House demolitions in Adhamiya have been one of many tactics employed by the United States military in its attempts to quell violence and insurgents in the troubled neighborhood. The tactic of house demolition has been a familiar one to the United States, used as early as 2003 to destroy the homes of suspected insurgents. This tactic was taken from the experience of Israeli Defense Forces’ behavior in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

It’s easy to believe the American forces were acting on what they believed to be noble intentions. In 2003 Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told the USA Today, “If I saw that house go away, I’d feel more secure,” in reference to the destroying the home of a “terrorist across the street“.

Unfortunately Brigadier General Kimmitt was not considering the impact of home destruction in dense urban areas such as Raghiba Khatoon in Adhamiya.

While much has been made of the improved security environment in Iraq and the decision by President Obama to withdraw combat troops, it is important to look back at the lessons learned, and those seemingly unlearned, from the US military campaign in Iraq, particularly as the US escalates its war against insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In Afghanistan and Pakistan, or “AfPak” as its commonly referred to in the Western press, the US continues its practice of collective punishment against the population. It does so seemingly unaware of the damages suffered during counterinsurgency operations in Iraq. In fact, it appears that the US military may actually be getting worse at it, rather than improving. A study recently released by academics at King’s College and Royal Holloway, University of London reveals that in Iraq, 39 per cent of deaths from US air strikes were children, while 46 per cent were women. Even if its assumed that all of the men killed were legitimate military targets, that still only leaves a bombing success rate of just 15 percent.

In Pakistan, the statistics are much worse. Figures released by the Pakistani government show that of 701 people killed in US air strikes, only 14 could be verified as legitimate al-Qa’eda operatives. That’s a staggeringly low success rate of just 2 percent.

It could be argued that in such active conflict zones as Iraq and “AfPak,” civilian casualties are inevitable. However, the evidence in the King’s College study of Iraq shows that the likelihood of innocent deaths increases dramatically when US air power is introduced. Wired Magazine writes, “On average, around four people were killed in each violent event. Researchers found, however, that civilian casualties tended to be higher when they involved coalition airstrikes or combined air and ground attacks: The average number killed in an airstrike was 17, similar to the average number of civilians killed by suicide bombers on foot (around 16 deaths per event).”

Obviously the US in no way intends to cause these civilian casualties, but no matter the motives, it still amounts to collectively punishing the entire population, as opposed to those directly responsible for a specific crime. It should also be noted that the nuance between “intentional” and “unintentional” collective punishment is understandably lost on those whose friends and loved ones are killed in the attacks.

As the US moves from Iraq to its war in AfPak, can it really afford to continue with collective punishment, rather than focusing on infrastructure and governance? In this classic episode of Alive in Baghdad, we witness the aftermath of one such instance of collective punishment. The reactions to similar violence by civilians in Pakistan is, unfortunately, not difficult to imagine.

Despite this win, it has not been easy keeping the lights on over here at Alive in Baghdad, and we need your support to continue our work in this time of need and, hopefully, expand our techniques to other venues abroad. Please take a moment to visit our support page and give what you can to support our work. -Brian Conley, Director and CEO of Small World News]

While westerners are busy wrestling with their own taboos of government intervention and racial politics, a different taboo is re-entering the consciousness of Iraqis. The improved security environment has allowed the alcohol trade to boom, and while Iraqis welcome the business momentum, they are once again forced to reconcile their dual identities as proud Muslims and vulnerable people grappling with the trauma and depression of war.

Even though it was commonly understood that Saddam Hussein and his inner circle regularly partook of alcohol, the sale of liquor was for the most part banned during his rule. The accepted reasoning behind this was to bolster Saddam’s image as a pious Islamic ruler. However, much like in the United States during its Prohibition period, liquor stores continued to operate in Iraq, albeit as unlicensed dealers on the black market. These underground liquor establishments suffered occasional harassment from Saddam’s security services, but after the American invasion and the anarchy that followed, the harassment escalated to new, hellish heights.

During the chaos of the US occupation, freshly legalized alcohol merchants, and even the customers who attempted to patronize these merchants, were regularly the targets of kidnappings and bombings. And unlike average partisans in Iraq’s civil war, liquor merchants found themselves attacked from all sides of the conflict. Most of Iraq’s alcohol trade is run by Christians and Yazidi operating out of Mosul and other cities in Kurdistan, and while they do close on Fridays and during Ramadan out of respect to Islam, being a Kurd, a different religion, and doing something as “un-Islamic” as selling alcohol were more than enough reason to draw the wrath of everyone from fundamentalist Al-Qa’eda to the more moderate Shi’a militias.

