Butt Out, Baghdad: Cig Laws Coming To Iraq
The AP is reporting that extensive smoking regulations may soon be enforced in Iraq, where packs run as little as 50 cents. If passed, there would be no lighting up in “government buildings, schools, movie theaters, sports facilities and on public transportation. It also bans the sale of cigarettes to anyone under the age of 18.”
Come again? Freakin’ Wyoming can’t even pass a statewide ban on smoking in your enclosed workplace, and last I checked there was no threat of federal schism, Iranian manipulation, bombed out infrastructure, and/or murderous insurgency in its last throes or otherwise anywhere near Pappa Cheney’s huntin’ grounds. If al-Maliki and co. think they can enforce a law this Giuliani, Broken Windows-esque even in Iraq, perhaps it’s time for Barack, or at least Petraeus, to start printing up some “Mission Accomplished” banners of his own.
Next up on Wheel Of Priorities, pooper-scooper crackdown in Kabul.
come on. another closed-minded, vapidly snarky post on freewilliamsburg? scolding the iraqis for passing public-health legislation–mosquera should write for lou dobbs, not an ny blog. this is silent-majority bullshit.
To anonymous: Far from Lou Dobbs, I assure you. There are long standing deficiencies in Iraq governance. Infrastructure and basic services have been holding back improvement of the average Iraqi’s way of life for years now, and al-Maliki’s government has not demonstrated, from what I have read, that that is more of a priority to him that solidifying his political standing. I do not mean to decry public health initiatives, and in fact would support stricter measures, but rather meant to suggest that the populace might at this point respond better to more what may seem to many tangible improvements in electricity, sewerage, or education, for instance. Perhaps we can disagree about what order these measures should be adopted, but that doesn’t imply closed-mindedness on either part.