Exchange StudentsMaking Cultural Connections with Kids in War-Torn Lands Author(s)Annissa   Hambouz, The New York Times Learning Network Javaid   Khan, The Bank Street College of Education in New York City Grades: 6-8, 9-12Subjects: Global History, Language Arts, TechnologyInterdisciplinary Connections

Overview of Lesson Plan:In this lesson, students learn about the increasing popularity and importance of cellular phones among Iraqi youths. They then create informative guides and compose letters to send to students living in countries currently experiencing turmoil that address topics such as popular culture and daily life. Review the Academic Content Standards related to this lesson. Suggested Time Allowance:1 hour Objectives:Students will:1. Consider ten things they value, and why.2. Learn about the increasing popularity of cellphones in Iraq by reading and discussing the article, "Must Haves: Cellphones Top Iraqi Cool List."3. Create a "Definitive Guide to My Culture" for people their age visiting from other countries. 4. Write letters to pen pals in war torn countries, sharing information about their daily lives, interests, and latest trends.

Resources / Materials:-student journals-pens/pencils-paper-classroom board-copies of "Must Haves: Cellphones Top Iraqi Cool List" found online at http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20060809wednesday.html (one per student)-computers with Internet access (optional)-scissors, markers, colored pencils, and other art supplies (one set per group)-youth and popular culture magazines (to be used in "Definitive Guide to My Culture")-an account with an online or other international pen pal service, designed for classroom or educational purposes, such as International Education and Resource Network ( http://www.iearn.org/), International Pen Friends ( http://usa.ipfpenfriends.com/), Intercultural E-mail Classroom Connections (http://www.iecc.org/), or ePals Classroom Exchange ( http://www.epals.com/). Activities / Procedures:1. WARM-UP/DO-NOW: Before class, write the following prompt on the classroom board: "List ten things you value."After students have been seated, explain that they have one minute to respond to the prompt. Once the minute is up, have each student share one item of value from his or her list. Are there common responses shared among students, such as family members,

friends, or certain material possessions? Have several students share how they selected the items on their list within the one-minute time limit. Then, engage students in a brief discussion using the following questions:-"If the place where you live faced a military occupation or a war, do you think the value you placed on each item on your list might change? How? If not, why not?"-"What would you add or subtract from your list if you lived under the threat of war, and why?"

2. Have the class read and discuss "Must Haves: Cellphones Top Iraqi Cool List" (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20060809wednesday.html) focusing on the following questions:a. What are some of the cellphone nicknames in Iraq, and for what or for whom are they named?b. What kind of messages and images do Iraqis share with each other through their cell phones, according to the article?c. How do these messages both reflect and differ from the current environment in which Iraqis live?d. How has the number of cellphone subscribers changed in Iraq over the past two years?e. How much can cellphones cost in Iraq, according to the article?f. What common architectural features do cellphone towers now outnumber in Iraq?g. Why does the reporter speculate that cellphone use has increased in Iraq?h. What evidence does he offer to support this?i. Who is Jabar Satar Salaum?j. To what does the reporter compare the images of cellphones on the poster in Mr. Salaum's shop?k. What example does the article offer to support the claim that "the powerful are as vulnerable to consumer culture as the young are"?l. How does the military employ cellphones, according to the article?m. Why are cellphones of significance to human rights workers in Iraq?n. What are the most common topics of humor in cellphone video clips, according to the article?o. Why are clips of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein considered particularly humorous?

3. Explain to students that they will have the opportunity to communicate with students in countries currently experiencing conflict, such as Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Israel, or others. (You may select specific countries prior to class by establishing a classroom account with an online educational pen pal service. Alternatively, you may choose to adapt this exercise to focus on other countries of your choice, not just those experiencing conflict). Their task is to create a guide to their own culture to share with students from other countries. In addition, students will individually write letters to their pen pals in which they introduce themselves and offer information about their lives. In the same letter, students should be encouraged to ask their pen pals to share information about their daily lives, habits, interests, and values.