It’s also this fact that betrays one of the most sensitive aspects of alcohol in Iraqi culture: Most liquor merchants are Christian or Yazidi, relatively vinocentric faiths, who abstain from alcohol, while the vast majority of drinkers in Iraq are Muslim, a religion which explicitly forbids it. But it is also this strange dichotomy combined with a reinvigorated attitude toward democracy that have led to fascinating public debates on personal freedom in Iraqi society.

Some Iraqis see alcohol as a shared affinity with westerners (most of the alcohol comes from the European Union via Turkey), while others see the choice to drink alcohol as a personal right guaranteed by no less than the Iraqi constitution. Even some religious parties have begun to question the ban on pubs and bars, if only for the rather condescending reason that drinking in a private establishment is less harmful than secretive drinking at home in view of the impressionable eyes of women and children. This alone is an explosive admission that drinking alcohol in Iraq’s war-torn environment may actually be inevitable, albeit still highly disreputable.

In this week’s episode of Alive in Baghdad, we talk to a handful of Iraqis in the alcohol trade and discover some of the intricacies involved in selling, and imbibing, a seemingly “forbidden” product in the midst of dictatorship, civil war, and democratic evolution.

If you were to judge only from the press coverage in Europe or the United States, you might gather that the conflict in Iraq is all but over and done with. Newspapers, broadcasters, and even wealthy satellite news agencies are all cutting back on their foreign reporters, and the Iraqi bureaus full of producers, editors, and reporters are first on the chopping block.

Alive in Baghdad isn’t leaving. And this week, as a sign of how far we’ve come, and how far left we have yet to go, we bring you this classic episode from the archives on the sectarian walls in Baghdad’s Adhamiya neighborhood.

While the walls of Adhamiya and elsewhere in Baghdad have been credited as a component of the improved security situation in Iraq, the divisions they create are physically indicative of the broader ethnic and sectarian divisions in Iraqi society. While the violence has dropped to its lowest levels since the American invasion in 2003, there are still rivalries between ethnic, religious and political groups, simmering just below the surface, rivalries which have a habit of filtering down and embroiling the local population.

With the complete drop-off of reporting, there is yet another wall being constructed in Iraq. This wall, however, is not between neighborhoods in Baghdad, but rather between citizens of the world and the citizens of Iraq. The global financial meltdown along with western media’s sensationalist attention span threaten to sever entirely the communication links between Iraq and the rest of the world, although the fate of both are inextricably linked. To put it plainly, just because the Americans are leaving doesn’t mean Iraq ceases to matter anymore.

Despite the crisis in the mainstream media industry, Small World News and Alive in Baghdad are now well into their fourth year of operation, and we have absolutely no thoughts of stopping. However, we are not immune from the current financial woes. The good news is that we have a plan to deal with it.

The first part of our plan is simple – in order to alleviate the workload on our reporters and translators, we’ll be running a Classic AiB from our archives, including previously unreleased tapes, to supplement all the brand new episodes of Alive in Baghdad, which we’ll still be releasing often. This won’t last for long, only until we regain our financial momentum in the midst of industry turmoil.

But here’s the most exciting part – unlike our compatriots in the television or print business, Alive in Baghdad is in no danger of becoming extinct. Rather, we only need a boost to help alleviate the “Crisis of Confidence” affecting our industry, that is to say, the fear of investment.

That’s where you come in.

We’re asking all of you, our faithful supporters and subscribers, to shoot a quick video of yourself explaining why people should support Alive in Baghdad, particularly in light of the American military – and media – withdrawal from Iraq. Why is an accurate portrayal of Iraq important to you? What issues are still relevant to you, or still yet to cover? Tell us, and help us tell the world.

In October 2006, Saed Mahdi Shlash, a journalist and administrator working for Rayat al-Arab, was murdered along with his wife. Gunmen entered his home in Baghdad’s western neighborhood of al-Aamariyeh and executed Shlash along with his wife. The CPJ has previously highlighted the neighborhood al-Aamariyeh as a focal point of insurgent activity targeting journalists.

