Business Growth

The International Zone has a lot of Iraqis living within it's boundary. After all, this was pretty much the seat of power during the Saddam era. One of the pleasures of living here is taking a walk through the IZ and checking out what passes for "normal" life in Baghdad. We can walk to many of the Iraqi landmarks like the "Crossed Swords", "Memorial to the Unknown Soldier", and the famous Al-Rahseed Hotel. This hotel was the on-site location for many of the international news reporters who were here during the 2003 invasion.

There are a limited number of businesses here. One is the Freedom Cafe. It's located down the street from the Embassy and serves authentic Arabic food. We can walk there in a few minutes and have a traditional lunch of hummus, lamb kebabs and swarhima. It's a nice break from the food at the Embassy Dining Facility (which serves great food).

On a recent trek to the Freedom Cafe, we noticed that they've added a little food market in the back of the cafe. We noticed some fresh vegetables, ketchup, laundry detergent, honey, pancake syrup, olives, paper towels, some TV dinners (not frozen), canned vegetables, rice, and some sweet breads for a nice dessert. We commented that this is a good sign of businesses "coming back". We hear of things like this happening all around the country. Slowly, but ever so slowly things are improving. I hope they continue!