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.

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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.

A blonde stand-up-comic in Iraq

Jennifer Rawlings is a skinny and pretty person, she has long blond hair and certainly makes soldiers forget some of the terrible stories they know just by looking at her. But Jennifer didn’t travel to war zones to look pretty, she is a comic stand up and a writer, initially entertaining soldiers, but with growing experience bringing the world “over there” back to the USA. The L.A. based mother of five likes adventures. Her father served in the Army for two years, that is all she knew when someone aksed her to perform in Europe on a military tour in 1999 for the first time; when she knew war mostly from toy guns.

Much has changed since then, she has visited many countries, including Iraq, and her view altered completely. The thick line between soldiers over there and the people back home in the States has pretty much vanished. Whenever she reads about somebody getting killed, hears about children starving in a refugee camp, she wants a picture published with it. To her they are not anonymous people, to her everyone has a face.

Entertaining the troops and telling people back home

Travelling to war zones made her understand there is no difference between the people in different countries. That any “enemy” that got killed has a father and a mother as well, or children, or both. That everyone can get a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. That losing your parents at the age of three is a desaster, if you are born in Iraq or in the USA or anywhere else.

Jennifer Rawlings has found a great way of combining the terrible truth about war and every-day stories about family life. She let’s the audience take part in her travel experiences and tells them what the has been through. Back in the USA she realized she could not mingle those parts at a comedy club, people go there to laugh. So she chose poetry readings instead. People liked what she did right away.

Making the audience laugh and cry 

She has found a way of telling her American audience about everyday life at war and many people cried listening to her stories. Whenever she throws in a joke after a terrible story people feel relief. But in the end, everyone supports what she does, the funny and the sad stories. Usually there are two groups after the show, the one that says they did not know and the second one that says ‘Thank you’.

Bridging the gap might change the world for the better. She has seen wounded people and prisoners, widows and orphans, dead people and heard tons of terrible stories. Bringing back those stories helps other people to understand. After a show many people feel the urge to talk to her. Somebody told her that he came back from the Vietnam War but nobody cared. She helps to keep people alive by telling her stories. Rawhlings also started writing about her experiences.

She brings together the military and civilian, the people “over there” and “us here”. She makes the audience understand most people do not want war but have to suffer the consequences nevertheless. Behind every number is a person. Behind every war are individual stories. Giving the so-called enemy a face and a story and not just reading another headline about the number of people killed is active peacemaking. We need more people like her.

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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.

Women who are widows are not likely to find a new husband

Life in Iraq brought many tough times during the last decades. First, the war with Iran widowed thousands of women in the 1980s, in 1991 another war with the USA followed, there was a failed Shiite uprising and of course the repression against Kurds. The government has set up trailer camps for widowed women and pays them 80 Dollars a month. Not much, but it is not possible to provide more money since the number of women without a husband is so incredibly high.

Besides the imbalance of women and men widowed women face another problem. The culture does not see older women with many children as an attractive wife-to-be. If the widow is young and has only one ore two children, chances are she finds a new husband. Everyone else is left alone, and the truth is, no one really cares.

Widowed with children

Some agencies from the States are trying to help by providing litte grants for women to set up a small business. Besides missing their husband, the women also have to face depression and difficulty in concentration, even heart palpitations occur. They feel there is no future for them and in many cases that is true. The program turned out to be successful at least for those who recieved some support. Setting up a small beauty salon or such gives them something new to talk about, hope for the future and even an income to support the family. The feminist movement, though existent, needs much more attention, especially at current events.

Some of the women had to watch when their husband got killed, but no one ever offered psychiatric help or support in any way. Most widows would like to remarry but because of all the killed men and the fact that older women with many children do not make appealing brides, chances are low.

Small help from big cars

Occasionally American Soldiers drive by the camps with their massive Humvees, giving out candy or toys to the children, a scanty help. The women who set up a business, at least, have been spotted to wear more colorful clothes and even dare to speak louder once in a while. Other women try to accept their fate and focus on the children. They keep themselves busy with their sons and daughters, claiming you do not need a husband when you got four sons.

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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?

