Iraq Corner – July 1, 2008 [Part 2]

As-Sabaah (cont.):

The head of the High Council for Reconstruction warned that security concerns may delay some of the reconstruction that is designated to take place in Sadr City and Sh’ula.  He also mentioned that, because of the size of the plan, the government will not be able to handle all of the projects by itself (presumably meaning that the government will have to outsource some of the work).  As part of the project, the reconstruction council has decided to completely remake 4 sections of Sadr City to serve as examples of “integrated services.”

A member of the Sports and Youth Committee of Iraq’s Parliament has announced the committee’s recent proposal to sponsor one Iraqi wedding for every member of Parliament.  Fawzi Akram Terzi announced the plan, whereby each member of Parliament sponsors one young man or woman, who could not otherwise afford a marriage, by donating 1,000,000 dinars to the sponsored couple.  There are several conditions to the proposal; for example, the recipient cannot be a first relative of the politician, and the marriage has to take place in 2008.  Though all details have not been finalized, it has been proposed that all those receiving sponsorship will participate in a group wedding (زفاف جماعي).

->For those of you who are not familiar, Arab weddings are a big deal.  They cost alot of money – families will sometimes spend over a year’s salary on a wedding – and alot of people are invited, not to mention the fact that, for religious reasons, many couples will not physically consummate their relationship until marriage.  So there is incentive to get married, but, at the same time, there are financial obstacles to doing so.  In a February 2008 NYT article, Michael Slackman raised the issue of whether Egyptian youth’s inability to make money and get married was leading to an increase in fundamentalism.  So, in short, this is a move that makes sense in the context of Arab culture – whether or not it will be effective remains to be seen, because it is only assisting a small number of people.

Finally, the Iraqi embassy in DC plans to open two consulates in California and Michigan, respectively.