The curtain falls on Baghdad movie theatres

[Barrett808]

The curtain falls on Baghdad movie theatres
by Karim Sahib

BAGHDAD (AFP) - There was a huge queue this week outside the Firdoos Cinema in central Baghdad, with a line of cars snaking back down Sadun Street in the relentless heat of an Iraqi summer day.

Unfortunately, the drivers were not waiting to buy tickets for a new box-office hit, but to fill their tanks at an adjacent petrol station lucky enough to have secured a small stock of fuel despite a city-wide shortage.

The entrance to the once thriving movie theatre has filled up with drifting piles of refuse, a testament to the demise of what was once Baghdad's most popular form of night-time entertainment.

...


It is the same story at the nearby Babel Cinema, where caretaker Salem Hassan gazed sadly at the dusty panes of glass and the fading posters advertising long-forgotten films.

"At least 30 families used to make their living from the tickets sold at this window," he said. "But now the owner has fled the country in fear of his life. The theatre is no more a place of entertainment. It is haunted."

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060827/wl_mideast_afp/afplifestyleiraqcinema

[Chipper Chat]

1. A cinematic metaphor for the whole country.

Or what used to be a country. Or what never was a country.

[grytpype]

2. Who cares, Hollywood hasn't had a hit in years anyway.

We should threaten to show Rob Schneider movies 24/7 on every screen in Baghdad. That would bring the insurgency to its knees!

[NJCher]

3. Great

Big hulking SUVs in this country can cruise right in and fill their tanks but a country with some of the largest oil reserves in the world has its citizens standing on line to get gasoline.

That's bushworld for you.




Cher

[eccles12]

4. Baghdad and Beirut....what a waste. What babarism. What war crimes. nt

[struggle4progress]

5. Car bombs and shootings kill 55 in Iraq

27 Aug 2006 18:50:39 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Ross Colvin

BAGHDAD, Aug 27 (Reuters) - A spate of car bombings and shootings across Iraq killed at least 55 people on Sunday, but Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said violence was on the decrease and that the country would never slide into a civil war ...

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/COL763097.htm

[ShockediSay]

6. this was all predicted by the bloggers under the heading>let the inspect-

let the inspections work

[Rose Siding]

7. Americans are dying for this crap.

If I can see the tragedy in the disappearance of their former freedoms, how must Iraqis feel?