In addition to militants and criminal gangs, journalists in Iraq are also alleged to have been targeted by the US military as well as their own government. On April 8, 2003, indepedent journalists reporting from Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel were attacked by US military units, killing cameraman Jose Couso of Telecinco and another photographer for Reuters, Taras Protsyuk. Though the US Department of Defense claimed they acted in “self-defense,” a report issued by Reporters Without Borders states that their investigations concluded “exactly the opposite” of the Pentagon’s statement.

All of these dangers combine to form a type of censorship for Iraqi journalists. While there haven’t been specific laws infringing on Iraqi freedom of speech since the fall of Saddam Hussein, journalists
are often intimidated by the steady stream of kidnappings, bombings and assassinations. Satellite news channels, the most popular media source in Iraq, are also monitored unofficially by the government and political parties trolling for criticism and unfriendly reporting. Newspapers and print media, for their part, are targeting much less by the government due to their low readership and distribution.

In this week’s episode of Alive in Baghdad, we bring you an interview with Hassan Fadhel Allah al-Hussaini, the editor of Rayat al-Arab newspaper in Baghdad. He offers us a personal perspective on the wide variety of dangers facing journalists in Iraq. At the same time he reminds us of these dangers, Hassan remains faithful.

“All Iraqis now are working by way of a miracle,” he tells us. “Everyone who walks in the street, every student who goes to school or university…all of them are working by a miracle, because death is pursuing them in every moment and place.”

Even though it suffered heavily under the UN sanctions in the 1990’s, Iraq’s health care system was still seen as one of the more advanced in the region. This changed after the American invasion in 2003. The vast majority of Iraq’s wealthy and educated population, including the doctors and surgeons, were forced to flee the growing violence in their country. As the violence grew more chaotic during the occupation, the few doctors who were able to remain in Iraq found themselves the targets of assassinations by insurgents, their hospitals the targets of regular car and suicide bombings.

Today in Iraq the security situation has vastly improved, but the hospitals and medical institutions have been forced to, in the words of one Iraqi, “start from zero.”

The continued shortage of Iraqi doctors and surgeons is a constant stress on hospital staff. Many of Iraq’s educated population has returned as of late, but “brain drain,” either from the violence or from Iraqis fleeing the country, continues to be a strain. And while there have been many gains in the treatment of certain infectious diseases like malaria as well as improvements in infant mortality rates, Iraqis are also facing new threats from polluted water supplies to a booming cholera epidemic.

Despite these pressing problems, many Iraqis remain optimistic about the future of health care in Iraq. In this episode of Alive in Baghdad, we talk to several Iraqis: doctors, patients and hospital administrators, each of whom offers us a unique, yet notably hopeful,
perspective on Iraq’s health care system.

Another party in particular who seemed to suffer at the polls was Muqtada al-Sadr’s Movement. In the run up to the elections, rumors circulated of secret deals between the Sadrists and Maliki’s Daa’wa party, and some even speculated that Sadr’s Mehdi Army would once again resume armed resistance. While no violence has yet occurred nor deals confirmed, the Sadrists have announced a plan to appeal the election results with Iraq’s Electoral Commission, citing voting irregularities in several districts. Some of the provinces especially
highlighted by the Sadrists are Baghdad, Najaf, Kadhumiya and Qadisiyah, all heavily Shia provinces and all provinces that showed strong results for secular, nationalist parties like the Daa’wa.

It is in this light that we bring you an unaired interview from our archives. In December 2007, Alive in Baghdad had a chance to sit down with Sayed Hazim Al-A’araji, the top Sadrist representative in the Kadhumiya district of Baghdad. While some of his words may seem like an anachronism with all that has happened in the last year, much of it is worth a new look and a new consideration.

Before the American invasion in 2003, Baghdad’s parks and public squares were known for their traditional games. Men would journey from
all over Iraq on holidays to play games of Mohaibi, dominoes and backgammon. During the occupation, this was impossible due to the
chaotic security situation. Battling between the militias, the Iraqi government, and the US Military made it unlikely that anyone in
Baghdad could come to the parks at all. Now they stay until dawn, unthreatened by terrorists, criminal gangs or militia attacks.

