US elections: Meanwhile in downtown Baghdad

Newsweek reports on the response in Baghdad to the recent US mid-term elections and Rumsfeld's departure:

"For Iraqis, there was a lot to digest. More than most observers of this week’s U.S. elections, they have a personal stake in its outcome. But as the news about the Democratic takeover of the House and the departure of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld trickled in, their reactions were far from unanimous. Some were pleased; some were afraid and some were just plain cynical. "What difference does it make to people like me?" asked Ahmed Ibrahim, a 38-year-old shop owner in Baghdad. "To us our daily hope and mission is to dodge assassins and bombs and all types of death."

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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