IRAQ: The face of Baghdad' has changed after years of war and violence

Baghdad, once Iraq's beautiful centre of culture and art along the river Tigris, has changed its face. Today burnt-out buildings and roadblocks define the city. Baghdad is a city, whose life is defined by the slow current of the river Tigris, which divides the city into two halves, but at the same time joins them together. The Tigris is the city's smile; when the smile fades, cities die. Even the most bustling metropolis is forgotten when a river dries up. Before the fall, Baghdad was an attractive city with its historical and famous streets like that of al-Rashid and also the ancient School of Al-Mustasnsiriya on the east Bank of the Tigris River and its popular Cafés where poets and intellectuals sat down to discuss cultural and political life. Al-Rashid Street is a modern addition to Baghdad, that swiftly emerged as the uncontested attraction in the city, for its modern shops and cafés eclipsing those of the old districts of Baghdad. The street resonates with the lingering memories of the early 20th century. It has the poised sadness of golden times, life having gradually moved on to Al-Saadoun Street, linked up with the East Karrada markets. These days people find it risky to go anywhere. Baghdad's famous al-Rashid Street, the commercial heart of the city Baghdad under British rule, is now a dangerous slum, a scene of frequent clashes between militia and Iraqi forces and a scene of car bomb attacks. Baghdad, according to many residents, is dying. Its special magic, the fact that gave the city its peculiar allure is gone. "Baghdad is now is a large wound in the heart of every Iraqi. A large wound in the heart of every honest man in this world after it has lost all its genuine features. Its features, which were a stream of love and beauty for the hearts," says Iraqi actress Ibtisam Fareed. Baghdad, a city of 7 million, has been religiously mixed for most of its history since it was founded some 1,200 years ago on the banks of the Tigris River by Abbasid Caliph al-Mansour. Its dozen bridges linking the east side with the west side were once a symbol of Baghdad's diversity, where Shi'ites, Sunni Arabs, ethnic Kurds and Christians lived together. Over the past three years, the face of the city has changed. This vast city has been split into a dozen cities, each one of which is becoming a heavily armed Shia or Sunni stronghold. The streets are now a picture of urban decay. Many of the two- and three-story structures are literally crumbling. Shutters hang from their hinges, balconies are littered with cardboard boxes. Even the statue of Baghdad's founder the Abbasid Caliph Abu Jaafar al-Mansour couldn't escape damage. A powerful blast demolished the statue in 2005 . Baghdad's neighbourhoods, now torn along sectarian lines, are plagued by increasingly violent militias making it too risky for any one to move around. "I have not got around Baghdad for a long time and this hurts me and evokes my pain. We used to wander around Baghdad day and night. Baghdad was open to the world and Arab and foreign guests, but now one thinks hundred times before going from one place to another," says Kadhim al-Nassar, head of the Iraqi National Acting Troupe. Baghdad is still full of burnt-out government buildings. The centre of the Iraqi capital remains scarred by the ruins of government ministries, defence facilities, and presidential palaces that were reduced to rubble. But in their shadows, a new Baghdad is slowly emerging, a city whose nearly six million residents are carefully probing and exploring life. "Honestly, Baghdad was a beautiful city before the fall. Baghdad was elegant with its date pal-trees, trees and its historical buildings and streets such as Al-Rashid Street and Al-Saadoun Street, the main street of the city and other famous streets. Now Baghdad has turned into a graveyard for the living. Baghdad now is a city of ghosts," said Jum'a al-Rubei, an environmental activist. The city is now a maze of high blast walls and roadblocks erected around hotels and government offices to fend off attacks by suicide car bombs and suicide bombers. Almost all of its streets bears the brunt of the attacks, the most recent was was a devastated suicide car bomb in the city's upscale neighbourhood of Mansour that ravaged its well known ice-cream parlour of al-Rewad, killing at least 30 people and wounded more than 50.

ITN Source | August 3, 2007

Tags:. .torn. .shiites. .wander. .shia. .forgotten