|
Bars boom as Iraqis dance the night away
[Al Arabiya Latest] There may be sectarian tension on the streets of Iraq but in the country's newly reopened nightclubs the tension dies as people gather to drink and dance the night away and mend ties with shout outs to different ethnic groups. For one of Baghdad's elegant bars the fun kicks off at midnight when Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish youth flock to a night of fun, which until recently was banned by Saddam Hussein's government. Club-goer, Sayyed Ali, moves between the tables to reach the stage where he throws money at the singer before he whispers something in her ear, the woman responds by shouting out a salute from the people of Nasiriyah to the people of Anbar. Another person stands up and hails the Awakening Council, a coalition of tribes that maintain security in different parts of Iraq. As a third man salutes the people of the south, it becomes clear that this is the place where sectarian tension comes to die. A favorite pastime For the females dotted around the bar venturing out after midnight is in itself unusual but now they dance and freely mingle without a worry in the world. "Senior police and army officers protect night clubs that were previously shut down under pressure from Islamists," one of the females clubbers said.
Under Hussein's government all bars and nightclubs were shut down as part of what was called the "Faith Campaign," said the bar owner, who also used to run a similar one in the 1980s. "Our customers have always been sons of officers and officials," he said. "We give them a special welcome since they guarantee the safety of our investments as well as the rest of our customers." He added that the sons of officers and officials, together with Hussein's son Odai, were also the first to violate the Faith Campaign in the 1990s. "However, officials feared for their sons and had to give in to pressure. Many of those sons settled later in neighboring countries in search of night life." Posted by: Fred 2009-06-24 |
|
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=272721 |