Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: ZetaNine on June 23, 2008, 04:53:15 PM
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hey Murtha & Harry Reid........kiss my ***
Elias Khalaf's cracked grin may have saved his life. The portly, balding liquor-store owner was kidnapped five months ago by fundamentalists who held him prisoner in a brick factory for five days until he convinced them he couldn't raise the ransom they demanded. "If I had any money," he asked his jailers, "don't you think I'd fix my teeth?" As soon as he was released, he shut down his shop in Baghdad—the last of nine liquor stores he'd once owned throughout Iraq, from Mosul in the north to the southern Shiite religious heartland.
Khalaf is now thinking of starting up again. He stands and watches the steady stream of customers into and out of Jaguar, a liquor shop owned by a friend of his near the Green Zone. The floor-to-ceiling shelves are kept stocked with Johnnie Walker, Chivas Regal and a mysterious clear liquid in bottles plastered with the Hertz logo. Until a few months ago, buyers often had the storekeeper disguise their purchases, pouring their whisky into soft-drink bottles before venturing back to the street. Now the trade is brisk and wide open. It's fueling Khalaf's dreams of getting back in the business, maybe even opening a casino—one of those dimly lit rooms where Iraqi men sip drinks while playing cards or backgammon.
Iraqis aren't merely boozing it up. Men are shaving their beards; women are wearing jeans and taking off their headscarves; couples are holding hands in public. Musicians and DJs feel safe to take more gigs at weddings and parties. In the grassy riverside parks alongside Baghdad's Abi Nawas Street, young couples sit close on the new sod. Amin Hussein, 21, flips and spins, showing off some moves from the Brazilian martial arts he was forbidden from teaching in his neighborhood until a few months ago. ("This is an Islamic country," militia enforcers warned him.) Hussein, a fan of rapper Snoop Dogg, says he's hopeful about the future: "Now the liberals are stronger." Other entertainers have their own devotees—"Shakira good!" declares 19-year-old Mohammed Mizo, who says he gets heckled less for his spiky hair.
So far, most of the inhibition shedding is confined to a few urban areas—Iraq hasn't suddenly morphed into Dubai. But to Iraqis old enough to remember, the changed atmosphere brings to mind a way of life that seemed gone forever after five years of war. Baghdad has been a place of wine and song as far back as the "Thousand and One Nights." In the early 1900s the city was celebrated for its eclectic culture and was home to a vibrant mix of Jews, Christians and Muslims. Even under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, state channels regularly ran Hollywood movies with Arabic subtitles. Hotels throbbed with pop bands and DJs, and Sinatra songs floated above the Tigris from parties on the water's edge. In his last years the beleaguered Saddam tried to co-opt the Islamists, adding the words "God Is Great" to the Iraqi flag in a nod to their rising strength throughout the Middle East. But even then the oppressed Shiites were prohibited from holding religious processions, and Sunni extremists were held in check by the secret police.
Saddam's removal unleashed a storm of violent religious intolerance, but government offensives have, for now, slowed the militias. Alaa Gati, 28, resumed work as a barber four months ago. He closed his Baghdad shop in late 2006 after a stranger phoned and warned: "Our swords are sharper than your razors." Several of his colleagues had already been killed. But once again he has a steady procession of customers who want their chins shaved smooth, no matter what the fundamentalists say. Umm Hiba, a hairdresser in the upscale Mansour district, closed her salon in March 2006 after a group of gunmen stopped by and threatened to demolish the place. This January she finally felt safe enough to reopen, and since then she says business keeps getting better. Women want to look beautiful again, she says.
Iraqi politicians are cautiously adjusting to the shifting mood. In Basra, still dominated by Shiite religious parties, provincial leaders have abandoned an effort to ban alcohol. Booze salesmen in Baghdad say bureaucrats have made it easier to renew liquor licenses, and new bars have been allowed to open. Iraqis blame the government for rampant corruption and the lack of electricity and water—and that means they blame the religious parties that are in charge. "This has led the Iraqi people to lose their trust in these parties," says Khalaf al-Ulayyan, a secular-leaning Sunni parliamentarian. "And to lose their trust in religion as well."
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Let's hope that Marine Light Col. does sue Murtha. Gonna love it. :aok
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Let's hope that Marine Light Col. does sue Murtha. Gonna love it. :aok
looks like they are finishing up their discovery, and they will be going after that fat slob.... I'll love it as well.
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I sure hope there isn't a God, because if there is, the U.S. is going to suffer a massive retribution for causing this bloodbath in Iraq.
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I sure hope there isn't a God, because if there is, the U.S. is going to suffer a massive retribution for causing this bloodbath in Iraq.
my glasses are in the other room....did you say causing or ending?
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Who HE pours his wrath out upon kind of depends on whose side HE is on...don't ya think? Which bloodbath are you accusing the U.S. of starting: the one in which Saddam killed over half a million of his own countrymen, or the one in which radical Muslim fundamentalists and terrorists blew up innocent women, children, and shopowners?
Or could it possibly the "bloodbath" of dead civilians the seven marines were maliciously accused of by that fat political shil Murtha?
Which do you think HE is going to be most upset about?
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I've seen god and he is Anthropomorphic.