Divide students into small groups of three or four. Explain that the article "Must Haves: Cellphones Top Iraqi Cool List" offered students a glimpse of daily life and culture in war torn Iraq. Using cellphone technology, Iraqis have been able to communicate humor as well as messages of personal safety, continued violence, and even human rights abuses, while, as the article mentions, violence "claim dozens of Iraqi" lives per day. With this in mind, groups spend the remainder of the class period creating a "Definitive Guide to My Culture" for people their age visiting from other countries. Using all available classroom resources and art supplies, groups create a guide containing information that will offer young people in such war torn lands a glimpse into the daily life and culture of youths in this country. Suggested entries for groups to cover include: books, movies, music, television, politics, technology, school (academic subjects, extra-curricular activities, etc.), fashion, and language (the latest expressions, terms, and slang words).

4. WRAP-UP/HOMEWORK: For homework, students write letters to pen pals. Have them refer to the list they created in the Warm-Up for information they would like to share about themselves, as well as inspiration for questions to ask their pen pals. Letters may contain questions regarding popular culture, daily life under the threat of war, academic interests, etc. They may wish to focus on a particular topic, such as technology or cellphones, as they read about in today's article. If necessary, remind students to use appropriate and respectful language, and to consider potential cultural differences when addressing their pen pals.

In the next class period, students exchange their letters with their neighbors to proofread and peer-edit. Are students' introductions complete? Do they offer overviews of their lives and interests? Are their questions appropriate and respectful of their pen pals' cultures? What information, if any, might they wish to add to their letters?

At the end of this class period, students should submit the final drafts of their letters along with copies of their "Definitive Guide to My Culture." If possible, send finished products to students in other countries through an online or other international pen pal service.

Further Questions for Discussion:-Is there an equivalent to the Iraqi cellphone trend in your country? If so, what is it? Do people have nicknames for different product models? Is there a desire to frequently "upgrade" to newer models?-Can you think of a time in your life when having a sense of humor helped you? What were the circumstances?-Would you ever make fun of the political situation in your country? If so, what topics would you choose? If not, why not? Evaluation / Assessment:Students will be evaluated based on their responses to the opening exercise, contributions to class discussions and group creation of a culture guide entry, and thoughtfully written pen pal letters for homework.

Vocabulary:dapper, stocky, commentary, macabre, resilience, amid, swells, minarets, fertilized, insurgents, detonate, sects, outrage, acquisition, mnemonic device, swivels, rotor blade, deteriorating, titanium, carnage, video outtakes, halting Extension Activities:1. The article mentions former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, but who are Iraq's leaders today? Research and create an organizational chart of the current Iraqi government.

2. Watch the article's related Multimedia feature, "Cellphones in Iraq," found online in the left sidebar at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/world/middleeast/08cellphone.html?n=Top%2fNews%2fWorld%2fCountries%20and%20Territories%2fIraq. How do these video clips offer further insight into Iraqi culture and humor? Write a response.

3. Create your own satirical advertisement or short film for a cell phone. Choose a topic to which you think most people in your country can relate.

Interdisciplinary Connections:American History- Create a timeline of United States-Iraq relations, from 1980 to the present.

Economics-Create a presentation on a cross-section of one product or brand in the markets of three different countries. How do the images and marketing techniques vary from place to place, and what might one conclude about the cultures in which the products are being sold?-What is Iraq's current economic state? Research the country's gross domestic product and per capita income. What percentage of a person's average monthly salary might a cellphone cost?

Teaching with The Times- Read The New York Times every day for reports from the Middle East. Create a glossary of terms related to this global region to help readers better understand the news there. You may wish to start with: Apache, Black Hawk, insurgent, occupation, Shiite, and Sunni.(To order The New York Times for your classroom, click here.