It’s not just old men and their traditions enjoying the new era of freedom and security. Young Iraqi men take full advantage of their country’s experiment with western democracy, using the parks to meet and discuss politics, music, and of course the number one preoccupation of young men worldwide: girls. Indeed, even Iraqi women are able to come out and socialize for hours without fear of harassment.

This week as the final votes are counted in Iraq’s elections, we offer you another side of Iraq’s tenuous relationship with Western-style
democracy - The tales of a few Iraqis able to once again enjoy and take pride in their country’s rich public atmosphere.

Though it functioned effectively even through crushing UN sanctions, the toppling of Saddam Hussein and the security vaccum immediately after in 2003 proved too much for Iraq’s Ministry of Health. It’s ability to regulate the pharmaceutical industry collapsed and as a result Iraq was flooded with black market and counterfeit medications. The Ministry also lost its ability to regulate licensing of
pharmacists, effectively nullifying the line between esteemed
tradesmen and common drug dealers.

Most of the countefeit and substandard drugs in Iraq came from
smugglers bringing in black market product from Iran and China. No
longer required, or rather forced, to undergo rigorous testing by the
Ministry of Health, these counterfeit drugs at best had no effect at
all and at worst could cause serious harm. The black markets stretch into every conceivable pharmaceutical niche, from Viagra to
anti-depressents, even skin care products.There is also no regulation of licensing of pharmacists, so Iraqi patients often have no idea if their pharmacist, or his products, are legitimate.

Lately the Ministry of Health has been attempting to extend its
oversight once again, but the program is still rife with problems.
While the government has been using the Iraqi Army and National Guard to crack down on fraudulent pharmacies, often corrupt soldiers will simply burglarize the business rather than shut down its operations. Even legitimate pharmacists are at risk of this kind of racketeering, often seeing their shops raided and robbed by the very police tasked with regulation. Cell phones and electronics, not counterfeit medications and drug dealers, are more often than not the target of these raids.

In this episode of Alive in Baghdad we talk to some of these Iraqi
pharmacists who have endured Police raids and a regulation vaccum all in the honorable pursuit of their tradecraft, bringing medicine and medical care to all those in Iraq who need it.

Iraqi pastry chefs not only put a lot of care into their creations, but some spend years developing specific specialties. The more unique their dish, the more their fame, and fortune, will grow. Sadr City in Baghdad is known especially for its unique creations, with Iraqis journeying from all corners of the country to sample its Zolabya, Sha’rya, Kanafa and Balorya.

These dishes don’t always come easy though. With Iraq’s unpredictable security situation, often times the price of ingredients will rise sharply and suddenly. This not only causes the price of sweets and pastries to fluctuate wildly, but will sometimes even cause whole items to be removed from the menu. Obviously this can be a devastating blow to a sweet maker who specializes in that item.

Fortunately for these sweets makers, security has been much less of an issue lately. With the threat of violence relatively diminished, more Iraqis are able to freely walk the streets at night and thus the bakeries are able to stay open longer, often late into the night.

In this week’s episode of Alive in Baghdad, we take you inside some of these pastry shops to talk to the chefs themselves about what it takes to be a candy maker on the streets of Iraq today. We only regret that it is only video and you can’t taste the dishes yourselves.

If you enjoy this episode, please feel free to support Alive in Baghdad, and don’t forget to check out the latest from Small World News - Alive in Gaza.

Although in recent years the holiday has been heavily disrupted by violence, this year many Iraqis have noted a dramatic decrease in violence. With the exception of a suicide attack on Iranian pilgrims in Kadhamiya, Shi’a in Iraq were able to celebrate 2009’s Ashura Festival in relative peace.

Iraqi security forces were on high alert after the pilgrims were killed in a Shi’a neighborhood across the Tigris from Adhamiya. Over 20,000 security personnel were deployed to protect the pilgrims and worshippers. The calm of this year’s celebration largely escaped the notice of the media, as most attention has been focused on the events in the Gaza strip. For more, check out Small World News’ newest project, Alive in Gaza.

In this week’s episode of Alive in Baghdad we take you back to the Day of Ashura in 2008. Hear direct from the Iraqis themselves what it means to celebrate this holy day under all the stresses of the ongoing conflict in Iraq.

