U.S. cultural influence to stay in Iraq after troops withdrawal
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Xinhua, December 6, 2011
Bathing in the warm winter breeze in the war-battered Iraqi capital of Baghdad, many vendors in the street markets are peddling U.S. military gears and gadgets.
The Dec. 31 deadline for U.S. troops withdrawal is drawing close, but the U.S. cultural influence will hardly go away.
Some Iraqis say the United States invaded Iraq not only militarily but also culturally. In the aftermath of the 2003 war, the American soldiers stationed here and a wave of American products ensued.
A quiet cultural invasion is going on in the ancient land of Mesopotamia. Like it or not, the Islamic tradition and cultural habits are undergoing changes.
Ghassan Adnan, an Iraqi journalist, told Xinhua, "If you talk about American influence on the Iraqi society and culture, immediately the picture goes to the military."
Strolling in a market in Baghdad, it's very easy to see stalls selling American-style military uniforms, sunglasses, and night- vision goggles. Used gears and clothes of U.S. soldiers are hot picks in Baghdad's second-hand markets.
Many Iraqi soldiers, on a cursory glance, can pass for U.S. soldiers, from the way they are dressed to how they swear.
Since most Iraqi soldiers were trained by their American counterparts, naturally they copy their trainers' way of conducting operations and even their personal behaviors.
American movies, particularly war-themed ones, dominate the Iraqi market. Posters of Hollywood blockbusters are easy to spot. In the internet cafes, Iraqi teenagers work their heads off playing online games like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor.
Macho U.S. war culture is hardly the only aspect of its influence on the Iraqi society.
American music genres like hip-pop, rap and heavy metal are gaining popularity among Iraqi youths. Some fans are doing their own gigs in clubs.
Drawing a snake tattoo on his left arm and wearing a cut T- shirt and a trendy hat, 15-year-old Ahmed Ali, a secondary school student, looks like a foreigner.
Ali and his friends like to imitate the dressing styles of American bands, although they sometimes feel the Iraqi society doesn't accept them and considers them as inappropriate.
"This is my personal freedom and no one could change me," Ali said, referring to his family who scold him for disobeying their traditions.
Tight jeans, tattoos, and even American popular haircut can be widely seen in Iraqi youths.
There is one funny haircut called Marines. U.S. soldiers, especially the marines, have a certain haircut to help them endure military operations, but Iraqis get this haircut to be fashionable.
Ali's friend Falah Nabeel, 16, pulled his hair to the top, a " Sbakii" style as it is known among the youths, and was wearing shining shorts and a tight T-shirt.
"I feel that I'm so stylish when I follow the highest fashion in the west," Nabeel said, while he enjoyed his favorite music band West Life by a headset.
Nabeel said he knows many young people who like to follow the western style and consider them as brave and open-minded.
However, many of Nabeel's conservative seniors refuse these new styles and consider them as "blind imitation" of the west, which has no relations with the Iraqi traditions and social values.
Social researcher Hassan al-Taeb told Xinhua, "Youths nowadays are living in a fusion of mindsets and behaviors, which can be configured as a transition stage involving the overlap of the traditional and the modern."
American English now boasts to be the standard English among Iraqi university students while their fathers and grandfathers speak with a British accent.
Many Iraqis privately told Xinhua that they don't hate Americans though they disapprove their Middle East policies. And if conditions permit, they would like to have an American passport.
More than 40.1 percent of Iraq's youths want to immigrate to Western countries, according to a survey conducted by the United Nations Population Fund.
The U.S. military have made their cultural footprint in Iraq, like it or not for Iraqis as they bid farewell to the troops.
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