From the Archives: Iraq in 1956

In the post-WWII era, Iraq looked like a progressive and advancing country, with active foreign trade, factories, major agricultural output, and (most important) oil. My dad worked on water supply projects there in 1956 for an American engineering company. I assume the work was funded by US-AID, as were infrastructure and water supply projects around the world. This was the short period when the USA was still seen as one of the victors and heroes of the war in Europe and Asia. We funded development projects around the world, fed a starving Europe, and shared scientific knowledge. These efforts led to the green resolution and the virtual elimination of small pox, tuberculosis, and polio. These were the good years before we ruined our reputation with the misguided interference in Latin America, the Bay of Pigs, and the disaster in Vietnam. 

In the 1950s, Iraq was awash with oil money. The government even commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to develop a Master Plan for Baghdad. None of it was ever built, so my dad did not enjoy any of Wright's extravagant architecture (such as the opera house on an island in the Tigris!).

Tigris River from Zia Hotel

This is the view from the Zia Hotel, where my dad stayed. 

Agatha Christie lived in the Zia in 1928 and used it as a model for her Tia Hotel. 

Haydar Khana Mosque, Baghdad 

Super stewpot, probably the Souk al-Safafeer, Baghdad

Souk al-Safafeer was Baghdad’s ancient coppersmiths’ market.

Agatha Christie's heroine, Victoria, came across the Souk on her first day in Baghdad:

"And then, as she walked along the street, a prodigious hammering and clanging came to her ears and peering down a long dim alley, she remembered that Mrs. Cardew Trench had said that the Olive Branch was near the Copper Bazaar. Here, at least, was the Copper Bazaar.

"Victoria plunged in, and for the next three-quarters of an hour she forgot the Olive Branch completely. The Copper Bazaar fascinated her. The blow-lamps, the melting metal, the whole business of craftsmanship came like a revelation to the little Cockney used only to finished products stacked up for sale. She wandered at random through the souk, passed out of the Copper Bazaar, came to the gay striped horse blankets, and the cotton quilted bedcovers. Here European merchandise took on a totally different guise, in the arched cool darkness it had the exotic quality of something come from overseas, something strange and rare. Bales of cheap printed cottons in gay colours made a feast for the eyes."

Villagers walking past an archaeological site

Checking out the date harvest

Ruins of the Arch of Ctesiphon. Note the massive base.

Ctesiphon was an imperial capitol and rich commercial city on the east bank of the Tigris about 20 miles southeast of Baghdad. The arch is a famous tourist destination. 

Ruins of the Arch of Ctesiphon.

Note how a modern buttress had been built to keep the wall from toppling.

From Alamy via The Economist.

Early-to-mid-1900s passenger network, from The Economist

The Middle East once had a comprehensive network of rail lines. You truly could take the train from Berlin to Baghdad, and continue to Basra, or the line to Beirut, and hence on to Cairo or Medina. Most of it has fallen into ruin after a century of war, deliberate destruction, mismanagement, and bad governance. But select rail lines are being rebuilt. 

This ends our short visit to Baghdad. My dad's employer never signed a contract for hydrology projects in Iraq and we never moved there. It would have been an adventure.

My dad took these pictures on Kodachrome film with his Leica IIIC camera and its 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens, the same package that I occasionally use today.