Iraqis line up at gas stations

By Imam El-Leithy, IOL Baghdad Correspondent

BAGHDAD , April 28 (IslamOnline.net) – Calls of peddlers and sellers have been heard anew around Baghdad ’s markets. They have taken to the normal life they used to live during pre-U.S.-invasion days. Yet, prices have soared remarkably in light of the current state of administrative and political vacuum.

Looting operations have recently decreased. Hawkers resumed their daily life activities, following Baghdad ’s gradual return to normal life.

“Lack of trading activities along the past few days has allowed some merchants to raise prices of goods, making use of the absence of an authority that could control such practices,” Feras Al-Obeid, an inhabitant of Baghdad, told IslamOnline.net.

Umm Mariam interrupted saying, “Those merchants refused to sell quantities less than one kilogram of vegetables or meat in order to make the highest profits possible. That represented a major problem to us, as refrigerators didn’t work.”

“We faced a problem, particularly with regard to the meat, as we didn’t know whether it came from dead cattle. The taste of the meat was rather different,” Umm Hemid added.

Although merchants are numerous, prices of all goods have soared. For example, the price of a kilogram of meat that never exceeded 2500 Iraqi Dinars has currently become 7500 Iraqi Dinars (a Dollar equals 2000 Dinars).

The price of tomatoes, which had been 150 Dinars, has now topped to 1500 Dinars. Bananas have turned a rare fruit to be eaten by the majority of Iraqis, as the price of a kilogram is currently 4500 Dinars.

Moving away from the markets, you see a repeated sight of queues of vehicles that crowd before Fuel stations to buy fuel with the old governmental price.

Fuel Mafia

The Iraqi currency lost half its value

Drivers and vehicle owners filled their fuel tanks with about 1500 Dinars. Yet, a new mafia has currently appeared to sell fuel in black markets. Members of such mafia block roads to prevent vehicles from entering fuel stations.

Those mafias buy huge quantities of fuel to be re-sold to vehicle owners outside gas stations in soaring prices. A liter of fuel reaches 2500 Dinars in the black market.

“Buying fuel at reasonable prices requires standing in queues for a long period of time. This forces me to resort to those mafias who sell fuel at more than double the price,” Abu Abdullah, a driver, said.

“I filled the fuel tank of my vehicle against 40.000 Iraqi Dinars,” he added.

Following up various activities in Baghdad , one finds that the mafia and the organized crime are the prime means of controlling the road traffic. It seems that they will be the actual Iraqi government pending another notice.

A state of insecurity has prevailed following the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003 , as the governmental institutions, universities and hospitals as well as the Museum of Baghdad have been looted under the eyes of the occupation forces.

Civil servants Feel Worried

On the other hand, the sight of civil servants, who stand before the headquarters of their destroyed ministries and institutions, has been pitiable. They have returned to find that the premises have been looted and destroyed.

All they did was to sign in attendance books and leave, hoping to cash their salaries by the end of the month.

Those employees felt worried, fearing the unknown. Some are still afraid lest the previous regime should return to power. Rumors have spread that this might happen on April 28, Saddam’s birthday.

Some said that Saddam would celebrate his birthday by using chemical weapons against the U.S. troops.

The thing that adds to the worries of civil servants is that their old salaries were already weak before the soaring prices witnessed by several walks of life following the fall of Saddam’s regime.

The salary of a university professor who does not belong to the Baath Party, for example, did not exceed by any means 100 Dollars per month.

Yet, some optimistic civil servants expect a raise to their pay, but wonder whether the occupation forces will really grant them such a raise.