We're not winning the war in Iraq?

[Old Fart]

Well let's see the "cut and Run" crowd spin this!
HeraldTribune.com - News - News stories about Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties in Florida, from the newspapers of record. - HeraldTribune.com

Baghdad's fast and furious love cars

Iraqis turn their wheels into hot rods and dream of the next modification

[Old Fart]

OK, fine!
You won't let me copy the page with the pictures I'll just copy the text!
By ASHRAF KHALI
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Published Friday, July 4, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last updated Friday, July 4, 2008 at 6:52 a.m.

BAGHDAD — - Bilal Hussein gazed lovingly at his 1991 Mustang GT convertible. Sure, it already has a skull in a jester's hat stenciled on the hood, but if the sky were the limit, he would add monster tires, a new stereo "and a set of mufflers that shoot out flames."

And his automotive holy grail? Hydraulics to make his car bounce like the ones he sees on TV.
"If only we had the materials here," said Hussein, a 26-year-old ambulance driver.
Seif Eddin Abdel Nasser, 22, has more modest dreams for his 1993 red Ford Probe with yellow racing stripes and "Fright Night" stenciled on the rear window.
"I just want to be able to drive it all over Baghdad," he said.
Abdel Nasser, who works as a security guard for the Baghdad bureau of a Western television news station, feels safe driving only in the fairly quiet, upscale districts of Karada and Jadriya.
"I never go near Palestine Street, Yarmouk, Beirut Square" or other dodgy districts, he said.
These are conflicted times for Baghdad's tightknit community of car-heads. The fall of Saddam Hussein has enabled them to create their dream rides like never before. Saddam's notorious son Uday and his cronies controlled all car imports into Iraq. Uday was also a car freak known for on-the-spot confiscations of any vehicle that caught his fancy.
The end of the Saddam era opened Iraq's borders to an unrestrained flow of new and used cars, along with exotic parts and Western car magazines. The MTV show "Pimp My Ride" is now a popular feature on Arabic satellite television; Bilal Hussein, the Mustang driver who dreams of flaming mufflers, is a big fan.
But the dictator's ouster also unleashed an era of Baghdad lawlessness that makes owning a head-turning ride a dangerous hobby. In addition to the threat from roving gangs of opportunistic carjackers, there are armed fundamentalists, both Sunni and Shiite, who might view an overly showy car as sinfully extravagant.
"We have the Mahdi Army on one side, al-Qaida on the other side, thieves everywhere, and we're caught in the middle," said Hussein, who also sticks to safer streets.
The dangers of the Baghdad streets do not seem to discourage Adnan Ghulan, 27, who, along with his 28-year-old brother, Hisham, runs an auto repair shop that is one of the anchors of the city's car culture.
Hussein and Abdel Nasser are regular visitors. Abdel Nasser often brings in pages from one of his favorite car magazines with suggested designs or modifications for his Probe.
The Ghulan brothers, ethnic Kurds who lived in Jordan for several years and returned to Iraq after Saddam's fall, have owned a succession of hot rods that they describe in loving detail.
"I want to have a car that makes people turn their heads as I drive by," said Adnan Ghulan.
Their current pride and joy -- a white 1987 BMW M3 with front and rear spoilers, broad blue and red stripes, and a red eagle on the door -- certainly turns heads. They bought it from a man who put the car in storage for years after being chased by Uday Hussein's thugs one night. Inside, the detailing is even more over the top -- red and yellow leather everywhere, dragons on the floorboards and a set of stereo speakers that take up most of the back seat.
"We're not finished yet," said Hisham Ghulan, who would not expand on his planned modifications and was reluctant to let his ride be photographed before he was done.
Abu Moustafa, owner of a venerable central Baghdad auto accessories store, has watched the trends with bemusement. In business since the 1980s, he used to deal in such practical needs as seat cushions, brake pedals and mirrors. After Saddam's ouster, demand increased for stenciled designs on car doors -- mostly religious slogans or Iraqi flags. But in the past year, he said, the requests have become more flamboyant. Customers want stylized lettering, nonsensical slogans in English and the occasional wild animal.
"One guy requested a large dragon," said Abu Moustafa, who has a sign on the wall pleading, "Please ... PLEASE no talking about religion or politics."
Besides eye-catching details, Iraq's resurgent gearheads want speed. Adnan Ghulan boasts of getting up to 150 mph on the highways, but he frowns on urban street-racing as irresponsible. He acknowledges that his taste in autos makes him a target for carjacking or worse.
But he is confident in his ability to outrun and outmaneuver any threats.
He speaks from experience. Once, while driving from Amman, Jordan, at night, he was chased by a carload of gunmen outside the city of Ramadi, a former insurgent stronghold. He cut his lights and floored it to Baghdad, never touching his brakes for fear the lights would give him away.
About 18 months ago, he and a friend were stuck in Baghdad traffic when a car pulled alongside and four armed men emerged and ordered them out of the car. Against Ghulan's advice, his friend got out. But when the driver of the armed group's car left his vehicle, Ghulan hit the gas, jumped the median and took off at top speed against incoming traffic.
His friend was left behind and received a beating.
But in the Wild West of modern-day Iraq, even carjackers need to watch their step. Hisham Ghulan and Abdel Nasser recently eluded would-be thieves with the same trick of jumping the median and escaping against traffic.
"We went home and got weapons and came back to look for them," Hisham Ghulan said, "but they were gone."

You just can't get more "American" than being a "Hot Rodder"
And if you mess with thes guy's cars, they will go home an get an AK-47 an come looking for you.

[daniels116]

hope they enjoy their freedom now that they have a little

[Old Fart]

Originally Posted by daniels116

hope they enjoy their freedom now that they have a little

My Troop pals in Iraq tell me about a lot of things that's going on over there that never makes the press.
I'm amazed to see this story show up in the LA Times.

[Old Fart]

This little story in it's self is nothing but a "human interest story" printed on a slow news day.
Or so the Libs that are dying for us to fail in Iraq will try to "spin" it. But what it is, is an indicator of the westernization of Iraq. One little story among what is likely many such stories that has some how managed squeak into the liberal American press. I've heard many such stories from the troops over there that I communicate with. Not stories about cars but stories of merchants that can now sell goods to the general public that are banned in strict Muslim cultures or were restricted to Saddam's elite friends during his corrupt reign.
This said, we shouldn't get our hopes up. Even after our best efforts and all the blood and treasure we have invested over there, Iraq will never be anything more than an Islamic Theocracy. Such is the nature of "Islam", there is no such thing as "Separation of Church and State", the church IS the state.
The kids in the article mention that they "walk a thin line" between the strict customs of their religion and the Jihadi fanatics but WE have created that thin line of FREEDOM and that's what it was all about in the first place.
We have already "won" in Iraq.

[Woodmonkey]

This is a great article.

[Old Fart]

This story didn't make it to the left wing media like the last one did. 2 good news stories in a week would probably be too much to take.
Gateway Pundit: After 5 Years Music Returns to al Kut, Iraq
And since it was only posted on a right wing site, it's probably just "Neo-Con" propaganda anyway, right?