The pen writing about the gun: Covering war in Iraq

It is proven that brilliant articles have been written by several non-veteran writers or Fobbits in history but journalists with a war background do emphasize that serving during the war in Iraq has given them a deeper understanding and the proficiency to really get the story down on paper. There is a huge gap between the everyday life at war and the civilian populace. The media coverage overwhelmes the average person, no one knows if what is said on TV is true and even though the access to information online is easier than ever, most people do not know which source is reliable or they merely swallow bits of information, small enough to be digested easily, many times paraphrased from other sources, without giving insight on what is truly going on in Iraq. With a profound war experience the gap between those two worlds is easier to bridge, claims a journalist and ex-veteran in Iraq. Behind a sterile monument dedicated to the soldiers who lost their lives during war are countless stories of real people.

Experience matters, always

The other side is the subjective opinion about what has happened. Being at war with a group of soldiers lets the men bond in a strong way, repressing or altering events in a personal desired way. It has happened that Iraq soldiers asked journalists who travelled among them to not take pictures of certain incidents, write about certain stories. A journalist who has not developed a group-bonding as strong as the soldiers is more resistant to distort reality.

Journalists without war experience certainly need to do much more research on the topic. The homework needs to be done whereas the veteran has already access to his acquired knowledge. In either way writing about war means risking his life or at least getting hurt physically and psychologically. A Post Traumatic Stress Disorder happens on a regular basis, journalists have lost legs and arms and eyes, got kidnapped and even killed. It takes courage to risk your life to bring home a story about war in Iraq.

The mighty pen?

Many people have transferred experiences and impressions of war into stories for those who remained at home. Online, offline, with a camera or a pen: Writing brings awareness of what happens in Iraq, makes people understand that behind every soldier is an actual human being, a person with feelings and loved ones. Writing about war changes the perception of people. In the case of ‘The Hurt Locker’, the movie makes the audience believe that war, in the end, is a bigger drug than spending time with your own child.

The movie starts with a quote by Chris Hedges, war correspondant for the New York Times. “The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug.”

In the end any writer, if he has been a veteran or not, can be an excellent intermediary between war and peace. He can create shattering and moving feelings, describe places and fights, friendship and loss. But he can never make normal people understand what a soldier truly goes through. For when it comes to personal war experiences, the sword, unfortuantely, is mightier than the pen.

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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.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Essentially, PTSD is the brain’s reaction to a traumatic situation that hasn’t been properly dealt with. Very often one can’t deal with the situation right away – especially in war, life is dependent on one’s stability – and therefore emotional reactions will be „tuned down“ and repressed by the brain.

When the soldiers come back to their normal lives, these repressed emotions and thoughts stay hidden and cause many symptomatic problems, like insomnia, nightmares, daydreams, depression, emotional outbursts and erratic behavior under stress.

Every traumatic experience can cause PTSD, abuse in child- or adulthood, severe illnesses, accidents or war. But especially soldiers face a relentless lack of protection and care when they return. In these intense cases – and war condition is intense – the PTSD can be that strong that it prevents the veteran from functioning properly in a 9 to 5 job, hold relationships and relate to his environment.

PTSD veterans are left on their own

But instead of giving therapeutic aid, if necessary for longer than a couple of months, America disposes of its veterans. Many psychiatric facilities house those soldiers that don’t fit the stoic and strong image of the American hero. If the facilities are overwhelmed with patients or have to close due to financial cuts, the vets end on the streets.

There are actually studies that confirm that veterans are more likely to become homeless than other Americans. To adapt to normal life is difficult enough after going through war but PTSD further makes it next to impossible to work and live as if nothing ever happened.

It is not an illness of the weak and it’s not imagined, PTSD can affect the strongest of minds and should be detected early on, so it can be treated. There are many people who are willing to treat and help with the visible wounds of war but the invisible wounds are more often than not much deeper and therefore shouldn’t be ignored.

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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.

Toy Guns in Iraq: Injuries and indoctrination

Sure, kids are usually capable to differentiate between the violence of war and games that involve the mimicking of it but too often this mimicking turns into actual violence, when for example air guns cause numerous eye injuries in harmless play.

Weapons symbolize power for many and ingrain this wish for power in the minds, becoming less and less interested in solving problems through thinking and talking. Even on the playground a play of war is all about dominance and power, the greatest toy gun wins.

There is no wonder, though, that kids emulate this behavior, they are surrounded by war and learn early that no one is really safe. Unless they protect themselves and their families.

Especially during holidays, when children usually receive money or toys, the number of injuries rises. There are places where the selling of toy guns is forbidden but the black market is strong, especially as the illegal selling makes more money.