Other Information on the WebFor the latest news regarding the situation in Iraq, visit The New York Times online "Times Topics" Web page on Iraq ( http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/iraq/index.html). Academic Content Standards:

This lesson plan may be used to address the academic standards listed below. These standards are drawn from Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education: 3rd and 4th Editions and have been provided courtesy of the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning in Aurora, Colorado.

Grades 6-8 Geography Standard 4- Understands the physical and human characteristics of place. Benchmarks: Knows the human characteristics of places; Knows the causes and effects of changes in a place over timeGeography Standard 6- Understands that culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions. Benchmark: Knows the ways in which culture influences the perception of places and regionsGeography Standard 11- Understands the patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface. Benchmarks: Understands the spatial aspects of systems designed to deliver goods and services (e.g., the movement of a product from point of manufacture to point of use; imports, exports, and trading patterns of various countries; interruptions in world trade such as war, crop failures, and labor strikes); Understands issues related to the spatial distribution of economic activities; Understands factors that influence the location of industries in the United States; Understands the primary geographic causes for world trade; Knows primary, secondary, and tertiary activities in a geographic context. World History Standard 44- Understands the search for community, stability, and peace in an interdependent world. Benchmarks: Understands influences on economic development around the world; Understands the emergence of a global culture; Understands the role and difficulties of the present day migrant worker. Behavioral Studies Standard 1- Understands that group and cultural influences contribute to human development, identity, and behavior. Benchmarks: Understands that each culture has distinctive patterns of behavior that are usually practiced by most of the people who grow up in it; Understands that various factors (e.g., wants and needs, talents, interests, influence of family and peers and media) affect decisions that individuals makeBehavioral Studies Standard 2- Understands various meanings of social group, general implications of group membership, and different ways that groups function. Benchmarks: Understands that a variety of factors (e.g., belief systems, learned behavior patterns) contribute to the ways in which groups respond differently to their physical and social environments and to the wants and needs of their members; Understands how language, literature, the arts, architecture, other artifacts, traditions, beliefs, values, and behaviors contribute to the development and transmission of culture; Understands that a large society may be made up of many groups, and these groups may contain many distinctly different subculturesLanguage Arts Standard 1- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process. Benchmark: Writes reflective compositions

Grades 9-12 Geography Standard 4- Understands the physical and human characteristics of place. Benchmarks: Knows how social, cultural, and economic processes shape the features of places; Understands why places have specific physical and human characteristics in different parts of the worldGeography Standard 6- Understands that culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions. Benchmarks: Understands why places and regions are important to individual human identity and as symbols for unifying or fragmenting society; Knows ways in which people's changing views of places and regions reflect

cultural changeGeography Standard 10- Understands the nature and complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics. Benchmarks: Knows how cultures influence the characteristics of regions; Understands how human characteristics make specific regions of the world distinctiveWorld History Standard 44- Understands the search for community, stability, and peace in an interdependent world. Benchmarks: Understands rates of economic development and the emergence of different economic systems around the globe; Understands major reasons for the great disparities between industrialized and developing nations; Understands how global political change has altered the world economy. Geography Standard 11- Understands the patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface. Benchmarks: Knows the spatial distribution of major economic systems and their relative merits in terms of productivity and the social welfare of workers; Understands the historical movement patterns of people and goods and their relationships to economic activity; Understands the relationships between various settlement patterns, their associated economic activities, and the relative land values; Understands the advantages and disadvantages of international economic patterns. Behavioral Studies Standard 1- Understands that group and cultural influences contribute to human development, identity, and behavior. Benchmarks: Understands that cultural beliefs strongly influence the values and behavior of the people who grow up in the culture, often without their being fully aware of it, and that people have different responses to these influences; Understands that social distinctions are a part of every culture, but they take many different forms; Understands that heredity, culture, and personal experience interact in shaping human behavior, and that the relative importance of these influences is not clear in most circumstances; Understands that family, gender, ethnicity, nationality, institutional affiliations, socioeconomic status, and other group and cultural influences contribute to the shaping of a person's identityBehavioral Studies Standard 2- Understands various meanings of social group, general implications of group membership, and different ways that groups function. Benchmarks: Understands that while a group may act, hold beliefs, and/or present itself as a cohesive whole, individual members may hold widely varying beliefs, so the behavior of a group may not be predictable from an understanding of each of its members; Understands how the diverse elements that contribute to the development and transmission of culture (e.g., language, literature, the arts, traditions, beliefs, values, behavior patterns) function as an integrated whole; Understands that groups have patterns for preserving and transmitting culture even as they adapt to environmental and/or social change; Understands that social groups may have patterns of behavior, values, beliefs, and attitudes that can help or hinder cross-cultural understandingLanguage Arts Standard 1- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process. Benchmark: Writes reflective compositions

