I can’t really explain why this makes me sort of happy. I know, I know…. the image of American officials and corporations drinking and partying while car bombs explode on the other side of the Green Zone is unappetizing.
Yet, at the same time, there’s a feeling that the Americans are starting to get accustomed to life in Baghdad. Call it occupation, sure, but I love the idea that Americans are getting used to life abroad. One of the chief differences between the American Empire and the British Empire that preceded it is that the Brits loved to live abroad. Americans are far more insular. We’re running our empire by remote control. A paltry number of American undergrads pursue International Studies or a related program. Most Americans who do live abroad are there on behalf of a corporation, not their government or an NGO.
Would I prefer that the American contractors were sharing their hookah with the Iraqis in a proper Baghdad bar, instead of one built by Halliburton? Sure. But this is a start.
