a porn store next to a school to us-FAIR-NOT EVEN CLOSE!

  • Posted By: happytrails @ 06/23/2008 7:10:32 PM

    Who wouldn't drink - while living in Baghdad???

  • Posted By: stormhelm @ 06/23/2008 5:07:27 PM

    And I am not worried about my spelling since you can and anyone else that is`nt anal retentive can...

  • Posted By: stormhelm @ 06/23/2008 5:05:26 PM

    Comment:"" You do realize that alcohol is an afront to christianity, read the bible. The correct spelling in this case is their not there."" I suggest YOU read the Bible sir as you are woefully inaccurate...
    Drunkenes IS an affront NOT drinking alcohol in common - sense moderation which is NOT prohibited in the Bible at all!.. dewcooper is CORRECT about that wedding celebration when Jesus Christ made the BEST wine they ever had......Read those Scriptures in Matthews ...Fundamentalism and personal viewpoints/Officiall dogmas in Apostate Christianity is partly to blame for wild inaccuracies from what the Bible really
    teaches....The Blind leading the Blind and I suggest any and all to really study and read the Bible and not make inaccurate statements...Drunkeness is condemnedn NOT wine or why else does The Most High allowed it and Christ drank and he did`nt get drunk?

  • Posted By: ICE626 @ 06/23/2008 5:02:02 PM

    Nins@06....are you brain dead???.....McCain has been supporting the closure of that loop hole for a long time now.....Hussein Obama is just now jumping on the bandwagon....

  • Posted By: stormhelm @ 06/23/2008 4:54:49 PM

    Drunkeness is an affront to Christiany and alcohol taken with common sense moderation is not prohibited and dewcooper is correct when Jesus Christ made the best wine ever out of water in a wedding party...Anyone says otherwise is an affront and incorrect to what the Bible really teaches and Fundamentalism is an Affront period...Inaccurate and distorted views of the Bible is rampant and nothing new in Apostate Christianity...Goes with Judaism and Islam too...

  • Posted By: Nins @ 06/22/2008 8:01:56 PM

    Some of you who read my posts about investment banks driving up the price of oil through commodities futures trading did not believe me that this was a real issue, despite the fact that the Senate is investigating it. Well, it really is an issue and an important one, so important the the Department of Justice is going to investigate.

    Today Senator Obama announced a plan today to crack down on excessive energy speculation and fully close the loophole in the CFTC regulations that I referred to in my blog. This loophole is also called the "Enron Loophole" because it was created by McCain Campaign co-chair Phil Gramm at the behest of Enron lobbyists, and exempts most trading on energy commodities from regulation. As a result, the CFTC is unable to oversee the oil futures market or investigate cases where excessive speculation is driving up oil prices. Just last month, John Hofmesiter, President of Shell Oil Company, says that the proper, uninflated production price of a barrel of crude oil is no more than $65.

    http://www.financialpost.com/reports/oil-watch/story.html?id=532747

    Clarence Cazalot, CEO of Marathon Oil, stated in November of 2007 that "$100 oil just isn't justified by the physical demand on the market - it is speculation on the futures market that is driving this."

    http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/12/markets/oil_hundred/index.htm?postversion=2007111216

    Larry Chom, Chief Economist of Platt's, states in a recent Businessweek article that speculation is adding at least $50 to the price of every barrel of oil. You can read this article in the May 13, 2008 edition of Businessweek, but it is no longer available on their website unless you are a member.

    http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/may2008/

    To see what Senator Obama is doing to correct this serious problem and lower the price of gas and oil, go to his website:

    http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gG5Rzb

    Now THAT is my kind of President! Sees the problem, and moves to fix it, while Bush and McCain are sitting on their hands.

  • Posted By: tekmastr @ 06/22/2008 2:09:57 PM

    Stories of this nature are good to read. All we have heard in the past were the bombing and the lack of government progress. This may not be the whole story on Iraq but it is one that has not been presented and we need to see that not all the effort that has been put into Iraq has not been lost.

  • Posted By: news8111 @ 06/22/2008 9:54:57 AM

    Wine, women, and song.

    Is there anything else the West can offer thsoe who don't live by its rules?

    Reminds me of the girlie bars in Vietnam and Bangkok.

    • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 06/22/2008 10:38:44 AM

      Just a bullet in the back if they don't do as we say! It does remind me of those same places also and include Subic Bay when we OWNED IT. Thiland was a trip to!

  • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 06/21/2008 10:47:13 PM

    BTW
    THAT WAS PART OF A MULTI-TRILLION BUDGET TO REBUILD IRAQ. HOSPITALS,SCHOOLS,ECT, ECT! NOT A SLAP IN THE FACE, FOR A BILLION OR MORE! SEE WHAT IT BOUGHT AND WHERE EVERY DIME WAS SPENT! SO SAYTH THE DC AUDITORS, OH YA THERE ARE NONE!

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