As life fades away, Baghdad becomes a memory

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Baghdad tastes of pistachio ice-cream on a summer night for Ahmed Baqi.

Evoking happier times, Baqi reminisced about the days when families and lovers crowded Baghdad's famed al-Faqma ice-cream parlor before bombs and shootings emptied the place.

"I had a girlfriend and we used to go to al-Faqma. It is a special place in my life. Now I drive by and look the other way. It is only a memory," the 30-year-old lawyer said.

One by one, the old places where Baghdad's residents loved life are disappearing under violence.

Parks, book markets, cafes -- where many played as children, browsed bookshelves as students or whiled away afternoons smoking water pipes -- have been erased, leaving a city many residents say they no longer recognize.

With car bombs, concrete barriers and shortages slowly eating away at people's lives and forcing once easy-going residents to stay indoors, Baghdad is becoming a memory.

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070424/wl_nm/iraq_baghdad_dc