Dinner With Two Guys From Baghdad
On a business trip to Chicago. Tonight I had dinner with three guys. Coincidentally, two of them had lived in Baghdad in their youth. One from India, one from all over the Middle East. Smart guys. American embassy schools. Great colleges. Both speak multiple languages including Arabic. One Hindu, the other Muslim. Articulate. Knowledgeable about history. I can't recite the progression of Iraqi leaders since the King was killed in the early 60's, but both of them did, using names I've never heard.
I listened to their tales about what a wonderful city it was. I listened to them talk about the artificial lines that were drawn by the West despite tribal differences. I listened to how the Kurds have been screwed for years. I listened to how the Sunnis and Shia lived together in harmony at one time. I heard about how Jews and Arabs lived together for hundreds of years. That the the first finance minister of Iraq was Jewish. But all the Jews were kicked out when Israel was established.
We had fun. Good beer and good food. A posh, yuppie-filled restaurant in suburban Chicago. What do I know? They talked about folly. Distain for our President. The foolishness. The naivity. The sensless deaths. What the Mansur District of Baghdad was like in the 80's, and how today it's one of the most dangerous area. How his best friends were both Sunni and Shia and how they got along, but now how they probably hate each other. He can't reach either one of them. How his mother left Palestine right after the 1967 six day war, his father before it.
An otherwise-normal business dinner, but withtwo who have deeper perspective than I ever will have. Two well-educated former Baghdad residents who have no idea what we are doing there. Not your normal business dinner. The yuppies surrounding us drank expensive drinks and watched the Cubs game on TV.
I listened to their tales about what a wonderful city it was. I listened to them talk about the artificial lines that were drawn by the West despite tribal differences. I listened to how the Kurds have been screwed for years. I listened to how the Sunnis and Shia lived together in harmony at one time. I heard about how Jews and Arabs lived together for hundreds of years. That the the first finance minister of Iraq was Jewish. But all the Jews were kicked out when Israel was established.
We had fun. Good beer and good food. A posh, yuppie-filled restaurant in suburban Chicago. What do I know? They talked about folly. Distain for our President. The foolishness. The naivity. The sensless deaths. What the Mansur District of Baghdad was like in the 80's, and how today it's one of the most dangerous area. How his best friends were both Sunni and Shia and how they got along, but now how they probably hate each other. He can't reach either one of them. How his mother left Palestine right after the 1967 six day war, his father before it.
An otherwise-normal business dinner, but withtwo who have deeper perspective than I ever will have. Two well-educated former Baghdad residents who have no idea what we are doing there. Not your normal business dinner. The yuppies surrounding us drank expensive drinks and watched the Cubs game on TV.
posted by Ed Stalling at 11:28 PM
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