1957

Baghdad, 1957:
one year before the July 14 Revolution that ultimately changed the fate of the Iraqi nation-state.

A Google search offers little more than Frank Lloyd Wright's queer orientalist vision of Baghdad:

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/1469/flw_iraq.html

Here we have the very pristine perception and plans of a legendary American visionary for the future of Iraq's capital city at this pivotal moment. Disappointingly, Iraqis' own perceptions and plans for Iraq in this moment are not widely published on the web (in English).

Offer your insights: What was Baghdad like in 1957?

Baghdad's new mythology?

Mainstream U.S. Headlines from the past year:

"Walling off Baghdad areas raises fears sectarian splits will deepen"

"Iraqi official says Rice complained that Baghdad crackdown too sectarian"

"Gates Urges Iraq to Hasten Push to Defuse Sectarianism"

What is SECTARIANISM? How long has it existed in Baghdad? In Iraq?
Are these tensions real and deep? Are they superficial and imposed?

Dare to Dream

I have an American passport and a Sunni name. It has been suggested to me not to dream of stepping a foot inside Baghdad for at least another fifty years. I haven't seen Baghad or Iraq since I was two years old.

Can...or should...or does the generation of young Iraqi ex-pats dare to dream of visiting Baghdad again?