Bring back Saddam!
Monday, August 24, 2009 
As if the population hasn't suffered enough, Iraq is the latest country to ban smoking in public places. According to a report in the Economist, sent to me while I was away, "It's the health and safety measure Iraqis have not been waiting for". It continues:
Anyone found lighting up [in public buildings] will have to pay a fine equivalent to $4,300, enough to buy 17,200 packs of cigarettes at the local price of about 25 cents. “Do the politicians have nothing better to do?” asks Abu Yasser, as he takes a drag while filling up his car at a petrol station. “My cousin was recently murdered by terrorists, my neighbour was tortured by the police, my electricity is cut for most of the day, the same is true in most hospitals in the city. And they are worried about smoking?”
The magazine adds:
The ban has done nothing to improve the already low opinion many Iraqis have of their democratically elected government. “Bring back Saddam,” says a cigarette vendor. “We were free to smoke anywhere then.”
Full article HERE.
Reader Comments (8)
Great link.
Might I also point out that Al Qaeda liked to inflict smoking bans before the west moved in?
Plus ca change and all that.
(it was while you were sunning yourself, Simon, so you may have missed it) ;-)
Another triumph for the World 'Health' Organisation, I'd say:
Ban Smoking - 'cos it Saves Lives.
Ban DDT (again) - 'cos it Saves Mosquitoes.
Yep - it's all starting to make sense now........
I am so ashamed at what we have done to this poor, suffering people. Bring back Saddam indeed.
Wouldn't be too easy to bring back Saddam!!
However, I agree that the whole place is a shambles but at least the Americans can brag they helped bring in a smoking ban. No democracy, security or even a future but hey don't worry, your clothes won't smell of cigarettes. This is shortsighted because I would think the cigarette smell would mask the smell of open sewers, military diesel fumes and burning flesh.
This shows how ridiculous smoking bans are and that they have nothing to do with health and everything to do with puritanical zealotry. The people who propose them are no better than the Taliban and other Middle Eastern religious nuts.
That an Iraqi citizen can think living under Saddam is more libertarian than being ruled by the West, says something about those who support such bans - they have no common sense, no compassion, and no honour. How can Iraqis be more afraid of a whiff of smoke than war, terrorist attacks and kidnappings? It's laughable!
This smoking ban is even more ridiculous than Amsterdam's. The lunatics really have taken over the world!
Interesting piece about the incidental 'benefits' of the ban - in terms of people's being beaten, killed etc etc in the latest 'Smoker's Club' e-mail:
http://encyclopedia.smokersclub.com/4.html
Some nice bedtime reading for Little Chloe.
And still the madness spreads ...
<<Turkey: Around 1,000 people have rallied at a park in Ankara yesterday to protest against Turkey's one-month-old ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and cafes.
Turkey extended a ban on indoor public smoking to bars and restaurants on July 19, to reduce smoking rates and the effects of secondhand smoke in the nation, where almost one in three adults smoke. >>
- http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/world/World-in-brief107
I cant help laughing maybe I'm going mad, I thought it was a joke, mother of god a smoking ban in Iraq, talk about the lunatics running the asylum.
But then I see that Turkey has brought in a smoking ban and realise its all a cunning plot.
Turkey would do anything to get into the EU, the poor fools think they would be better off and the democratically elected govt in Irag put in by the US military!
Say no more all is revealed.