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Iraq-Jordan | |
AFP: Baghdad becomes hostile land for Arab expatriates | |
2005-03-15 | |
"Look, that's me," says Adam, a Sudanese worker, showing his photograph in a local newspaper, hooded, handcuffed, flanked by Iraqi police. "We were 47 Sudanese all dealt with this way, arrested at dawn in the same building, mistreated and insulted before being freed at the end of the day," Adam said. Adam does not dare stray out of his neighborhood of Bataween, which has a reputation for crime, ranging from robbery to prostitution and all kinds of trafficking. But even here he is not safe. The police and army frequently raid the district teeming with non-Iraqi Arab nationals, whom Iraqis view with suspicion, eyeing everyone as a fighter here to wage holy war. Reminders that they are living in hostile territory abound. Two banners hang in the nearby public park, named Tahrir square, where people mill about. "We support the decision of the new government to launch the war against terror and to hunt all the Arabs," the banners say. The government of outgoing Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi initiated a campaign of constant sweeps in slums like Bataween frequented by Arab foreign nationals living on the fringe. The government suspected them of involvement in crime and the insurgency. It has left the expatriates living in fear. "They (Iraqis) watch me on public transportation and sometimes they crowd around me before letting me step on the bus," said Sudanese Idriss Daoud, 35, who quit his studies at Baghdad's art college because of the new attitude among Iraqis.
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Posted by:Phil Fraering |
#11 Don't feed the troll, Frank G |
Posted by: gromky 2005-03-15 9:10:42 PM |
#10 Don't feed the troll, Frank G |
Posted by: gromky 2005-03-15 9:10:05 PM |
#9 If it is there will be ribs tonight. |
Posted by: Shipman 2005-03-15 1:17:32 PM |
#8 Is today a feast day? |
Posted by: Shipman 2005-03-15 1:16:52 PM |
#7 35? And he is still studying? Wouldn't it be time for him getting a job instead of living on daddy's money? |
Posted by: JFM 2005-03-15 11:15:48 AM |
#6 why's Aris playing a violin? |
Posted by: Frank G 2005-03-15 11:15:40 AM |
#5 Sudanese Idriss Daoud, 35, who quit his studies at Baghdad's art college because of the new attitude among Iraqis. Sort of like all those Sudanese Christians who've quit life because of the attitude among those in power in Khartoum? |
Posted by: Snung Snuth2112 2005-03-15 11:01:30 AM |
#4 Sometimes I dream about a future Iraq invading Arabia, cleansing the viper's nest and letting the Seoud with only the Nejd: the oilless desert where they came from (it would also mean they would no longer control Mecca and Medina) |
Posted by: JFM 2005-03-15 9:51:48 AM |
#3 Over at IraqtheModel, ali reports on growing anti Jordan and anti Syria protests: http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/ |
Posted by: mhw 2005-03-15 9:46:59 AM |
#2 We support the decision of the new government to launch the war against terror and to hunt all the Arabs," Am i the only one who sees the irony in that banner? ;) Think of the outrage if a banner like that were raised in Israel, the US, or the Netherlands for that matter. Not that im saying one should be, mind you. Just enjoying the irony. In Iraq today, the pendulum has swung so far against pan-arab nationalism (at least outside the Sunni triangle) that "arabs" is assumed to mean non-Iraqis. |
Posted by: liberalhawk 2005-03-15 9:34:36 AM |
#1 Another group discovered who liked it better before.... |
Posted by: Bobby 2005-03-15 9:17:27 AM |