Posted: 4/4/2009 9:52:20 PM EDT
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Hummer is the new Iraqi status symbol
In an odd twist for a vehicle that represents U.S. might, Iraqis are in love with the Hummer. By ROD NORDLAND, New York Times (via Star-Tribune) Last update: April 4, 2009 - 10:11 AM BAGHDAD - Ali al-Hilli is a happy man. He has a wife and three kids, a prosperous business and –– this is the important part –– a Hummer. In a country with at least 20,000 Humvees and a war-weary population, who would think there would be a market for the civilian version? Al-Hilli did. "I just knew there'd be a huge demand for this in Baghdad," he said. Now, Al-Hilli and his brother, Dhafir, run a car dealership specializing in Hummers. It is called, in English, "Al Sultan for Trading Cars." A U.S. diplomat declared that it was the biggest Hummer dealership outside of the United States, a fact that seemed too good to check. Unfortunately, Al-Hilli has checked. "It's the biggest one in Baghdad, though, that's for sure," he said. Never mind that General Motors, Hummer's struggling parent company, may scrap the brand or sell it. "Iraqis love them because they're really a symbol of power," said Al-Hilli, a chubby 37-year-old who could not stop chuckling. Nonetheless, he spoke with authority, because he was his own first customer. A symbol of so much more Hummers in Baghdad are symbols of much more besides: increasing security, returning normality and a yearning for the trappings of sovereignty. Al-Hilli allowed that there was something else, too, a little more indefinable, which in Arabic is hasad thukuri, and which in English will be translated later. The Al-Hilli brothers first got their brainstorm a couple of years ago, during the height of the sectarian violence. "Even if we imported these back then, no one would have dared to drive around in them," Ali al-Hilli said. Insurgents were taking aim at anything that looked foreign, let alone an analogue of a U.S. military vehicle. |
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They pay double for them there........saw it on the news......... Ill guarantee they arent. You can buy a brand new BMW in Iraq for $4k USD, the exchange rate is just that good. It may have changed somewhat but not by much. Not only that but the gas is cheap as fuck. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
They pay double for them there........saw it on the news......... Ill guarantee they arent. You can buy a brand new BMW in Iraq for $4k USD, the exchange rate is just that good. It may have changed somewhat but not by much. Uh, No. People would be ship looping them through iraq like hotcakes. |
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I paid $500 for my 1999 BMW 5 series. it was ragged out but still fun. we tinted the windows and used it for sneaky-sneaky runs. I left it with some S-2 bubbas when i left Ramadi.
Anything USGI is a status symbol. you can make Hajji happier than shit with a flightsuit or embroidered patch. |