Must Haves: Cellphones Top Iraqi Cool List

Khalid Mohammed/Associated Press

Iraqis use their cellphones often to reassure their families that they are safe. They also use their phones to take and send pictures after a bombing.

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By DAMIEN CAVEPublished: August 8, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 7 — The cool kids in Iraq all want an Apache, the cellphone they’ve named after an American military helicopter. Next on the scale of hipness comes a Humvee, followed by the Afendi, a Turkish word for dapper, and a sturdy, rounded Nokia known as the Allawi — a reference to the stocky former prime minister, Ayad Allawi.

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Video: Cellphones in Iraq Hostilities in the MideastGo to Complete Coverage »

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Max Becherer/Polaris, for The New York Times

Brig. Gen. Jaleel Khalaf Shwayel of the Iraqi Army owns three cellphones and says he often upgrades.

Even more telling are the text messages and images that Iraqis share over their phones. From all over the city, Baghdad cellphones practically shout commentary about Saddam Hussein, failed reconstruction and violence, always the violence. One of the most popular messages making the rounds appears onscreen with the image of a skeleton.

“Your call cannot be completed,” it says, “because the subscriber has been bombed or kidnapped.”

Cellphones have long been considered status symbols in developing countries, Iraq included. But in an environment where hanging out is potentially life threatening, cellphones are also a window into dreams and terrors, the macabre local sense of humor and Iraqis’ resilience amid the swells of violence.

The business here is booming. According to figures published last month by the State Department, there are now 7.1 million cellphone subscribers in Iraq, up from 1.4 million two years ago. In an economy where jobs can be as scarce as rain, billboards for phones are among the only advertisements updated regularly in the capital.

Some Iraqis report spending as much as $800 on phones like the Humvee, and from the rooftops of Sadr City, the poor Shiite district where trash lines the streets, visible cellphone towers outnumber minarets 15 to 2.

It is the relentless violence — which now claims dozens of Iraqis every day — that seems to have fertilized the industry’s growth. Insurgents use phones to communicate and to detonate bombs, while Iraqis of all sects rely on their phones to avoid danger.

Jabar Satar Salaum, 50, the owner of a cellphone store on a busy street in the middle-class Shiite area of Karada, said he used his phone (a Nokia that is a step up from the Allawi) mostly to tell his wife that he was safe. On the ride to and from work across Baghdad, he said he called every few minutes.

“I call to tell her I am leaving,” he said. “I call to tell what district I am in when I am driving, or if the roads are blocked by checkpoints, I call to tell her that as well.”

Four of the eight stores on Mr. Salaum’s block sell cellphones, and most have window displays where each phone is covered in plastic.

Between customers, his sons, Amjad, 17, and Muhammad, 15, said that cellphones were desirable not just because they were cool but also because they provided one of the country’s only safe forms of teenage self-expression.

In May, a tennis coach and two of his players were shot to death in Baghdad because they were wearing shorts. Cellphones, in contrast, have attracted little religious outrage.

“For young people, buying phones is a habit,” Amjad said. “Everybody buys different phones all the time. Whenever something new comes out, they have to have it.”

