Car crazy in Iraq
By Beth Potter
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Baghdad, Iraq, Mar. 30 (UPI) -- Traffic jams in the Iraqi capital are caused by new police checkpoints, old, broken-down cars, lines of customers waiting to fill up at the pumps, and, of course,
the more than 426,000 new cars registered in the last two years.
That doesn't stop Iraqis with newly increased salaries from coming in to ogle cars and buy them, said Ahmed Mohammed 37, manager of the Salman Fak Car Trading lot near Baghdad's National Theater.
More than 900,000 cars have been registered across the country in the past two years, according to data from the Baghdad traffic department -- 426,000 of them from Baghdad. Before the war, about 347,000 cars were registered across the country, said Nejim Abid Jabir, a spokesman for the traffic department under the Interior Ministry.
"I want to buy a BMW, but my dad thinks I should get something more practical," said Annas al-Jabouri, 25, who walked with his father around the small cement lot with a fancy metal and stucco fence. He examined each of the 20 cars carefully. "It's a matter of price, but also a matter of style."
Cars just fly off the lot, probably 60 to 70 per month, said Mohammed, adding that he buys his inventory from Iraqis, fixes them mechanically and re-paints them before putting them up for sale. Late-model white or light-gray sedans -- from Toyotas and Chevys to Mercedes and BMWs -- are parked at a diagonal and backed up to the lot's edges.
"All models of Mercedes sell well, BMWs, cars from Korea," Mohammed said. "We sell so many, but it depends on the political situation. Right now, Kurds are coming in looking for four-wheel-drives for the mountains."
Iraq's Kurdish minority lives mostly in three northern provinces of Iraq. Kurdish political leaders took almost 30 percent of the vote in a Jan. 30 parliamentary election, giving them more power over central government issues than they had before, meaning more of them are in the capital in recent weeks. Politicians continued to wrangle behind the scenes Wednesday to choose the leaders that will head the new government, and that too will no doubt affect car sales.
On the street, drivers are more likely to favor a Hyundai over a high-end Mercedes, however. Sport-utility vehicles and sports cars are few and far between in the capital. Former president Saddam Hussein heavily taxed cars, making them unaffordable for all but a favored few. In addition, a program in which residents could pay money in for 10 years or so and then receive their car just now is starting to deliver the vehicles.
The interim government recently decreed that all pre-2000 car models would not be allowed in the country, panicking sellers in places like Jordan and Syria and driving prices up, Mohammed said. But most families keep about $20,000 cash in their houses, which means they can afford to buy a new car.
Since banks aren't working and most people already own their houses or live with their families, under Iraq's former socialist system, there's plenty of money to be spent on cars, al-Jabouri said.
"My friends know I can afford a car now, so they want me to buy one," said al-Jabouri, replying that he worked as a translator for a company when asked how he was able to save up the money.
Some Baghdad residents say cars are stolen from the Middle East and Europe, brought to a free-trade zone in the United Arab Emirates and given new papers. Many of the cars for sale seem su iously inexpensive -- mainly because there is no tax in Iraq at the moment, said Mohammed. Jabir denied the stolen car rumors were true.
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! GIVE ME A ING BREAK! it was a couple of thousand at the most! I know, I was living in Caracas at the time! The only reason Chavez was put back in power was because of international pressure and its unwillingness to negotiate with a government that was not democratic at the time. Chavez's rule is an insult to democracy, and if you extreme liberal dumbasses would quit trying to make him your poster boy for your "La Revolucion" you'd see it plain as day.
, but what am I complaining to you for... you probably have the image of Che Guevara tattooed on your ass, the ultimate poster boy for the extreme left... ridiculous!