Toy guns take the innocence

The parliament doesn’t think that political actions against these toys is necessary, therefore non-violence-groups such as La Onf talk with the individual governments to achieve at least partial banning of the dangerous weapons. Especially the frighteningly accurate depiction of the toy guns can cause kids to lose fear and respect of real guns very soon and get used to guns in their environment, used to using them. This is where the circle of violence gains momentum and the kids grow up to feel the power only through the use of weapons.

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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.

Kebab: Traditional meal in the Middle East

Kebab is well known in the East, with many versions depending on where you want to enjoy your share of meat.

Kebab is commonly made of lamb but nowadays can include all sorts of meats, fish or even vegetarian options as tofu.

In Iraq, the kebab is prepared on skewers, however, not in the large mountains of meat we are used to, but on sword-like skewers where the meat – grounded lamb with herbs and spices – is formed like stick-bread and then grilled or baked.

A nice recipe can be found here.

Shawarma: The Middle Eastern Doner

A very tasty variation is Shawarma which is more like the Western Doner Kebab but is spiced differently. Besides the serving in bread and with tomato and cucumber, it also is quite different from out Doner in that it also has pickled vegetables and hummus as toppings that add a certain ‘zing’ to the overall taste.

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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.

Reem Alasadi: Beauty and twisted Fantasy

Her style is adventurous, romantic, fantastic and crazy enough to especially cater to Steampunk, Goth and Cosplay Fans. But that doesn’t mean that one couldn’t buy one of her pieces and pair it with some nice jeans or a simple skirt and turn heads.

Reem usually puts both spring and autumn fashion in one collection, for clear reasons: First, she wants to make it easier for the buyer to budget and second, it is less expensive to have one collection represent both seasons, do one runway once a year and therefore everything is more focused.

Great designs and fantastic fabrics

There is a great variety in her designs that all clearly spell out her name. From flowy hippie dresses to small little numbers with shoulder pads to amazing pants. Next to her very wearable shirts, jackets and dresses, she also displays showstopper pieces that are more concentrated versions of her vision and should be seen as the art of her profession.

Especially in a time where many designers try to be sleek and futuristic in their designs, Reem’s playful, romantic yet chaotic designs with the numerous details and the air of Tim Burton meets Terry Gilliam stick out and make you feel as if you are part of a magical story yourself. And the detail that goes into the combination of fabrics is stunning.Her cultural heritage is definitely a part of it, although Reem feels at home in Britain. The freedom there seems to be the wings to her creativity that allow her to make statements with her fashion without fearing consequences.

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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.

The insanity of war’s bureaucracy

But this is no serious confessional or teary eyed drama, Abrams writes his story dark and sarcastic, surreal in a way that reminds of the bureaucratic nightmares of ‘Catch 22′, having to go through so many people for a press release to get confirmed that the independent media channels have already covered it hours if not days ago.

In contrast to the sheltered life of Gooding Jr. and his colleagues, Abrams juxtaposes the stressful, nightmarish lives of the soldiers out in the field giving an obvious view on his opinion. The sheer ridiculousness of sending some soldiers through hell without giving them a break and letting other soldiers lead a mundane life at the FOB confronts the reader in exaggerated characters and weird scenarios that more often than not seem to have an unfortunate ounce of truth in them.

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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.

Plastic surgery in Iraq

Especially in Baghdad, the business booms, according to npr, even people from Jordan and Syria take the risky journey to get their body parts fixed.

The main attraction is a small and cute nose, just like Nicole Kidman or whoever else sports a tiny nose. And so women as well as men flog to the surgeon and get their bones broken, parts removed and rearranged. The majority of the patients are women. Not all of them there on their own account.

Good surgeons are only limited and the circumstances are not comparable to Western standards. Some patients have to provide their own Botox and silicone, most pay in cash and religious excuses are sought whether women shall seek help from a female or a male doctor when they want to enhance their breasts.

Women try to change their looks for better chances at marriage

Especially women try to change their looks to get a better man or – when they have reached a certain age – get any man at all to marry.

It is a new and weird world for plastic surgery in Iraq, after years of helping people coping with war wounds and regaining faces and limbs after the terror of war, the more or less stable economy has established a middle class that can concentrate on other things than the daily survival.

As many Western influences have been deemed as negative and hostile towards Eastern culture, this especially peculiar trend seems to go well with all religious and social groups.

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