Life in Iraq

Even though I ought to know better, my mental picture of a typical Iraqi life is just a copy of my mental picture of Afghani life - total poverty, lots of veils and mullahs, dirt floors, that sort of thing. This article, as well as the recent story about Iraqi food distribution network offhandedly gives a peak into life in Iraq. It’s a real country with a real economy, it’s not suffering from back-breaking poverty, and people go about their lives every day just like everywhere else.

Playing along, the Westernized middle and upper classes took advantage of expanded opportunities and prospered during the oil boom in the late '70s. Their success exceeded all expectations, despite the restrictions of the command economy. In 1968, Iraq had fifty-three millionaire families; there were 800 such households in 1980, and some 3,000 by 1989. Salaried employees and property owners became powerful social forces. They did not owe their prosperity to a free market system; rather, they were dependent on government employment and contracts.

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