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I sure hope there isn't a God, because if there is, the U.S. is going to suffer a massive retribution for causing this bloodbath in Iraq.
....says the Resident Troll/OH NOES!!!/zOMFG!!/Devil's Advocate of the BBS.
Get a new act/canoe.
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4- Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users and HTC. Flaming or abusing users is not tolerated.
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I've seen god and he is Anthropomorphic.
wouldn't that be "it", rather than "he", then? ;)
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Who HE pours his wrath out upon kind of depends on whose side HE is on...don't ya think? Which bloodbath are you accusing the U.S. of starting: the one in which Saddam killed over half a million of his own countrymen, or the one in which radical Muslim fundamentalists and terrorists blew up innocent women, children, and shopowners?
Or could it possibly the "bloodbath" of dead civilians the seven marines were maliciously accused of by that fat political shil Murtha?
Which do you think HE is going to be most upset about?
How about the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed in the civil war we started?
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Murtha was wrong, and I'm glad he was. Doesn't change the fact that attacking Iraq was idiotic and had NOTHING to do with the attacks on 9/11. Where the heck is Osama Bin Laden? Maybe we shoulda surged in Afghanistan.
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4- Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users and HTC. Flaming or abusing users is not tolerated.
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Murtha was wrong, and I'm glad he was. Doesn't change the fact that attacking Iraq was idiotic and had NOTHING to do with the attacks on 9/11. Where the heck is Osama Bin Laden? Maybe we shoulda surged in Afghanistan.
I view iraq as a battle.........in a much larger global war. I also think Iran is one of the reasons we are in iraq....and will stay there.
just a few years ago......we were entering into leases to retain bases in that area of the world.....it's about time we establish permanent forward bases there. I just don't think it would have been wise for bush to admit that back then.
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4- Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users and HTC. Flaming or abusing users is not tolerated.
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4- Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users and HTC. Flaming or abusing users is not tolerated.
5- Flamebaiting, trolling, or posting to incite or annoy is not allowed.
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weak
Kinda like your ignorant interpretation of my post. It's to be expected though.
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or how about the 500,000 people we have killed in iraq, oh but thats ok right, because they attacked us.
ya and im a "free" American. that has to pay for roads i already own, and pay two and three times over for whatever i buy, and then every year have to pay for it again, and im told its a "privilege" to drive on roads that are ours, and im told i cant put into MY body any type of drug that i choose, only the ones THEY say i can use, than i can drink all the booze i want but dont drink and drive, but make sure you stop by our STATE liqueur store on the HIGHWAY.
the list of bullchit this "government" throws down the peoples neck is mind boggling. whats even worse is most of the people swallow it no problem.
what the f@#k is wrong with this, let me guess most of you are like, oh there is nothing wrong with this, dont like it here move, our government is good and only wants whats best for its people.
hey as long as i got my big screen TV, fancy car, i am happy.
simply astounding
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or how about the 500,000 people we have killed in iraq, oh but thats ok right, because they attacked us.
ya and im a "free" American. that has to pay for roads i already own, and pay two and three times over for whatever i buy, and then every year have to pay for it again, and im told its a "privilege" to drive on roads that are ours, and im told i cant put into MY body any type of drug that i choose, only the ones THEY say i can use, than i can drink all the booze i want but dont drink and drive, but make sure you stop by our STATE liqueur store on the HIGHWAY.
the list of bullchit this "government" throws down the peoples neck is mind boggling. whats even worse is most of the people swallow it no problem.
what the f@#k is wrong with this, let me guess most of you are like, oh there is nothing wrong with this, dont like it here move, our government is good and only wants whats best for its people.
hey as long as i got my big screen TV, fancy car, i am happy.
simply astounding
and yet you choose to continue to live in the USA? why?
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4- Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users and HTC. Flaming or abusing users is not tolerated.
5- Flamebaiting, trolling, or posting to incite or annoy is not allowed.
-
4- Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users and HTC. Flaming or abusing users is not tolerated.
5- Flamebaiting, trolling, or posting to incite or annoy is not allowed.
-
or how about the 500,000 people we have killed in iraq, oh but thats ok right, because they attacked us.
ya and im a "free" American. that has to pay for roads i already own, and pay two and three times over for whatever i buy, and then every year have to pay for it again, and im told its a "privilege" to drive on roads that are ours, and im told i cant put into MY body any type of drug that i choose, only the ones THEY say i can use, than i can drink all the booze i want but dont drink and drive, but make sure you stop by our STATE liqueur store on the HIGHWAY.
the list of bullchit this "government" throws down the peoples neck is mind boggling. whats even worse is most of the people swallow it no problem.
what the f@#k is wrong with this, let me guess most of you are like, oh there is nothing wrong with this, dont like it here move, our government is good and only wants whats best for its people.
hey as long as i got my big screen TV, fancy car, i am happy.
simply astounding
Actually, I believe the "insurgents" have killed more Iraqi's, than all troops stationed there combined. I don't have a big screen TV, fancy car either.
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Who cares about the Iraqis? What I want to know is if Masherbrum's wife is a good dancer or not.
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Who cares about the Iraqis? What I want to know is if Masherbrum's wife is a good dancer or not.
:rofl
I had the over/under at about 6 more posts before this one was brought up.
<<S>> Carrel.
She's pretty damn good.