Shakira + Samir = true?
While working on a new book about Iraq, I came across this image, taken by a family, only a few months ago in Baghdad. This is, let's call him 'Samir', in his bedroom. His niece told me that Samir loves to listen to Western music. Shakira is his number one favourite.
Posters of Jennifer Lopez, Angelina Jolie, Britney Spears and Shakira are tacked to Samir's bedroom wall in Baghdad, Iraq in this family photograph.
Samir never leaves his parents’ house; he always stays in, most of the time in his room. No one leaves their house in Iraq, unless it is really necessary. Abduction, roadside- or suicide bombs, car accidents, robbery, torture and murder are daily occurrences. The kidnapping business is booming. A year ago, a ransom of between $8,000 and $180,000 was good enough to get your son or father back alive. Today, people pay that amount of money just to collect the body. Areas, villages and regions are ethnically cleansed, a term politicians do not like to use. Showing sympathy for Shakira will not be appreciated by any radical sectarian militia, the mujahedeen or al-Qaeda. Anyone who shows sympathy for America is a target of their rage.
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