Baghdad Rebirth Slightly Fishy

One can’t help but welcome the bright, well-illustrated reports — arriving yesterday in both the NYT and Newsweek — of normalcy returning to Baghdad.  (Apparently, the fish restaurants along the Tigris are helping lead the way.) 

Still, I hope you won’t mind my sarcasm.  Both reports largely attribute the calm to the ethnic cleansing and physical partitioning that now distinguishes many city neighborhoods.  If Baghdad can be brought back to life — still a substantial “if” at this point — similarity to its previous self is likely to be more in name only.

(revised 11:30 PST)



(Joao Silva for The New York Times.  November 2007.  Baghdad. via nytimes.com)