After the invasion in 2003, and the fall of Baghdad, more than 200 newspapers were published, some of the newspapers were daily, and the rest were released weekly or monthly. The majority of these newspapers belong to political parties, very few of them are completely independent, or working independently. Newspapers such as Al-Sabah are demanded by Iraqis due to the government information they normally publish, and the people living in Baghdad is longing to listen to a true word and a guaranteed sources. Other newspapers belong to political parties which are not liked by Iraqis, some of those newspapers are distributed for free and some are not, such as Tareek Al-Sha’ab and Al-Basha’er newspaper.

The Iraqi citizens now have a variety of newspapers, but it is still difficult to determine which are good or dependable and which are bad. It will still take time to see what direction Iraq’s new journalists will take and whether the new government will allow a free press to grow.

If you appreciate the insightful content provided by Alive in Baghdad, which you won’t find anywhere else, please consider becoming a paying subscriber, or making a donation to Alive in Baghdad. You can also purchase Alive in Baghdad T-shirts and DVDs to spread the word.

Horace Greeley once wrote that “journalism will kill you, but it will keep you alive while you’re at it.” No one understands this twisted fate more than the journalists of Iraq. From Saddam’s police state through the American invasion and occupation all the way through the darkest days of the civil war, Iraqi journalists have endured all manner of peril and treachery in their quest to deliver truth to the people, and in some cases, truth from the people.

After Saddam took control of Iraq in 1979, journalists lost all freedom to express their own views. Saddam’s Ba’ath party dominated all media - radio, newspapers, television, everything. Behind his long winded speeches on personal hygiene and endless slide shows of exotic flowers, Saddam ruthlessly persecuted any journalist he suspected of treason. Many were imprisoned, tortured or executed. Even after Saddam’s deposing in 2003 however, journalists in Iraq still found themselves on the wrong side of the powers that be.

During the American invasion, coalition forces are alleged to have had an unofficial policy of targeting journalists who were unwilling or unable to report from Iraq exclusively through it’s system of “embedded” reporters. While the US military viewed the process of embedding as simply one means of controlling battlefield information, many journalists questioned the ethics of siding so closely with one source, some even calling it propaganda. The response from coalition forces was not kind. Occupation forces weren’t the only threat they faced however. With the invasion came the civil war, and journalists were exposed to yet new terrors.

Though print and radio journalists were sometimes able to operate in relative anonymity, journalists in the booming satellite television news industry found themselves vulnerable to all manner of militant and criminal groups in Iraq. With their faces broadcast directly into the homes of millions of Iraqis, they quickly became a favored and convenient target for even the most unsophisticated militants in Iraq. Even without the exposure of satellite television Iraqi journalists still found little shelter from the violent chaos of the civil war. Ali is one such case.

On this first anniversary of our brave correspondent Ali Shafeya Al-Moussawi’s passing, we offer you this week’s episode in his memory. Hear the tales of just a handful of the Iraqi journalists fighting every day to report the truth from Baghdad, and in some cases, fighting just to stay alive in Baghdad.

Many Imams chose not to go quietly along with Al-Qa’eda’s and the other militia’s plans, and they often suffered for it. Some were assassinated by Al-Qa’eda, who considered them non-believers or sometimes for being simply uncooperative. Others were killed in US raids on mosques suspected of harboring Al-Qaeda.

There was also another kind of conflict occurring, this one between Sunni and Shiite. Many Sunni mosques were located in heavily Shiite territories and vice versa. Many of these Imams were displaced, or worse, tortured and killed. Most were at the hands of religious extremists for the purpose of sectarian control. Some, however, were targeted out of sheer ignorance.

For instance, the Shiite have a type of mosque known as a “Husseiniya.” A Husseiniya differs from a mosque in that it is made mainly for gatherings for Muharram, the mourning of Hussein ibn Ali, and not necessarily for holding prayers in jumaa’at or regular Friday prayers. This slight difference in attendance was used by many militias as justification for killing those seen as “disobeying” those Friday prayers.

Car bombs, on the other hand, did not discriminate between Sunni or Shiite. Many mosques were closed or destroyed and the imams forced to relocate after spectacular, and deadly, car bomb attacks. For example, a car bomb in Khanaqin, a Sunni district, killed 70 people and injured more than 100, while in the Shiite region of Najaf, a similar attack left 95 dead and many hundreds wounded.

