Voices of Baghdad Etched on Its Walls (Baghdad graffiti, most pro-Bush, MUST READ)

News Day ^ | 19 November 2003 | Samson Mulugeta

[Stultis]

[...snip...] Thousands of slogans in the Arabic script snake across acres of gray walls that line city squares, apartments and office buildings, a perfect canvas for the outpourings of a population intoxicated by new freedoms.

Hussein loyalists shout their yearning for the deposed dictator - "Saddam will come again" - followed by the coda on the same line from a detractor: "Through my behind!" [...snip...]

"I walk around reading these writings, and some of them move me so much I don't know whether to laugh or to cry," said Amir Nayef Toma, 52, a retired radar operator in the Iraqi army. "You want to know what Iraqis are thinking? Read these walls." [...snip...]

"Some are ironic, some are funny, some are artistic," said Muhir Edan, a bookseller in the Old Baghdad section of the city [...snip...]. "Even now, some are afraid to say something in the newspapers. I am still afraid," he said. "But at night, in the cover of darkness, you can write what you want."

Edan's favorites are the back-and-forth graffiti repartee: "The masses are stronger than tyrants," one slogan declared. Next to it a skeptic asked: "When? Before or after liberation by the Americans?"

[...snip...] but mostly President George W. Bush is hailed as a liberator [...snip...]

Samplings of the Arabic slogans include: "Down Saddam the infidel and long live Bush the believer!" "A thousand Americans but not one Tikriti," referring to residents of Hussein's hometown.

Many taunt the deposed dictator: "Saddam the dirty, the son of the dirty, in which septic tank are you hiding now?" [...snip...]

"I like what I read," said Karal Nadji, a Shia street vendor who sells shoes. "We appreciate Mr. Bush. We're all waiting for the fruits of change." [...snip...]

Toma, the former radar operator, predicted the writing would stop in another six months. "We Iraqis are so full of suffering and bitterness, these feelings are just pouring out of us," said Toma, who has carefully transcribed more than 100 slogans in a small notebook. "Soon we will realize we can speak out freely. We don't have to write on the walls."

[BOBTHENAILER]

The way I figure it-God is moving through the side window again, creating hope and peace, and surely, blessing those who speed the process.

Very well said.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Bump!

[LADY J]

"Soon we will realize we can speak out freely. We don't have to write on the walls."

A wonderful thing to look forward. Where there is hope - there is promise!

[Stultis]

"Saddam the dirty, the son of the dirty, in which septic tank spider hole are you hiding now?"

[Travis McGee]

Actually his vermin infested rat hole was pretty close to being a septic tank.

[Poohbah]

I understand the vermin turned him in because his odor was beginning to offend...