Iraq 'is not Afghanistan'

BAGHDAD -- If you're in Baghdad and need a new car, Abdul Azeez is the man to see. Or Hakeem Estafa just around the corner. Or any one of several dozen other car dealers in al-Nahada District on the western edge of the city.

Despite a mind-numbing poverty that extends to as much as 90 percent of the people of Iraq, there are enough members of the wealthy class to keep the BMW, Mercedes and Toyota Land Cruiser dealers very comfortable.

If you can only afford a used car, they can make you a deal. Of course, if you happen to be a member of the ruling Baath Party, Saddam Hussein himself can make you a deal you can't refuse.

"Saddam is giving Nissans to every member of his party," a U.N. diplomat said recently. Not that anyone is counting, but that adds up to 1 million vehicles.

An Iraqi official also discussed the giveaway, but described it more as a subsidy, saying, "If you want, for example, a 2003 BMW sedan, which costs $55,000 here, then, because you are a loyal Baath Party member, perhaps a judge or a general, then you will only pay from $5,000 to $10,000 and the government will pay the rest."

On a recent evening tour of Baghdad car dealers and shopping districts, it was easy to see that conditions, despite 12 years of sanctions in the wake of the Gulf War, are improving, even if only slightly.

Streets and storefronts are bathed in light, thanks to electrical plants that now provide 24-hour power. Food, clothing and electronic equipment is everywhere. Kinetic crowds of young men and women crowd the sidewalks. Restaurants and pizza parlors are packed. Theaters show movies from Italy, France and even the United States, although most of them, judging from the billboards outside the theater, appear to be B-grade or worse.

For the more intellectual crowd, there is the Orfali Art Gallery, which has offered exhibits, movies and musical events since 1963. On this night, a CD movie of an opera, "The Tales of Hoffman," was playing on an outdoor screen, while, inside, an Iraqi musician was playing her own compositions on the piano.

Obviously, someone here has money, although it's hard to sort out who that someone is when UNICEF figures show that the average family income is only $15 to $20 a month.

Hakeem Estafa, a car salesman, said he sells from 10 to 12 cars a month, with each car priced from $14,000 to $40,000. Each buyer also needs an import license from the government, which costs another $1,000. Most of the cars are imported directly from the manufacturers in Japan or Germany, through Jordan, then trucked across the desert to Baghdad.

Estafa was vague about who his customers are. "They are rich families and sometimes businessmen, sometimes young men from rich families," he said.

The owners of the car dealerships welcomed strangers, offering tea inside their air-conditioned offices, where wealthy young friends also gather on most nights to talks cars. But they were also eager to talk about the threat of a U.S. attack.

"We think your President Bush wants to come to Iraq because he wants the oil, but, also, he speaks about changing our president," said Mohammed Omar. "I think he will never be able to conquer us. This is not Afghanistan."

Omar, an Iraqi who said he learned English in Egypt, said he thought Bush was feeling emboldened by his success in Afghanistan and thought that Iraq would be another easy target.

"We hope that he comes," Omar said. "We know that he has so much technology, so many weapons, but we are a Muslim people and God is with us."

He added: "America doesn't have anything. Only technology, and technology is never, never better than God."

At the "Abdul Azeez Show" dealership, the owner, Abdul Azeez, said, sanctions or no sanctions, he normally moves 30 to 40 cars a month. But the threat of war has put a crimp in his business.

"Business has been slower recently," said Azeez, 58. "People are keen to have these cars, but they are afraid to spend their money on them at a time when it might be needed for other things."

The car dealers were somewhat apologetic about not having many U.S.-made cars on their lots.

"The people like the German and Japanese cars because they are readily available and there is no problems related to the sanctions," Azeez said.

Azeez said he thought a war between the United States and Iraq would definitely happen, and he would have no choice but to defend his country. But he wasn't afraid of what might happen to his family.