The mosques are thus left between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, it’s often too frightening for Iraqis to go to mosque under threat of car bombs and militia attacks, while on the other hand, Iraqis are used to meeting and gathering at mosques, an integral part of their culture. Because of the constant threat of Al-Qa’eda and militia attacks, Iraqis have sadly become accustomed to the sight of mosques brimming with armored vehicles and heavily armed gunmen there to protect the worshipers.

This week Alive in Baghdad brings you inside one of these mosques to hear what Iraqis have to say regarding the sectarian conflict, Al-Qa’eda attacks, and the struggles they go through daily just to worship.

One of the Iraqi traditions is to play a game called “Mahibs” after the Iftar, or breaking of the fast. The game is based on a hidden ring and the basic idea is to find this ring. Due to the security situation it became difficult to find this game due to the difficulty in previous years of travelling and meeting at night. The prize for the winner of this game is a huge amount of sweets.

Shopping for Ramadan is important, buying fresh vegetables, bread, and other ingredients in order to cook them before the Iftar time. It is an important tradition within Iraqi society, unfortunately shopping became difficult, due to the lack of security and the very meager incomes of many Iraqi families.

Those things are a shared experience between the Sunni and Shia Muslims in Iraq. There are a few differences in traditions and religious details, such as Sunnis begin Iftar exactly when the sunset prayer call starts, while Shi’a begin Iftar when the first stars appear in the skies.

In Sadr City, Ramadan became a very difficult time for families living there. In the past constant raids, military operations and seiges forced people to stay in their homes. It became difficult for those families even to travel to nearby markets in order to purchase simple groceries. Their fasting has become greatly increased, including not only food fasting, it became food, electricity, security, and many other things “fasting.”

However, in 2008, it appears optimism is returning. The streets of Sadr City were full of people this year, as residents travelled to special places for Shi’a such as the Imam Kadhim mosque, or just went to visit long absent family around Baghdad. Alive in Baghdad’s Ali Le’abiy spoke with two Sadr City residents about their experience of Ramadan in 2008.

If you appreciate the insightful content provided by Alive in Baghdad, which you won’t find anywhere else, please consider becoming a paying subscriber, or making a donation to Alive in Baghdad. You can also purchase Alive in Baghdad T-shirts and DVDs to spread the word.

Iraqi citizens have developed new ways to provide electricity to support their daily life. Diesel generators become a common piece of equipment to be seen in any neighborhood. You must open a membership with the generator’s owner and pay 15,000 Iraqi Dinar, approximately $10,for each ampere used per month. Normally an average house in Baghdad will be allowed to take about 10 to 20 ampere per day. This is barely enough to run the family’s fans, refrigerator, and a television. In better circumstances, the diesel generators provide power for 10 hours per day, but many Iraqi families cannot afford this luxury service.

Other Iraqis depend on their own gasoline generators, gasoline is approximately $40 US dollars for a full tank. This tank is enough for approximately 5 operating hours, but even getting the fuel for the generators can be a problem. For example, you must wait in a 4 to 5 hour queue at a gas station. Furthermore, the cost of the generator alone ranges between $500 and $1500.

Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity has repeatedly made statements about the electricity improvements coming soon. However, the Minister of Electricity is considered by many to be one of Iraq’s worst comedians due to large number of statements he’s given about improving the electricity, yet there have been few major improvements in electricity since 2003.

This week Alive in Baghdad brings you various interviews with Iraqis suffering the endless electricity problems in Baghdad.

If you appreciate the insightful content provided by Alive in Baghdad, which you won’t find anywhere else, please consider becoming a paying subscriber, or making a donation to Alive in Baghdad. You can also purchase Alive in Baghdad T-shirts and DVDs to spread the word.

The greatest era of the Iraqi railway was during the 1970s. Iraq imported new trains at that time and developed a new international schedule, with trains leaving Baghdad heading to Damascus, London, Berlin, Paris and other destinations in Europe. Iraqis and people all over the world used to dream of the chance to take a trip in the famous “Orient Express.”

In the 1980s the Orient Express was used intensely by the Ex-Iraq government for military purposes, to transport military equipment for the Iraqi Army during the Iraq-Iran war. The transportation of tanks and other heavy military equipment inflicted severe damages on the railroad tracks. Partly due to this reason, the passenger trains had nearly stopped during that era.

