Friday, September 02, 2005

Idol bjargar öllu

Put down your weapons, pick up microphones!

Amid all the gloom in Iraq, one thing is
cheering everyone up. They've finally got Pop
Idol - and don't even have to put up with
Simon Cowell. Iraq Star started on satellite
station al-Sumeria six weeks ago, attracting
more than 2,000 contestants and almost
60% of the nation's viewers every night.
Sadly only a handful of women have dared
to brave the country's Islamist wingnuts
36 year old Nada had her Baghdad apartment
trashed after her appearance, while her
landlord cut off her electricity and
water supply. The early favourites are a
barber called Mohammed, who sang Celine Dion's
My Heart Will Go On, dressed in fake
leather jeans, platform shoes and a Star
Trek t-shirt, and Bilal, a 12 year old
boy from Mosul whose own composition about
the war's destruction of Iraq had all the
judges in tears.

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