海角大神

In Baghdad鈥檚 dust, destruction, and 120-degree heat, the city鈥檚 biggest new shopping mall is a gleaming oasis of chilled air and pent-up dreams.

On most days, just a few minutes after opening, the parking lot of the Mansour Mall is nearly full and customers are waiting in line outside to be frisked.

The portable cabins where male and female security guards pat down customers, looking for bombs, has become the cost of going almost anywhere in Baghdad. But it doesn鈥檛 seem to faze Iraqis who are braving the streets in the most violent summer in years.

鈥淭his is a place for families to come, to be able to breathe for a little bit,鈥� says Jabar Said, a security manager at the newly opened Mansour Mall.聽 鈥淭hey buy clothes for the kids, drink coffee or have something to eat, the children play games鈥�. They can do anything they want here.鈥� He says 2,000 to 3,000 people a day have been visiting the mall since it opened six weeks ago.

Through the glass doors and a set of metal detectors lie three floors of Turkish and European clothing, accessories, and cosmetics, with many brands making their Baghdad debut. Gold jewelry from the Gulf and Italy glitters in shop windows.

Upstairs, a tinny version of "It鈥檚 a Small World After All" plays over the sound system while children run between a bouncing ball castle and mechanical rides.

On the top floor is Baghdad鈥檚 first movie cinema to open in decades.

Dhuha Fawaz was too young to remember when Iraqis could go out to see a film. 聽But after her university classes, she sells tickets at the seven-screen cinema.

鈥淢y mother asked me to stop working because of the bombings, but I insisted,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 escape your fate.鈥�

For an $8 ticket, moviegoers choose reserved seats from an electronic diagram of the theatre. The cinema features mostly action movies: World War Z, the latest installment of Fast and Furious, and White House Down.

鈥淲e have lots of people coming, but if we had more security in Baghdad even more would come,鈥� says Dhuha.

Like most Iraqis, she doesn鈥檛 know what to make of the endless car bombs. 鈥淥ne day I鈥檓 hopeful, the next I鈥檓 not,鈥� she says.

A new normal

Violence in Iraq has been rising, with coordinated bombings killing more than 1,000 people in July 鈥� the highest monthly total in five years. On Tuesday, six bombings in Baghdad marketplaces killed at least 27 people and wounded about 80.

Unlike previous attacks claimed by Al Qaeda and aimed at security forces and Shiite areas, the latest violence has hit crowded market places, cafes, and even football fields after Iraqis break their dawn-to-dusk fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

It takes the most severe of bombings to keep Iraqis at home in the evening after enduring the heat and electricity cuts.

On a recent evening in Baghdad鈥檚 newest amusement park, Jinan Abdul Kareem dressed up and put their six-old month baby in a stroller to go out with her husband.

鈥淪ecurity hasn鈥檛 changed but there are more and more beautiful places like this one where we see people having fun so the situation is better,鈥� says Jinan, walking past fountains and rides bright with colored lights. 聽鈥淲e hear about explosions but it has become normal. We鈥檝e gotten used to it. It doesn鈥檛 mean we have to stay home.鈥�

鈥淥ur mothers and wives and children have become stronger than us 鈥� they are insisting we go out and live our lives normally,鈥� says Samir Qays Hussein who took his family to live in Syria but returned to Iraq because it became too dangerous there. 鈥淪ometimes I say 鈥榥o way there鈥檚 an explosion鈥� and they say 鈥楴o, let鈥檚 go 鈥� we are suffocating.鈥欌��

Seeking a future

Behind the smiles are signs of a country still fragmenting.

鈥淚 hope they don鈥檛 target us, but we are doing our best to provide security,鈥� says Qusay Abdul Jailil Kamal, the amusement park company manager.

He says business isn鈥檛 as good as they had hoped when they started building a year ago, but is better than they expected given the current violence. The rides, German and Italian-made, were meant to be installed by the companies鈥� European engineers. They cancelled their trips to Iraq due to security.

鈥淲e went as a delegation abroad to get lessons on how to install the rides,鈥� says Kamal. 鈥淭his has now been done 100 percent by Iraqis.鈥�

One of the Iraqi engineers says he is trying to leave the country. His daughter has already emigrated 鈥� one of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi professionals who have fled.

鈥淭here is no future here,鈥� the engineer says sadly.聽

Other families say even the bombings don鈥檛 bother them as much as the lack of jobs, particularly for young people. Honed during three devastating wars in the past four decades, Iraqi bravado endures.

鈥榃e are challenging the terrorists 鈥� the bombings don鈥檛 stop us,鈥� says Um Mustafa, who says she plans to stay until midnight to try all the rides.

鈥淚f things are so good, why did you send your son to America?鈥� her teenage daughter asks her as they walk away.