(This reminds me of when the U.S. Troop started re-sodding the soccer fields in Afghanistan, but the day after they finished, the sod and the soil had been taken up and carted away.)
A slow rebirth for Baghdad the beautiful
Two years after US tanks rolled in, Iraq's capital is part ruin, part building site. Now locals are trying to restore some colour to their cityRory Carroll in Baghdad
Saturday April 9, 2005
The GuardianIt boasts alliteration but the concept seems fanciful: beautiful Baghdad. Iraq's capital is famous for violence, degradation, occupation and blackouts, not aesthetic appeal.
Everywhere there are concrete blast barriers, sandbags and razor wire. Rubbish lines streets which are sometimes ankle-deep in sewage. Bombed buildings remain in ruins. Giant mosques commissioned by Saddam Hussein lie unfinished on idle building sites.
April 9 2003 was the day American troops took the city and toppled the dictator's statue in Firdos square. Two years later debate over the war still rages, but one point Baghdadis agree on is that today marks the anniversary of when their city became an eyesore. "The place looks awful," said Hussein Abd Emir, 52, a cafe owner in Karrada, a district for the well-heeled. "It's like a military base. A dirty military base. My God, it's ugly." But in big and small ways things are changing.
City authorities and residents themselves are injecting colour and vitality through initiatives designed to beautify Baghdad. Municipal workers have planted thousands of bushes and trees along thoroughfares and intersections. It is easy to miss them now but within six months some species will be waist-high foliage, said Mustafa al-Ubadi, 35, pointing to freshly planted rows of leafless saplings opposite his fish restaurant on Abu Nawas street. Emboldened by better security and business, he plans to return paintings he stored at home for safety to the bare walls of his restaurant.
This week trucks unloaded tonnes of soil on to the east bank of the Tigris, which is to be laid with grass, dotted with benches and linked to a new park due to open later this year. There will be a fountain, swings and slides, said Kadhim Radhi, 40, a council worker at the site. This weekend the city will regain a favourite playground: Jadriya lake, formerly known as Saddam lake.
(more at link above)
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