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On the radio, cab drivers seem to favor Arabic rock, heavily synthesized and sounding like wailing Europop to the Western ear. AM frequencies that usually broadcast the Voice of America and BBC are jammed. The Arabic service of Radio Monte Carlo serves as a bridge to the outside world and plays American rock 'n' roll. No foreign newspapers, books or magazines are available; faxes are forbidden, and foreign travel by Iraqis has again been curtailed, as it was during the war with Iran. Still, the Deputy Foreign Minister's phone plays Home on the Range when the caller is put on hold.
! Though the wealthy can afford the Kuwaiti delicacies on sale in the fancy food shops of Masbah and Al-Mansur, ordinary Iraqis are being squeezed by rationing and rising prices at government-owned stores. The cost of Marlboros has increased threefold since the invasion. "You can find everything at the private market, but who can pay?" says a man outside a grocery.
Many restaurants have been closed; too many staples, needed for rationing over the long haul, were being consumed. There is almost no bread in the city. Though the downtown streets are jammed every night, there are few customers in the stores. "Business is very bad," concedes a senior minister. "The blockade is hurting." Meanwhile, says Information Minister Latif Jassim, "morale is very high, and the people are very strong."