BAGHDAD // For most of the past 30 years, Jamal Mansour has driven buses in Baghdad, working for the municipal transport authorities. With various wars, invasions and suicide bombings - the things that have come to permanently scar life here - passenger numbers have fluctuated wildly over the past three decades. With the somewhat stabilised city of today, Mr Mansour expected business to be brisk. Instead, Baghdad residents are reluctant to ride with him and some of the other drivers. Not because of any potential dangers from using public transport, he said. People are staying away because the bus he drives was made in Iran.
"It's not something I expected, but people are disturbed to see Iranian buses roaming the streets and don't want to ride on them," he said, threading the vehicle through the thick, day-long rush-hour traffic. There were no passengers on the bus for much of the route, between Bab al Moutham and Kadhimiya. "People have told me it's shameful that I'd agree to drive an Iranian bus. Even my family and friends have told me I shouldn't do this."
At a government level, relations between Iraq and Iran have perhaps never been better, with cordial ties between Tehran and Baghdad and promises for increased co-operation. But many Iraqis are still deeply, almost pathologically, suspicious of their powerful neighbour, the country with which they fought a brutal, eight-year war during the 1980s. The conflict brought devastation to both capital cities and set in motion the events that led to Iraq's economic collapse and, eventually, the toppling of Saddam Hussein. Despite that, to this day both Iraq and Iran insist the other started the war, and both maintain they won.
Many Iraqis also blame Iran for the violence and civil war that engulfed the country after the US-led invasion of 2003, saying Tehran incited sectarian forces to divide and weaken Iraq, as well as in revenge for the previous war. And with a rising sense of nationalism, being carefully tapped by astute, opportunistic politicians, such animosity has spread to the mundane, including buses. "Residents believe these buses may be working for the benefit of the Iranian government and Iran's economy," Mr Mansour said. "The buses represent a direct Iranian presence in Baghdad and there are plenty of people here who are outraged about that."
On a personal level, the 56-year-old driver said he was also unhappy with the Iranian machines, although not for ideological reasons. "The Iraqi government used to import British or German buses, which were always high quality," he said. "These Iranian buses are not as good; they spend too much time broken down in the middle of the road. No one can love a bus like that." Some 50 Iranian-made buses, painted a distinctive yellow, were recently purchased by the Baghdad city authorities. The decision was a purely practical one, based on urgent demand and their affordability, according to the mayor, Saber al Esawi.
"We imported the buses to resolve a shortage because many of the buses in service in 2003 were stolen after the fall of Baghdad," he said. "We needed new buses to serve the citizens." Buying Iranian proved to be a controversial step, however, and was met with disbelief by some Baghdad residents, who immediately suspected a conspiracy was under way. "I was shocked when I saw the Iranian buses," said Mohammed Ibrahim, a doctor with a clinic overlooking the Bab al Moutham bus station. "We've had so much Iranian intervention here and now we have Iranian industries invading.
"I don't know why we would buy bad quality Iranian buses, buses that even the Iranians don't like to have in Tehran because they break down. I can only think that administrative corruption is to blame, that the provincial council wanted to have good relations with Iran." Dr Ibrahim said he and others were boycotting the Iranian buses. "In my opinion we need to stop importing all Iranian goods," he said.
Although there is no sign of such a boycott taking place on a wide scale - Iran remains a major source for imports into Iraq - the 48-year-old doctor is far from alone in his anti-Iranian sentiments. Down in the bus station, Umm Ahmed watched as another of the yellow buses pulled off. It was going to her destination, but she refused to take it, preferring to wait for one of the old-fashioned red double-decker buses imported from Britain, which are regarded much more fondly.
"I lost four children in the Iran war," she said. "I never ride these Iranian buses. I would rather sleep here all night. Whoever bought these buses to Baghdad is a traitor. Iranians killed my family and they want to kill my country. Iran is our enemy." nlatif@thenational.ae