During the 1990s the international sanctions regime prevented Iraq from continuing their international trains and the travel of trains across Iraq’s borders. It was well known that the trains during Saddam’s regime were used for transporting soldiers and construction materials. People used to prefer travelling in their cars rather than the trains, due to the poor service and deteriorating conditions of the Iraqi railway.

When the United States bombing campaign began in 2003, many of the railroad tracks were destroyed, the train stations were looted and many key elements of the locomotives were stolen. The Iron used in constructing the trains provided a valuable commodity encouraging many thieves. Stations such as the Baghdad International Train Station were looted by individuals who stole everything down to the spare parts. That prevented the Iraqi Republic Railways company from fixing many trains and keep them in the stations without any news.

Now the Iraqi Republic Railways company is trying to fix the trains and is working on improving the old Orient Express, hoping the railroads will be modernized and good enough for passengers to use regularly in the near future.

This week our correspondent Nabeel Kamal visited the Iraqi Republic Railways company in Baghdad to see how the progress is going with this old company that is in fact older than Iraq itself.

However, some Sahwa Forces succeeded in protecting their areas while others did not. There have been some rumors spread about cooperation between the Sahwa forces and Al-Qaeda, in some areas of Baghdad. Some Iraqis began to be afraid of the Sahwa Forces due to some accidents happening in Baghdad such as kidnappings and robbery under the Sahwa protection. In some cases the lack of training of Sahwa Forces has also caused problems.

On other hand many Iraqis welcomed the idea of Al-Sahwa; they considered them their sons due to the fact all Sahwa members are living within the same neighborhood where they live. Some of the Sahwa members are relatives or friends of the residents they are responsible for, and it became something common to see the neighbors providing food and greeting the Sahwa soldiers constantly.

The Iraqi government took control over the Sahwa forces recently, that garnered a strong fear among Sahwa members and pushed some of them to leave their work with the Sahwa, due to their belief that the Iraqi Government and Ministry of Interior is controlled by Shia militias. Despite this change, some of them stayed working with the Sahwa although the Iraqi Government technically controls the Sahwa now.

Alive in Baghdad has previously produced shows about the Sahwa forces in Adhamiya, Taji, Hawr Rajab, and now brings you Iraqi opinions on the Sahwa’s progress and its future form.

If you appreciate the insightful content provided by Alive in Baghdad, which you won’t find anywhere else, please consider becoming a paying subscriber, or making a donation to Alive in Baghdad. You can also purchase Alive in Baghdad T-shirts and DVDs to spread the word.

After the invasion the salaries given to university professors were increased, but many felt they were not increased enough to match their efforts. Further, the problem of transportation, the heat in the summer, and the lack of security, forced professors to expend even more money than usual. With the help of some NGOs and the assistance of some professors the Iraqi government created the “University Service Law.” The main purpose of this new law is to support the professors financially and provide them what they deserve as university professor.

The first issue the law fixed, was to increase the compensation university professors receive. The raises ranged between 250 thousand Iraqi Dinar ($200) and 100 thousand Iraqi Dinar (90$) each month. Some professors found these incremental raises to be a joke when compared to the work they do while others believe it to be a good step toward developing the educational system in Iraq.

Amar Al-Ha’arya, a professor at Baghdad University told Alive in Baghdad, “The new law is good and bad at the same time. It’s good because it can show us a light at the end of the tunnel and it’s bad because our salaries are still not enough to make us creative.” The cost of life in Iraq in general is quite expensive compared to the university professors’ income.

Alive in Baghdad brings interviews with some professors commenting on the new law its impact, as well as other issues facing professors today. If you appreciate the insightful content, which you won’t find anywhere else, please consider becoming a paying subscriber, or making a donation to Alive in Baghdad. You can also purchase Alive in Baghdad T-shirts and DVDs to spread the word.

Our sampling was done in a short timeframe and by no means represents a statistically accurate cross-section of the Iraqi public. However, we do feel that you will hear an array of different opinions, and begin to gain a little insight into how the Iraqi public views the American government and electorate, more than five and years after the invasion.

Please leave comments regarding your own views of the presidential candidates, and how you think they will affect the war in Iraq and how they should respond to these and other Iraqi civilians.

If you appreciate the insightful content provided by Alive in Baghdad, which you won’t find anywhere else, please consider becoming a paying subscriber, or making a donation to Alive in Baghdad. You can also purchase Alive in Baghdad T-shirts and DVDs to spread the word.