Tuesday, September 20, 2005


The story of an Iraqi boy who looks like George W. Bush: (from the correspondent of UAE's Al-Khalij in Iraq--my translation). "Usamah Nabil, an Iraqi boy who is 10-year old, lives in Baghdad, the capital, suffers from a problem that he has no control over. But it has become affixed to him against his will, and despite attempts to rid himself of it. But as things are this problem accompanies him wherever he goes. His problem is not health-related, or social or humanitarian, but it is a problem of his appearance which resembles that of the US president George W. Bush to a large degree. To the point where his parents and friends in the street or school have stopped calling him by his real name, but call him "Bush." Usamah Nabil says he is not responsible for this problem of his look, and "that it is the will of God...who can create 40 resemblances [an Arab saying]...My father tells me to not get sick of this resemblance. Truthfully, I hate the name of Bush for many reasons; it is not one of the Arab or Islamic names, and he has killed many children in Iraq. I have tried to distance myself from the resemblance at school, but I quickly found that students call me by the name "Bush," and now I am perplexed because this name has become a synonym for me, and I wish to get rid of it in any way possible." As for his father who owns a shop in one of the suqs of Baghdad, he says:" My son Usamah has sharp intelligence, and works distinctively well in the shop that I own. But his problem is his appearance which resembles that of...Bush, to the point where customers have stopped calling him by his name, and call him "Little Bush," which greatly displeases him, and sometimes he embarrasses me with some customers when he attacks them with strong words in response to that name....He has started hating school due to him being called by the name of Bush...But I try to convince him that Bush will be forgotten after a few years, and only a few will remember him, and then he will live with your real name, and real appearance."