He reached into his jeans and pulled out his newest acquisition, an orange Sony Ericsson that sells for about $300. It was protected by a hard, clear plastic case. On the wall to his left hung a poster of Nokia phones, showing images and model numbers displayed like the Popsicles on an ice cream truck.

“I’ve had all of these,” he said. How many exactly? “At least 20,” he said. “Every one.”

The nicknames for phones, he and other Iraqis said, are a mnemonic device derived in part from their shapes. The Allawi, a Nokia 3660, is broad and has a rounded bottom, resembling the physique of the former prime minister; the Apache is a Nokia flip-phone with a bottom that swivels, like a rotor blade.

The prices the phones command are rather high for Iraq, of course. But with a booming aftermarket in cellphones, people can sell their old ones for nearly the original price and move up to a fancier model. Service is relatively cheap, with most people relying on $10 and $20 prepaid cards rather than the more expensive monthly plans.

And the powerful are as vulnerable to consumer culture as the young are. Brig. Gen. Jaleel Khalaf Shwayel of the Iraqi Army said that he buys a new phone every few weeks. During a recent interview at his office about deteriorating security in Baghdad, he spent several minutes wiping off his latest purchase, a titanium Nokia 8800 that he said he bought for $800.

He said he kept up on the latest styles through glossy technology magazines from the United Arab Emirates, setting him apart from the insurgents who use cheap phones to detonate roadside bombs. His phone, or phones (he has three), also help him keep in touch with the areas his soldiers patrol.

“I give my cellphone number to people in the neighborhoods, and I receive calls every day,” he said. A day earlier, he said two tips came in.

“In the el-Adil district, I received a call that people there had put mines in the road,” he said. “I gave an order to investigate, and we discovered it was right.

“Someone else told me about some bandits in a BMW. When we went to arrest them, we found R.P.G.’s,” he said, referring to rocket-propelled grenades.

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Reporting for this article was contributed by Ali Adeeb, Omar al-Neami and Khalid W. Hassan from Baghdad, and Margot Williams from New York.

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Must Haves: Cellphones Top Iraqi Cool List

By DAMIEN CAVE

 

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 7 — The cool kids in Iraq all want an Apache, the cellphone they’ve named after an American military helicopter. Next on the scale of hipness comes a Humvee, followed by the Afendi, a Turkish word for dapper, and a sturdy, rounded Nokia known as the Allawi — a reference to the stocky former prime minister, Ayad Allawi.

Even more telling are the text messages and images that Iraqis share over their phones. From all over the city, Baghdad cellphones practically shout commentary about Saddam Hussein, failed reconstruction and violence, always the violence. One of the most popular messages making the rounds appears onscreen with the image of a skeleton.

“Your call cannot be completed,” it says, “because the subscriber has been bombed or kidnapped.”

Cellphones have long been considered status symbols in developing countries, Iraq included. But in an environment where hanging out is potentially life threatening, cellphones are also a window into dreams and terrors, the macabre local sense of humor and Iraqis’ resilience amid the swells of violence.

The business here is booming. According to figures published last month by the State Department, there are now 7.1 million cellphone subscribers in Iraq, up from 1.4 million two years ago. In an economy where jobs can be as scarce as rain, billboards for phones are among the only advertisements updated regularly in the capital.

Some Iraqis report spending as much as $800 on phones like the Humvee, and from the rooftops of Sadr City, the poor Shiite district where trash lines the streets, visible cellphone towers outnumber minarets 15 to 2.

It is the relentless violence — which now claims dozens of Iraqis every day — that seems to have fertilized the industry’s growth. Insurgents use phones to communicate and to detonate bombs, while Iraqis of all sects rely on their phones to avoid danger.

Jabar Satar Salaum, 50, the owner of a cellphone store on a busy street in the middle-class Shiite area of Karada, said he used his phone (a Nokia that is a step up from the Allawi) mostly to tell his wife that he was safe. On the ride to and from work across Baghdad, he said he called every few minutes.

