IRAQ: Happy hour

Many consider the middle-class neighborhood of Karada, in south Baghdad, to be a religious area because the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council 's headquarters is there. But it's also home to recreational clubs like Alwiya, Hindiya and Sharook, where people can enjoy an alcoholic beverage after a stressful day at work. (The clubs also have basketball and tennis courts and swimming pools, but many people visit purely for social reasons.)

The bars at the clubs are open only from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m, just enough time to grab a drink and hurry home before darkness and the curfew.

In Iraq, the most popular liquor is arak, a transparent, anise-flavored liqueur served on the rocks. The biggest arak factory is in Baqubah, north of Baghdad, but is also produced in other northern factories in areas with Christian populations.

When mixed with water, arak turns a milky white. It has a strong flavor and the scent of black licorice. One watered-down glass is strong enough to give you a high-flying buzz; a second will have you sobbing in your glass. A third can knock you off your stool.

It's customary for Iraqis to snack while drinking arak, to help soak up the liquor. The most popular appetizers are baba ganouj, hummus, tabbouleh and pistachios. This is followed by a decent meal with a meat entree.

Younger Iraqis prefer beer. The two most popular Iraqi brands — Faridah and Loiloa — come in large, 750 ml (25 oz) bottles. Most men drink five or six in a sitting. Western alcohol is also available, from draft beer to Johnnie Walker Black Label.

These bars offer a rare escape from reality, even if it's only for a couple hours.

— Caesar Ahmed in Baghdad

Photo: Iraq's favorite alcohol, the milky, anise-flavored liquer, arak. Credit: Saad Khalaf, Los Angeles Times

EGYPT: Warm embrace turns to cold shoulder

Palestinian Brothers, please go home.

That is the message in Egypt, where over the last week more than 500,000 Palestinians from Gaza have shopped, binged and stocked up on supplies in the Sinai. Palestinians have changed an estimated $100 million into Egyptian pounds.

But Egypt is weary and wary of its spendthrift guests.

To ease them back across the border wall, which was blown up by Hamas during an Israeli fuel blockade, government authorities have ordered many shops to be closed and have tightened checkpoints along the roads between Rafah and El Arish. More than a few Palestinians have stolen cars in Egypt; Bedouin farmers have responded by shooting into the air to scare the Gazans away.

Ammar Mohammed, a Gaza baker, sensed an evaporating hospitality: "The police arrest [Palestinian] people in the streets and send them back home. They chase us in apartments and resorts to send us back home," Mohammed said while roaming with a few of his compatriots who crossed into Egypt last week. "We are leaving today. What else can we do? Would we spend our time hiding from the police? We came here to get some relief not to run and hide from the police."

— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo and Noha El-Hennawy in El Arish

Photo: Palestinian shopper heads through the mud toward his home in Gaza. Credit: Nasser Nasser/Associated Press

IRAQ: Food for life

The food at dining facilities at the larger military bases in Iraq tastes pretty much the same from camp to camp, like restaurants from the same franchise.

But the quality at lesser outposts, where preparation is done by troops rather than the Halliburton offshoot KBR, can vary widely. Which explains why food preparation specialists such as Marine Gunnery Sgt. Benny Fontenot at the Haditha Dam become minor celebrities among their customers.

Troops debate which of Fontenot's meals was the best: the Thanksgiving, Christmas, or the Marine Corps 232nd birthday (Nov. 10) spreads. That's somewhat unfair since at the birthday meal, beer was served along with turkey, ham and prime rib.

Some votes might go for his barbecue lamb for the South African guards, the goat and lamb dishes for the Iraqis, and the special meal for the Azerbaijani troops at the dam. They like fresh vegetables and fruit.

Near the spot on the 7th story landing where troops line up cafeteria-style for their meals is a sign: "Best Dam Chow Hall in Iraq."


— Tony Perry at Haditha Dam, Iraq

IRAQ: Baghdad's fishy business

The best meal in Iraq is Mahzgouf fish. Many Iraqi families gather after Friday prayers in the mosques to feast on the succulent, river bottom feeder.

But because of the chaotic security situation, people frown upon mahzgouf that is caught from the Tigris River. People whisper that those fish have fed on human flesh. Now, a discerning customer will opt for a fish bred in a hatchery.

People will pick out a live fish from a restaurant or a street vendor’s water-filled wheel barrow. The mahzgouf is promptly clubbed and then roasted on its side and cooked over a wood fire. The disc-shaped fish will then be served with a flat bread, called khubz. Everyone digs in with clean hands and puts fingerfuls of the oily fish in their mouth.

— Caesar Ahmed in Baghdad

Photo: A roadside vendor prepares the popular mahzgouf fish to roast. Credit: Saad Khalaf, Los Angeles Times

SYRIA: The usual suspects

It seems that the Syrian government is clamping down again on homegrown dissidents.

On Monday, Syrian authorities arrested a leading opposition figure, Riad Seif, hours after putting 10 other critics of the ruling Baath Party on trial, according to international human rights groups.

