Volume 14 Issue 3
The VICE Guide To Iraq
Iraq is more than just exploding bodies, bloodthirsty zealots, and confused American soldiers. It’s also got spicy meat soups and raisin-juice, verdant rose bushes, and centuries of culture and tradition.
Sunni Or Shiite?
After the fall of Saddam's regime in 2003, the army was dissolved, and former high-ranking Baath Party members were removed from their positions.
Weapons Of Mass Bewilderment
The infamous battle of the Baghdad airport took place in the first week of April 2003. It was the final battle of the "official" conquest of Iraq.
Tidbits
SIX PACK OF BUDRight after the invasion or the liberation or whatever (in Iraq we call those first days "the war") there was beer available everywhere. Then the extremists started killing the
Shhhhh!
"Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll" is a Western concept. In Iraq, it's more about the lack of these things. Nightclubs don't exist, sex is sacred and private, and you'd have a better chance seeing two people making out in the street than you would of...
Records
OMAR SOULEYMANHighway To Hassake: Folk and Pop Sounds of SyriaThis is the kind of album people would play on a raucous desert trip, blasting across the sands. Arabic music in general is an acquired taste because of its use of quarter...
Insurgent Vs. Insurgent
Abu Omar cleans his machine gun with an old checkered Arab headdress that he also uses to conceal his identity when he's fighting on the streets. But this insurgent hasn't fought the Americans in two weeks.
Vice Mail
THE GIRLS ISSUE SAVED MY LIFEThanks a million for The Girls Issue! 2006 was pretty shitty—I lost my job, got fucked over by untold boys (it was international fuckeries too—one from Sweden, one from L.A.
Saddam H. Christ
Dr. Najeeb Al-Nuaimi was a lead lawyer on Saddam Hussein's final legal defense team. Al-Nuaimi first came to prominence defending Guantánamo Bay inmates, and recently this renowned human rights activist of the Arab world sat down to talk to us.