Law of the road crumbles in Baghdad

[dArKeR]

Sergeant Suhail Naji is not having a good day. He has got a whistle in his mouth and is blowing on it for all he's worth, but the yellow and green truck making its way towards him clearly has no intention of stopping. Neither has the taxi coming from the other direction -- nor, for that matter, has the line of traffic arriving at speed from the left.

Before long the intersection on Bab al-Sharqi, one of Baghdad's main thoroughfares, is a stationary mass of vehicles each playing a part in a deafening symphony of tooting horns, screaming drivers and revving engines.

It is a familiar scene in post-Saddam Baghdad. Even by the low standards of other Middle Eastern cities, the traffic in the Iraqi capital is off the scale. Everyone ignores the traffic lights; roundabouts are driven around according to whichever route seems quickest; and the lane markings might as well not exist.

A few blocks away from where Sgt Naji is fighting his losing battle, Rashid Hamid, also a sergeant, has given up and is hiding from the punishing glare of the afternoon sun in a shelter. Next to him sits a white Suzuki motorcycle which he once used to chase traffic offenders. He doesn't bother with that any more.

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=18294

Let's see what kind of spin Woodward, Fineman, Russert, Bush... can put on this one? 'See they have total Democracy and freedom now thanks to the U.S. They can drive with total freedom!'

http://darkerxdarker.tripod.com/

[raifield]

1. Freedom to...drive recklessly

The Iraqis have to "self-govern" themselves into legislating proper transportation protocol.

I definitely think this freedom to speed was worth the billions it cost. When can we get some of that here? I got pulled over yesterday for doing 2mph over.

Sarcasm, of course. How does this impact the hospital infrastructure? Surely people are getting injured.

[monkeyboy]

2. They're obviously Libertarians

Each person unencumbered by rules or laws...