Uruklink

The traditional olive oil soap mostly known as Aleppo Soap, has a famous reputation. It is lesser known that the traditional formula with pure olive, which plays a major role in the Iraqui cuisine indeed, and laurel oils, water and soda extracted from sea salt is not only a Syrian one but is the traditonal way to make soap in many countries of the Middle East and also Iraq. The well known Marseille soap is also comparable.

The mixture oil, water and soda is heated in big cauldrons for at least three days and is then poured onto the ground to cool and solidify. Then the soap bars are cut with a special rake-like utensil. The bars are then stacked into columns to dry and mature in the open air for a at least six, sometimes up to nine months. During this stage the colour of the drying olive oil soap will change from green to turquoise blue to its final visual nature, a reddish-brown hue.

Traditional soap making can still be found all over rural Iraqi villages like Bizayez Abu Hallan, Al Harooja and others.

War is tough and soldiers need any support possible to get through this life-changing, often life-ending experience. To give soldiers a feeling of home, the states open up fast food restaurants in war zones and famous people visit to boost soldiers’ morale and give them a chance to escape reality for a while.

Even Marilyn Monroe travelled to Korea to support the troops, the pictures are famous worldwide. Sending a standup-comic to Iraq seems to fit the tradition, but completely expended the original purpose.

The war in Iraq killed thousands of people, brought depression and fear to the population and destroyed social, cultural and economic stability. The many widows are not likely to remarry.

Even in Western Countries women who are soldiers are rather rare. The lives lost in the battle belong to men and the country of Iraq consequently counts almost one million widows. Most of them lost their husband during the last nine years of fighting. The huge gender imbalance changed society severely, leaving many Iraqi families without the breadwinner.

The pen is mightier than the sword, but when writing about the war, who is the better record keeper? The veteran who replaced the gun with a pen or the professional writer with an objective and distant perception?

Watching Kathryn Bigelows ‘The Hurt Locker’ which is based on a screenplay by Mark Boal (who won an Oscar for the script), makes you wonder how to truly capture war as a writer. Boals curriculum vitae reveals he is a non-veteran, but went to Iraq for research, giving him the experience needed to turn his writing into an intensive and realistic portrayal of the incidents on location. But does the military agree as well? Is it more important to be a writer or a veteran? Who does the better job? And what is a good job in war reporting anyway?

PTSD is nothing new but has only recently come to public attention. The brain’s ways to deal with the horrific experiences of war continue long after the individual has returned to a ‘normal’ life.

It is not about weakness, nor is it an invention of the 21st century. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – not exclusively tied to war – has been with humanity for centuries.

It can be a good thing when kid’s play imitates society. But in the case of war toys like tanks, knives and guns, it is a rather disturbing outlook on propagating violence even in early age.

There have been many problems with the selling of toy guns in Iraq recently. First and foremost it seems to be a dangerous gateway to see violence not only as a daily occurrence but as an actually joyful past time.

If we think of kebab, we usually think of meat slowly grilled on a skewer, sliced into small pieces and then served in bread with salad and sauces. But the original is a little different from our beloved street food.

Originally, it was called „kabab“ and it comes quite possibly from a shortage of cooking fuel therefore selling and preparing meat in small pieces so it would cook faster. The name is supposed to be of Persian origins and refers to ancient soldiers that roasted their food on their swords over open fires.

Destruction and reconstruction, beauty and chaos combine in Reem Alsadi’s fashion collections that are nothing short of amazing. Her new collection „Twisted Oliver“ plays with Charles Dickens famous character and dark fairy tale elements.

Reem Alasadi lives in London but was born in Iraq. Right now she has her own label called REEM and she works with old, vintage materials that she fuses into new collections. There is – aside from the economical aspect – a certain worldview behind, to take something old and interpret it into something new.

A derogatory term for soldiers that never really leave their Forward Operating base is the title of David Abrams biting novel about a weirdly dissonant haven amidst the Iraqi war.

A ‘Fobbit’ is a soldier that is spending all his time overseas at the Forward Operation Base (FOB) and therefore never really leaves the safe compounds to fight.

The FOB is the suburban version of every military base, a place where chain restaurants, desk jobs and idling around thrive.

Fobbit: David Abrams invents his experiences new

David Abrams was a Fobbit himself, he admits, not really knowing that he was called like that but fully aware that he was in the comfort zone of the Iraq war.

He worked for the press and public department and adapted news about causalities, suicide bombs and death into media-friendly bite-sized pieces.

In his novel, it therefore is no surprise when his protagonist Staff Sgt. Chance Gooding Jr. is equally involved in public affairs.

As the American troops also brought part of their culture – including pop music and Hollywood movies – they also brought a new ideal in beauty that took off since then.

And suddenly, the surge of images from America influence a culture that used to be rather subtle about looks. But since the war, as the demand for plastic surgery has risen and the costs lowered, surgery is a new trend.