meehawl

all that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned

Baghdad Chow Mein

by ·

Things were looking up for Chen Xianzhong, proprietor of Baghdad’s first authentic Chinese restaurant in the new Iraq, until a suicide car bomber blew up outside the place less than two weeks ago. The deafening blast shattered the windows and spewed body parts into the dining room. A foot landed on the pavement outside and a tire landed in the restaurant’s second floor. “There were small pieces of flesh all over, even on the roof,” Mr. Chen said. Now, he does takeout only for the few loyal customers that continue to call … “I wanted to open the best Chinese restaurant ever in Iraq,” Mr. Chen said, adding that he imported four containers of powders, sauces, roots, pickled vegetables and other Chinese culinary supplies – enough to keep his 400-seat restaurant serving kung pao chicken for three or four years.

4 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:
    2005-08-14 at 10:11:12

    British Prime Minister Tony Blair on 5 August unveiled a whole array of proposed legal amendments. It calls for the deportation of any immigrant who preaches hatred or violence, would make it easier to strip British citizenship from any naturalized citizen who makes such calls, and would deny asylum to anyone linked to terrorism. It also would allow the government to close mosques where violence is espoused.

    France announced the summary expulsion of a dozen Islamists between now and the end of August. A tough new anti-terrorism package was unveiled by Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and a popular centre-Right politician. Imams and their followers who fuel anti-western feeling among impressionable young French Muslims will be rounded up and returned to their countries of origin. Mr Sarkozy also revealed that as many as 12 French mosques associated with provocative anti-western preaching were under surveillance. Imams indulging in inflammatory rhetoric will be expelled even if their religious status is recognised by mainstream Muslim bodies. Those who have assumed French citizenship will not be protected from deportation. Mr Sarkozy said he will reactivate measures, “already available in our penal code but simply not used”, to strip undesirables of their adopted nationality. “We have to act against radical preachers capable of influencing the youngest and most weak-minded,” Mr Sarkozy told the French daily Le Parisien.

  2. Anonymous says:
    2005-08-16 at 10:11:12

    OME (Reuters) – Italy, the subject of several Internet threats from purported Islamic militant groups, said it had begun expulsion procedures against 701 people.
    Nearly 33,000 people had been questioned in recent days as part of the nation-wide investigation that involved all branches of Italy’s security and police forces, the ministry said. Owners of money transfer agencies, call centre and Internet cafes had been investigated and two of the people arrested were brought in under newly-approved anti-terror laws, it added. Parliament last month passed measures that give the Italian state greater powers to combat terrorism after Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said terrorists were “knocking on Italy’s door”.

    The package makes it easier for police to detain and deport suspects, increases penalties for terror-related crimes and gives approval for greater surveillance of Internet and telephone traffic.

  3. Carlo Marx says:
    2005-08-24 at 10:11:12

    SYDNEY (AFP) – Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law have been told to get out of Australia. Muslim schools will have to denounce terrorism as part of an effort to stamp out home-grown extremism under measures announced after Howard’s meeting with 14 Islamic leaders Tuesday.

  4. mike says:
    2005-08-30 at 10:11:12

    When you start applauding the revocation of citizenship, when you make it conditional upon behaviour (or race, or religion), then you are stepping back from democracy into feudalism.

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