IRAQ: BUSINESS IS BOOMING IN THE IRAQI CITY OF NAHAF SINCE THE FALL OF SADDAM HUSSEIN

Record ID: 647940

  • Title: IRAQ: BUSINESS IS BOOMING IN THE IRAQI CITY OF NAHAF SINCE THE FALL OF SADDAM HUSSEIN
  • Date: 1st February 2004
  • Summary: (U1) NAJAF, IRAQ (FEBRUARY 1-2, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. LV DAWN SHOT OF IMAM ALI SHRINE 0.06 2. LV OF GOLDEN DOME 0.12 3. LV MINARETS LIGHTS SWITCHED ON 0.18 4. TOP VIEW CROWD OUTSIDE SHRINE 0.23 5. LV WORSHIPPERS ENTER SHRINE (2 SHOTS) 0.36 6. CU WORSHIPPERS KISSING SHRINE DOOR 0.40 7. LV/SLV WORSHIPPERS CROWDED AT IMAM ALI TOMB (2 SHOTS) 0.52 8. SLV/CU MAN PRAYING (2 SHOTS) 1.01 9. SLV CROWD OF (MOSTLY IRANIAN) WOMEN IN BLACK CHADORS GATHERED AT THE SHRINE 1.07 10. SV TOURIST PILGRIMS PAUSING FOR PICTURES 1.11 11. CU OF LD MAN 1.17 12. SV AFGHANI PILGRIM MOHAMED ISSA PRAYING 1.22 13. MCU (English) MOHAMED ISSA, PILGRIM FROM AFGHANISTAN SAYING: "I come from Afghanistan. I came here to pray for Imam Ali. Peace to him and other holy shrines in Karbala and other places in Iraq." 1.42 14. MCU (Arabic) IMAD HUSSEIN, PILGRIM FROM IRAN SAYING: "We came from Iran to visit the Imams and the Islamic sites which we were banned from during Saddam Husseins times." 1.54 15. SV/CU NAJAF MARKET SCENES (4 SHOTS) 2.12 16. MCU (Arabic) HAJJ ALI, MARKET VENDOR SAYING: "Business is good after the fall of the regime. Too many visitors, cars and others. Thank God business is good in all sectors. Merchants, jewellers and others are all doing well." 2.28 17. CLOSE-UP/SV SHOP OWNER COUNTING MONEY (2 SHOTS) 2.35 18. SV/SLV MARKET SCENES AND IRANIAN VISITORS SHOPPING (4 SHOTS) 2.55 19. SV IRANIAN WOMAN ARGUING ABOUT PRICES WITH AN IRAQI 3.03 20. SLV MORE WOMEN SHOPPING (2 SHOTS) 3.11 21. SLV/SV EXTERIOR OF AL-NABA HOTEL (2 SHOTS) 3.18 22. SV HOTEL OWNER IMAD ALWAN AT RECEPTION DESK 3.26 23. MCU (Arabic) IMAD ALWAN, HOTEL OWNER SAYING: "There is certainly an increase in profit because before, tourism used to be monopolised by the intelligence-run company. Now visitors enjoy free movement and many new companies entered the country. Industry is more prosperous and so are profits-- thank God." 3.47 24. SV IRANIAN WOMEN IN STREET 3.54 25. SLV PILGRIMS HEADING TO IMAM ALI SHRINE 4.00 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 16th February 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NAJAF, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVACYWSAALTHP1AV0XQGQG4DUYTF
  • Story Text: Business is booming in the Iraqi city of Najaf since the fall of Saddam Hussein.



    In the Iraqi city holiest to Shiite Muslims, you
    don't need to look deep into your soul anymore for proof
    God likes you. It's right there in the cash register.

    "Business is good after the fall of the regime," market
    vendor Hajj Ali said.

    The market and everything in it, it's all from Ali.

    "Thank God business is good in all sectors," said
    66-year-old Hajj Ali, who sells rings and cloth outside the
    shrine of Ali, the first of the Imams revered by Iraqs
    Shiites and Shiite pilgrims from abroad.

    One pilgrim, Mohamed Issa, said: "I come from
    Afghanistan. I came here to pray for Imam Ali, adding peace
    to him and other holy shrines in Karbala and other places
    in Iraq."
    Religious tourism is generating wealth that -- along
    with the new political clout of Iraqs Shiite majority --
    has put a swagger in the step of a city beaten into
    submission by Saddam Hussein following an abortive uprising
    after the 1991 Gulf War.

    With Saddams fall, the flow of pilgrims, mostly Iranian
    Shiites, and their cash to Najaf has spurred a commercial
    boom.

    The pick up in business also mirrors Shiites growing
    political influence in Iraq, where their most revered
    cleric is putting pressure on the U.S. to hold elections,
    likely to favour the Shiite majority, before handing over
    sovereignty.

    For the merchants who house the faithful and ply them
    with trinkets, the money is a sign that history may be
    shifting in favour of people long on the receiving end of
    political power wielded by Iraqi rulers from Islams Sunni
    sect.

    "There is certainly an increase in profit because
    before, tourism used to be monopolised by the
    intelligence-run company. Now visitors enjoy free movement
    and many new companies entered the country," explained Imad
    Hussein Alwan, manager of Najafs Nabaa hotel, which like
    most in the city is packed with pilgrims whom signs
    scrawled in Persian admonish to check out by noon.

    Alwan estimates the hotels staff and 160 guests are
    more than twice pre-war levels.


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