The good news from Iraq has relocated
By Thoreau
It appears that the drumbeat of “Why won’t you report the good news from Iraq?” requests is still going on:
A reader wrote me to say that I was an “Al Qaeda cheerleader” for a story that included quotes from U.S. soldiers troubled about the difficulties of fighting insurgents. Many more asked, “Isn’t there some good news to report?”
So the LA Times searched high and low for some good news. And they found it:
Meanwhile, I learned of another possible story: about a Chinese restaurant that had been opened in Baghdad’s Karada district by three laid-off steelworkers from China’s Hubei province — the first eatery here to be owned and operated by someone from outside the Middle East in years.
A local Times reporter, Saif Hameed, was so inspired by the willingness of the Chinese to come to Baghdad that he wrote them a welcome letter, which he got translated into Mandarin.
“The fact that you left your families behind and came here lifts my spirit and deserves the greatest respect,” Hameed wrote. “I couldn’t sleep yesterday, no matter how hard I tried, thinking about you and admiring you.”
Ah, so Iraqi fortunes are looking up, right? You’ve just gotta find the sweet mixed in with the sour, but the good news is there. Oh, yes, it’s there! Working in Baghdad beats being an unemployed steel worker in China! Mission accomplished! See, it was worth it after all.
And so the reporter set up an interview with the restaurant owners.
A few days later, the restaurant employees said they had changed their minds about the interview. They were too scared to raise their profile through a news story. And a Chinese Embassy spokesman said his office had persuaded them to return home, although they were still operating in recent days. “The situation is far too dangerous for them to work here,” the spokesman said.
Damn. Well, they tried. On the other hand, given the amount of pork in Chinese cuisine, I suspect that the restaurant would have been about as successful as a Baghdad Christmas tree vendor.
Comment by Peter —
March 16, 2008 @ 2:29 pm
What a strange story. Those two guys must have had it bad back in China.
http://www.gopcatholics.blogspot.com
Comment by joe —
March 17, 2008 @ 11:12 am
“Al Qaeda cheerleader.”
I love the fact that these idiots still use the same language they were throwing about in 2002, to bully people into supporting the war.
It just makes it that much less likely that it will be effective next time.
Comment by Derek Copold —
March 17, 2008 @ 11:29 am
Funny thing. Down block from my house, there was a Halal Chinese restaurant: a Chinese restaurant that catered to Muslims. It went out of business, too. Maybe Chinese food just doesn’t sell well among the believers.
Then again, the Italian joint that took over the building flopped a few months later. I tried telling the new Vietnamese owners to sell while they still can, but they think they can reverse the site’s bad mojo.
Comment by Thoreau —
March 17, 2008 @ 11:37 am
Wasn’t there a Seinfeld about that?
Advise the Vietnamese owners to make it into a Pakistani place. What could possibly go wrong?
Comment by ZapPow —
March 17, 2008 @ 12:13 pm
There are many muslims in China (about 1.5 % of the population), most of them Sunni. One of the muslim groups is the Hui, who are exactly like the Han, but just practicing Islam. They have a chinese islamic cuisine. You also have the Utsuls, who apparently came from Cambodia, and the Uygurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs, who are turkic peoples.
They rebelled a few times (Dungon rebellion, Panthay rebellion, etc.) because they were discriminated.
Comment by Derek Copold —
March 17, 2008 @ 12:28 pm
Wasn’t there a Seinfeld about that?
It’s one of those old running jokes based on reality. I’m sure you’ve seen one of those locations that turns over restaurants every six months or so.
Advise the Vietnamese owners to make it into a Pakistani place. What could possibly go wrong?
We have quite a few Pakistani restaurants, actually, so that advice might not be so bad. Of course, we’ve got plenty of Vietnamese places, too.
Things get real entertaining when some big fella from Red China visits town. In addition to the Falun Gong pilgrims (who come from as far as Australia solely for the purpose of protesting), you get indignant Indians and vexed Vietnamese yelling about various land claims. And let’s not forget the ticked off Tibetans–who admittedly have a pretty good gripe.
Comment by Eric the .5b —
March 17, 2008 @ 3:14 pm
Indeed. I forget which ones, but this menu of a Chinese restaurant in Greenland includes some items adapted from one Sino-Muslim cuisine.