The Shia shopkeeper growing rich on Saddam First Edition

[Saddam] in uniform, Saddam in business suit, Saddam in green beret, Saddam smiling upon his people. 'Ten dollars,' Mr [Ridha Abu Mohamed] says. Post-war, of course. The Arab masses did not buy such trash when the leader of the Arab Socialist Baath Party was in power. These are Japanese-ma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIndependent (London, England : 1986)
Main Author Robert Fisk in Baghdad
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London (UK) Independent Digital News & Media 19.08.2005
Subjects
Mohamed, Ridha Abu
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Summary:[Saddam] in uniform, Saddam in business suit, Saddam in green beret, Saddam smiling upon his people. 'Ten dollars,' Mr [Ridha Abu Mohamed] says. Post-war, of course. The Arab masses did not buy such trash when the leader of the Arab Socialist Baath Party was in power. These are Japanese-manufactured, albeit not so classy as the new Chinese-made cigar-ette lighters. There are packets of regime currency with a youthful Saddam standing proudly beside dams (250 dinar notes) or the Tower of Babel (10,000 dinars) and photographs of the banknotes of King Feisal I, the soon-to-be-executed President Kassim and President al-Bakr, predecessor of Saddam ('the great Uncle figure') who wisely gave up power to avoid losing his head. One of the most outrageous of Mr Abu Mohamed's gifts is a lighter bearing the heads of President George Bush and a certain Muqtada Sadr, the only Shia cleric to have fought the American occupation and whom an American spokesman once promised would be 'captured or destroyed'.
ISSN:0951-9467