Iraqi minister incensed by airport display bans alcohol

[Eugene]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1543145,00.html

Iraqi minister incensed by airport display bans alcohol

Michael Howard in Baghdad
Friday August 5, 2005
The Guardian

The Iraqi transport minister has issued an order banning alcohol at
Baghdad International Airport after apparently becoming incensed at
the bottles of drink and women's perfume on the shelves of the duty
free shop.

The ban, forbidding the sale, consumption or advertising of alcohol,
was issued by minister Salam al Maliki and comes amid escalating
concerns among secular and non-Muslim Iraqis about the creeping
Islamisation of the country under the Shia-dominated government.

An airport official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "He
told the head of the airport, Emad Dawood, to remove the bottles and
if he didn't, then he would personally come back and smash them all."

The minister reportedly justified his ban by saying that Iraq was an
Islamic country and that "it would give a bad and wrong first
impression to visitors".

more...

"I hope we are not becoming Iran"

[madeline_con]

1. Brings back memories....

of leaving Dhahran in the 70's. As soon as the plane was airborne, they couldn't get the booze cart to 1st class fast enough!

Off came the veils, and the booze flowed on into the night.

It gave me a "bad and wrong first impression" of that "DRY" desert kingdom. :rofl:

[Must_B_Free]

3. My high school friends from saudi arabia

said that many people secretly drank booze from coffee cups to disguise the contents and also secretly cooked and ate bacon in their homes.

[madeline_con]

10. Everyone had a still....

to make their own liquor. There was a major alcohol problem among the Saudis. The teens stayed wasted most of the time, between the 120 prof and the hash.

You had to buy bacon, and products containing pork, at the pork store. I'm sure there was quite the black market for it.

I used to serve bacon to my husband's Arab friends on Friday mornings. ;)

[onager]

5. Heh! Madeline, it was the same leaving Jeddah...

...in the late 80's/early 90's.

:hi:

Air France flights going to Paris were a particular hoot. At boarding you saw all these dour Saudi couples in full Islamic drag--men in thobes and ghuttras, women in abayas.

Soon as that plane cleared Saudi airspace, all the bathrooms were jammed. Then the men came out wearing Armani suits and the women were dolled up in French designer originals.

And as you noted, the drink cart received copious attention until we touched down at CDG.

BTW, I'm writing this from Alexandria, Egypt, where I've been working for the past month. Earlier this year I was in Cairo for a month. A MUCH nicer country to be in!

If some bureaucrat tried to shut down alcohol in Cairo's Duty-Free Shop, he'd probably be reassigned as a street cleaner in about 30 seconds.

[madeline_con]

11. Funny! I never made it to the West Coast....

but my ex is quite the bigwig over there now.

I'll leave it at that for security reasons, you understand. ;)

Are you an oil brat or ARAMCON, too?


:hi:

[Cronus Protagonist]

2. Uh Oh - looks like we'll have to invade again

/sarcasm

BTW - to George: great job on bringing "freedom" to Iraqis, George... and where ARE these WMD anyway? Oh, and while we're at it, what was that whole thing about "spreading democracy"? Did we forget all about it already, Georgeie pie?

http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13
Buttons for brainy people - educate your local freepers today!

[saigon68]

4. "FREEDOM IS ON THE MARCH"

No booze for you "WHITE BOY"

[ChrisK]

6. The..um.."bad and wrong first impression" isn't alcohol..

It's the death,lack of clean water or electiry, lawlessness...but hey, thats just my opinion.

One day the leaders of countries that use religion to justifly some out-of-date ideal like the banning of choice will be dragged into the next few centuries kicking and screaming...and man will it hurt.

[bluedonkey]

7. Ahem...Ahem

It's the death,lack of clean water or electiry, lawlessness...

The US is responsible for all the death and destruction and the lawlessness.Iraq uses to have clean water and 24/7 electricity.

[ChrisK]

8. Very true

I was more referring to the current status in this poor country.

Iraq was once a very beautiful country, rich in history and culture..still is, but with all the destruction going on there now thanks to greedy people like Bush its a shell of it's former self.

[BiggJawn]

9. Wasn't booze allowed under So-dumb Insane?

Yeah, "Freedom's on the March(tm)"