11/27/2003: Iraqi graffiti

Miles of bare walls they might not respect, a sudden new freedom, and a lawless atmosphere results in... graffiti. This Newsday story details it, with some great moments:

Hussein loyalists shout their yearning for the deposed dictator -- "Saddam will come again" -- followed by the coda on the same line from a detractor: "Through my behind!"

"I walk around reading these writings, and some of them move me so much I don't know whether to laugh or to cry," said Amir Nayef Toma, 52, a retired radar operator in the Iraqi army. "You want to know what Iraqis are thinking? Read these walls."
...
Samplings of the Arabic slogans include: "Down Saddam the infidel and long live Bush the believer!" "A thousand Americans but not one Tikriti," referring to residents of Hussein's hometown.

Many taunt the deposed dictator: "Saddam the dirty, the son of the dirty, in which septic tank are you hiding now?"

Hussein's family also comes in for abuse: "Where are your wife and daughters, Saddam? Are you pimping them in Jordan?"
...
Toma, the former radar operator, predicted the writing would stop in another six months. "We Iraqis are so full of suffering and bitterness, these feelings are just pouring out of us," said Toma, who has carefully transcribed more than 100 slogans in a small notebook. "Soon we will realize we can speak out freely. We don't have to write on the walls."

Follow the story link for a few other choice translations.

I sure am glad the mainstream American media isnt reporting this. Without the political pressure opposing the US occupation from the anti-war crowd in the US, I'd have surely been dead by now.

My family is fine BTW and not I'm not pimping them in Jordan.

Canada, the exchange rate is better and it's closer to the US.

It appears the WMDs have finally been located...

<img src="http://www.newzucanuze.com/images/CellarGrafitti.jpg">

That would explain why the CIA is recruiting graffiti artists.

I wonder what they're writing with. Certainly not spray paint or stencils. Paint and a brush is a little hard to tag and run. Maybe giant magic markers of some sort.

Sharpie, maybe? I've seen that used a lot here, particularly in bathrooms, although that wouldn't be my first choice for defacing masonry.

They could have used chalk. It's a desert. No rain to wash stuff off the walls.

But yeah, arabic does not lend itself to spraypaint. There's not a lot of detail in the pics, but it doesn't look like brushwork.

It would have to be a big Sharpie...maybe a dullie. But chalk is a good possibility.