The link between the detained opposition figures is a high-profile political meeting they all attended at Seif's residence in Damascus in December.

We caught up with Ausama Monajed, a London-based Syrian dissident and member of an opposition group, for a phone interview:

It is obvious that the regime wants to eliminate any seed of democracy that could grow and endanger it. But with international pressure and growing local support, the opposition cannot be easily shut.

Seif and the 10 other dissidents face years-long jail sentences for charges such as "weakening the national spirit and awakening racism and sectarianism," and "spreading false information," and "involvement in a secret organization."

Monajed described these charges as "outrageously unfounded, tailor-made accusations."

Seif has already served five years in prison for his political activities. He recently formed an umbrella opposition group, called the Damascus Declaration National Council ,to lead the way "peacefully" for democracy in Syria.

Prying open a small window of hope for democratic reforms in Syria, the group was celebrated for encompassing an unprecedentedly large range of political entities, including leftists, liberals, conservatives, Kurds and moderate Islamists.

Apparently the Syrian government is not yet ready to tolerate such opposition.

The Movement for Justice and Development, a vocal opposition group with representatives in Syria and Britain, said that the arrests were widely seen as "an attempt by the Syrian regime to forestall the development of a strong pro-democracy movement in the country."

The arrests also provoked the indignation of Human Rights organizations. The U.S.-based Freedom House accused the Syrian government, in a press statement released yesterday, of "trying to conjure up some legal fiction to mask its blatant repression of any independent expression."

— Raed Rafei in Beirut

Photo: Syrian dissident Riad Seif, also spelled Riyad Saif, has been jailed. Credit: Forsyria.org

ALGERIA: Another sad morning

A bomb attack in northern Algeria Tuesday killed at least two and injured 23.,according to the official Algerie Presse Service.  Other news services said four were killed in the 6:30 a.m. explosion, which damaged half a dozen buildings.

It was the latest in a string of attacks in the North African country. The target this time apparently was a mobile unit of the country's judiciary police in the town of Thenia, in an area about 30 miles east of the capital, Algiers.

On Jan. 2, a suicide bomber rammed a car into a police station in Naciria, 75 miles east of Algiers, killing four policemen and wounding 20 others.

As many as 41 people were killed on Dec. 11 when two suicide truck bombs rammed into a United Nations building and a court complex in the capital. Seventeen of those killed were U.N. employees.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for both attacks.

The United Nations has offered to help Algerian authorities investigate that attack, but the government has spurned the offer.

To combat Al Qaeda's influence, Algerian television stations have aired a program in which clerics lambaste suicide bombings and attacks on civilians, according to a summary of clippings posted on the blog of Memri, the Middle East Media and Research Institute.

The Algerian government in the past ordered army airplanes to drop leaflets on pro-Al Qaeda neighborhoods with a fatwa by a Saudi Arabian cleric denouncing the struggle against the Algerian government.

— Borzou Daragahi in Beirut

Photo: Algerian women comfort each other after their house was seriously damaged by a suicide bomb attack on a police station in the eastern Algerian city of Thenia on Tuesday morning. Credit: FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images

IRAN: Zanan, a voice of women, silenced

More bad news for press freedom in Iran.

On Tuesday word emerged that Iran's leading women's magazine has been ordered to close.

Zanan Magazine, a reform-minded feminist magazine has been active in promoting women's rights for the last 16 years. Authorities revoked its license and folks in Tehran say there's no hope for appeal.

Managing director Shahla Sherkat was once a hard-line supporter of the Iranian government but became disillusioned after the Iran-Iraq war. Zanan managed to survive previous crackdowns by cautiously avoiding general politics and focusing on women's issues.

But that didn't work, apparently.

According to preliminary reports it was banned for allegedly portraying a negative image of women in Iran, but no official word has emerged yet.

The Iranian Journalists Assn. condemned the closure. In the last two years, 40 periodicals, including Zanan, have been banned across the country by the Press Supervision Board, which is controlled by hard-liners.

The closure inspired cynical commentary from Iranian bloggers. "I think the average life of a magazine is no longer than the time required for getting the 'publishing licence,' wrote Jadi, a blogger at Inside Iran:

Zanan (means women) used to be a "moderate" magazine. It never wrote anything extreme to prevent its closing. But now, after 16 years the only Persian women's magazine is closed.

—  Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran

Photo: A recent cover of the Iranian women's magazine, Zanan, which was ordered to close by authorities. Credit: Zanan magazine

IRAQ: Political impasse a lifesaver for some

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's feuding with President Jalal Talabani and others in the Iraqi leadership is considered a hindrance to national reconciliation, but at least three men are benefitting from it. In fact, it is keeping them alive.

The men are former associates of Saddam Hussein, and they were sentenced to hang for taking part in military atrocities that killed as many as 180,000 Kurds in northern Iraq in the 1980s. They include  Sultan Hashim Ahmad Jabburi Tai, a former Iraqi military officer; Ali Hassan Majid, aka Chemical Ali for his use of poisonous gas on the Kurds; and Hussein Rashid Mohammed, who was Hussein's deputy head of army operations.

