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Iraqi
children are looking forward to celebrating Eid al-Fitr
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BAGHDAD,
December 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Baghdadis are preparing
to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, one of the main Muslim festivals of the
year, convinced that a U.S. strike on the country is inevitable.
“We’ve
just had to get used to it – it’s been two decades now and a whole
generation has grown up knowing nothing but war or the threat of
it,” says Adel, a 42-year-old Arabic calligrapher as he prepared for
the Eid al-Fitr holiday later this week.
“Military
action is inevitable, U.N. inspectors or no U.N. inspectors,” he
says. “The onslaught is going to come.”
But
like most residents of the Iraqi capital, Adel insists he will not
allow the approach of war to spoil the traditional five-day
festivities for the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
“We’re
not in the habit of missing the great feast days of our religion and
in any case it gives us some respite,” he says.
For
his neighbour Haitham Hanna, the holiday is not just an important
tradition, but also the busiest period of the year for his cake-making
business.
His
concern is not so much the fact of war, but its timing - any increase
in war jitters could spark a sharp fall-off in orders from the
provinces, threatening his fragile livelihood.
“We’re
not afraid of a U.S. strike,” he insists, with half an eye on the
fact that he is talking to one of the army of correspondents for the
international media who have descended on the Iraqi capital.
Hanna’s
fears of fresh economic woes are very real in a country which has
already seen the purchasing power of its middle classes decimated by
U.N. sanctions in force since Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Before
the start of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980 ushered in more than two
decades on a constant war footing, the dinar was worth three U.S.
dollars and well-to-do Iraqis were frequent visitors to the department
stores and casinos of European capitals.
But
this week the dinar was changing hands at 2,080 to the dollar, leaving
moneychangers to measure wads, rather than count the depreciated
currency.
“Life
is expensive, it’s true,” says Hikmet Sidli, a 41-year-old civil
servant, who like other public employees has seen his standard of
living plummet.
But
he insists he will not let his family go without as he tours the
capital's Karrada shopping district with his wife and young daughter
looking for new clothes for his family.
“God
willing, our children will have their new clothes and our family will
celebrate Eid al-Fitr as tradition dictates,” he says.
Shopkeepers
say that to their surprise Sidli’s sense of defiance has been shared
by most Baghdadis this year, keeping the tills ringing in the run-up
to the holiday.
Standing
behind a display case of perfumes, Abdelrazaq Hassan, 28, acknowledges
that he had expected sales to fall sharply this Ramadan amid the
mounting war fever.
“But
despite all the rumpus in the media, Iraqis have responded with true
sang froid. Their attitude is, let’s celebrate Eid first and worry
about tomorrow when it comes,” he says.
