IRAQ: Booze for Basra

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Prime Minister Nouri Maliki ordered his forces to take the city of Basra back from militias and criminal gangs last month. Some say Maliki has proven his mettle while others called the fight a political battle among rival Shiite parties. The verdict is still out, but Basra has once more showed small signs of life.

The southern port, once known as a liberal redoubt, has liquor vendors back on the streetshawking libations after going underground in recent years amid fears of attack by religious extremists. People, who were afraid to play pop songs, are once more blaring ear candy in the city.

Abu Alla, a onetime seller of booze, had given up the trade and became a carpenter in 2004. He felt lucky to survive those early years after the war when Shiite militias hunted down alcohol sellers. “Thank God I was not killed after religion controlled Basra. I received a lot of threats,” Abu Alla said. Even then, he sold booze on the sly from his carptentry workplace, but now he is weighing a return to his true profession.

“I felt safer than before because there are no gangs or religious or pretend religious parties in the streets,” he said. As a test, Abu Alla ordered five packages of alcohol from Baghdad, and he sold them on the street. “I became courageous and started selling, but in fact I am very scared,” he said. Abu Alla quickly sold out and some old alcobol sellers told him they were selling again too.

“Basra is the mother of prosperity, and it should have the mosques, nightclubs, husseiniyas and bars. Everybody should be liberal in his attitude and practices in his life, and nobody should prevent people from exercising their freedom,” Abu Alla said.

If the Basra security plan succeeds, Abu Alla dreams of cashing in. “I will open the biggest liquor store in Basra, and if they let me, I will import the finest brands.”

—Times Baghdad bureau