But Iraq's president and two vice presidents must sign off on executions, and therein lies the rub.  Talabani, who is a Kurd, and Vice President Tariq Hashimi, a Sunni Arab, have argued against the hangings — Talabani because he opposes the death penalty and Hashimi because he says sparing the lives would foster Sunni-Shiite-Kurdish reconciliation.

As a result, the sentences, which were passed in June and should have been carried out in the fall, cannot go ahead, even though Maliki's Shiite-led government has made clear it would like to see the convicts go to the gallows. During a meeting with journalists over the weekend, government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said this was one of the downsides to democracy: having to abide by rules that one does not like.

He challenged people who would overrule the tribunal that sentenced the men to explain how they could ignore the ruling without violating the constitution. "Let them show us how to do this without breaking the law. You cannot do it this way," he said. "This is not the way to deal with Iraq. Once we open such doors, this will make the constitution a piece of rubber," to be bent any way that suits people's desires, Dabbagh said.

In the meantime, the men remain in the hands of U.S. officials, who say they will not be turned over to Iraqi officials until the government has settled the issue.

— Tina Susman in Baghdad

IRAQ: Do not pass "Go"

Ever since I arrived in Baghdad, I've been amazed at how readily accessible American culture is here. "Oprah," "Dr. Phil" and even "Grey's Anatomy" are all broadcast regularly on satellite television.

One day, I was channel surfing and one of our interpreters said, "Oooh! 'Seinfeld!' I love that show!"

On the street, vendors peddle pirated DVDs for as little as $1, with current films such as "Sweeney Todd" and "No Country for Old Men" already available here. Maybe it's because the interpreters are penned in with nowhere to go, but they've seen more current American movies than I have.

So it should have been no surprise to me when staffer Saif Hameed started talking to me about Monopoly. We were quibbling over the rules, which he knew better than I did. I never knew, for example, that if you don't buy a property when you land on it, it gets put up for auction. Of course, as a kid, he saved up and bought the official Parker Brothers edition for $75, so I guess it makes sense that he memorized the official rules.

In Iraq, they have their own version in Arabic with Boardwalk replaced by Baghdad's formerly-ritzy Arasat Street, but he said the American game should be easy to find.

He had thrown down the gauntlet. We would have a Monopoly match.

A few hours later, when the drivers came back with the game in hand, there was just one problem.

Our "Monopolio" was entirely in Spanish: "Go! (Adelante!) Cobrense $200 de sueldo al pasar."

"Welcome to Iraq," Mohammed Rasheed, our staff writer and technical whiz, told me. "Nothing makes sense here!"

— Kimi Yoshino in Baghdad

Photo: Found in Baghdad, a Spanish-language edition of Monopoly. Credit: Kimi Yoshino

IRAN: Tremors, as nuke fuel arrives

Well, that was quick.

Russia on Monday delivered the last batch of nuclear fuel for Iran’s light-water reactor in the southern city of Bushehr. That’s a little more than a month after the first batch arrived.

The West worries that spent fuel from the 1,000 megawatt reactor could be reprocessed to make fissile material for a bomb and that the nuclear plant is a reward Iran doesn’t deserve. They fear such deals undermine efforts to pressure Iran to give up its drive to master nuclear enrichment, a process that is the trickiest part of building atomic weapons, but is also a component of nuclear power generation.

But there are other worries about the plant, too. Iran is one of the most seismically active countries in the world. Mother Nature put a big exclamation point on that fact on Monday when a mild earthquake struck close to Bushehr. There were no reports of casualties or property damage from the tremor, which measured 4.2 on the Richter scale.

But the combination of antiquated Russian technology (remember Chernobyl) resting on teetering tectonic plates operated by newly trained Iranian engineers makes a lot of people nervous, especially in the oil-rich Persian Gulf city-states near Bushehr. As analysts and politicians in the Gulf like to point out, Iran’s first experiment in nuclear power is 750 miles from Tehran but less than 200 miles from the capitals of Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar

The next milestone is to get the plant up and running. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and others have boasted that the plant would start producing power sometime in the middle of this year. Russians say it’ll be more like the end of the year. Russian officials told Itar-Tass news agency that they’re going to try get the reactor up and running as soon as possible.  Sergei Kirienko, head of the Russian Federal Agency for Nuclear Power, said they’ll begin loading the fuel into the reactor this summer:

Russia’s stand is the quicker the better, since the station has a high degree of readiness...We shall do our utmost to complete this work as soon as possible.

Russia had been stalling for years on sending the 82 tons of fuel rods for the plant. But deliveries began just days after a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate in December concluded that Iran had likely ended a secret atomic weapons program in 2003. Russia insists the timing was a coincidence as Tehran and Moscow agreed to finish the deal in October.

— Borzou Daragahi in Beirut

Photo: An unidentified Russian technician rides his bicycle in front of the main reactor of the nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran. Credit: VAHID SALEMI/AP