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IRAQ: Even in war, the prom must go on

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By Usama Redha in Baghdad

Even in the middle of a war, nothing will keep students from their prom.

The graduating class at the University of Technology threw a party to remember this year.

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Of course in Baghdad, no one wants to stay out too late, so the festivities get started a little earlier than in the United States. From early in the morning, I started receiving text messages on my cell phone from friends who study at the school, telling me that the place was filling up and the fun had begun.

My wife and I headed off at 8 a.m. on a drive that usually takes about an hour. But because of the fighting going on in many Shiite Muslim neighborhoods of the capital, it took us more than two hours to reach the university. The sound of sirens and warning shots from passing Iraqi army convoys accompanied us in the horrible traffic.

When we reached the campus, hundreds of students were already streaming in, many of them from other universities. After a quick search, women in demure skirts and blouses peeled off to the lady’s room to put on makeup and get dressed up in their fancy best.

I’ve been attending this party for more than 10 years, but I have never seen one quite like this. For a minute, I thought it must be Halloween. This year, the students decided to throw a costume party, and the theme was American movies.

The walls were plastered with posters for the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “Lost” and “Pirates of the Caribbean,” but with students’ faces substituted for those of the actors.

Each department had hired a DJ or local singers to perform in front of its building. Men dressed as cowboys, Ninja turtles and Count Dracula danced to the tunes. But the women only watched, afraid they would be considered promiscuous if they joined in.

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One department had created its own tropical beach, where students with bleached-blond hair and floral shirts splashed each other in a wading pool.

Every one was taking photos with everyone else, whether they knew each other or not. As my wife posed with two women dressed up as bees, we were startled by a series of blood-curdling yells. A group of students ran past us carrying a friend tied to a pole by his hands and feet, who was laughing and pleading for help.

In the middle of the excitement, something caught my eye that brought me crashing back to reality. Hanging from a wall was a black funeral banner.

But as I got closer, I realized that it was just lamenting the departure of the graduating class -- another student joke. There were even tomb stones, a funeral tent to receive mourners, and an empty wooden casket.

Many of the students were dressed up as Iraqi policemen or American soldiers. Their costumes were so good, that I mixed them up with the real thing. I was just about to take the picture of what I thought was a student dressed up as an Iraqi officer, when his bodyguards yelled at me, “Hey, put the camera away!” That’s when I noticed that they were carrying real Kalashnikovs.

For the students celebrating that day, it was a rare escape from the daily bloodshed.

“We just want to forget the killing and other bad things around us, even if it is for one day,” said a 22-year-old student who gave his name only as Laui.

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Salih, 20, said his family was forced to abandon their home in Sadr City because of the fighting pitting Shiite militiamen against U.S. and Iraqi forces. But he wasn’t letting that dampen his fun.

“Should I stay home and mourn?” he asked. “I feel bad about the fight in my area, but I want to feel life and pleasure again. We are deprived of our simplest right to experience real happiness.”

By about 1.30 p.m., the party was beginning to wind down, and we decided it was time to leave. As we walked out, my wife noticed a young woman who had been wearing a short red skirt inside the party. Now she was dressed in a long, conservative one.

The time for fun was over. Now, it was back to reality.

Click here to view more photos.

P.S. The Los Angeles Times issues a free daily newsletter with the latest headlines from the Middle East, the war in Iraq and the frictions between the West and Islam. You can subscribe by registering at the website here, logging in here and clicking on the World: Mideast newsletter box here.

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