Alcohol is once again openly for sale in Baghdad according to an article in The Independent, a sign of a slow (if limited) return of normal social life under the present Shia/Kurdish government, made up of religious party members who officially don't drink, and Kurdish leaders who gleefully do.

It had become a tad difficult for drink shop owners, what with Al-Qa'ida militants burning the stores down - and shooting the owners.

Yet Iraq had for a long time been one of the more liberal of Arab countries, with restaurants and nightclubs serving wine and spirits including the aniseed-flavoured Arak -  the first ever spirit.  But in the early nineties the country ultimately became took on a more hard-line Islamic approach as Saddam sought to maintain his support. Drinking went underground and Muslims were banned from selling it.

When Saddam's regime fell, whisky, beer and wine once again reappeared in restaurants and bars. But at the height of the Sunni insurgency, al-Qa'ida  was notorious for its savage punishments of those offending Islamic social mores. Smokers had the two fingers with which they held a cigarette chopped off as a warning.  What they did to drinkers is fortunately not recorded. As things deteriorated into civil war (what's civil about war?) almost all the drink stores closed in the capital apart from a few in the heavily defended Green Zone.

By the way, the Iraqi dictator's favourite tipple was the Abigail's Party standard from the seventies - Mateus Rose.  Says it all.

Even our intrepid sales team may baulk at exploring the Iraqi market just yet.