“I call to tell her I am leaving,” he said. “I call to tell what district I am in when I am driving, or if the roads are blocked by checkpoints, I call to tell her that as well.”

Max Becherer/Polaris, for The New York Times

Brig. Gen. Jaleel Khalaf Shwayel of the Iraqi Army owns three cellphones and says he often upgrades.

Four of the eight stores on Mr. Salaum’s block sell cellphones, and most have window displays where each phone is covered in plastic.

Between customers, his sons, Amjad, 17, and Muhammad, 15, said that cellphones were desirable not just because they were cool but also because they provided one of the country’s only safe forms of teenage self-expression.

In May, a tennis coach and two of his players were shot to death in Baghdad because they were wearing shorts. Cellphones, in contrast, have attracted little religious outrage.

“For young people, buying phones is a habit,” Amjad said. “Everybody buys different phones all the time. Whenever something new comes out, they have to have it.”

He reached into his jeans and pulled out his newest acquisition, an orange Sony Ericsson that sells for about $300. It was protected by a hard, clear plastic case. On the wall to his left hung a poster of Nokia phones, showing images and model numbers displayed like the Popsicles on an ice cream truck.

“I’ve had all of these,” he said. How many exactly? “At least 20,” he said. “Every one.”

The nicknames for phones, he and other Iraqis said, are a mnemonic device derived in part from their shapes. The Allawi, a Nokia 3660, is broad and has a rounded bottom, resembling the physique of the former prime minister; the Apache is a Nokia flip-phone with a bottom that swivels, like a rotor blade.

The prices the phones command are rather high for Iraq, of course. But with a booming aftermarket in cellphones, people can sell their old ones for nearly the original price and move up to a fancier model. Service is relatively cheap, with most people relying on $10 and $20 prepaid cards rather than the more expensive monthly plans.

And the powerful are as vulnerable to consumer culture as the young are. Brig. Gen. Jaleel Khalaf Shwayel of the Iraqi Army said that he buys a new phone every few weeks. During a recent interview at his office about deteriorating security in Baghdad, he spent several minutes wiping off his latest purchase, a titanium Nokia 8800 that he said he bought for $800.

He said he kept up on the latest styles through glossy technology magazines from the United Arab Emirates, setting him apart from the insurgents who use cheap phones to detonate roadside bombs. His phone, or phones (he has three), also help him keep in touch with the areas his soldiers patrol.

“I give my cellphone number to people in the neighborhoods, and I receive calls every day,” he said. A day earlier, he said two tips came in.

“In the el-Adil district, I received a call that people there had put mines in the road,” he said. “I gave an order to investigate, and we discovered it was right.

“Someone else told me about some bandits in a BMW. When we went to arrest them, we found R.P.G.’s,” he said, referring to rocket-propelled grenades.

For human rights workers in Iraq, cellphones play a darker role. Omar al-Jabouri, who heads the human rights office for the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party, said he often received pictures of men tortured or killed by death squads, many of them taken with the cellphones of witnesses or the victims’ relatives. At bombings, Iraqis are often seen recording the carnage in pictures or short videos.

But mostly, people here use their cellphones for commiserating, searching for laughs among the tears or trying to knock the powerful off their pedestals. Over the past year, American soldiers, Saddam Hussein and the current Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, have all been the subjects of humorous clips passed from phone to phone.

“In Iraq, there is such an accumulation of frustration,” said Fauwzya al-Attiya, a sociologist at Baghdad University. “If an Iraqi does not embrace humor in his life, he’s finished.”

These days, some of the most popular clips poke fun at Islamist radicals. In one amateur video, a masked man, pictured at dusk with a knife, threatens to behead a fish because “all the fish did not come out of the sea.” With an exclamation of “God is great,” he bends over and slices off the fish’s head, laying it on top of the scaly body.

Another video captures young men trying to decapitate a victim with a fake, dull knife and failing; like Hans and Franz, the muscle-bound weightlifters famously mocked on Saturday Night Live, the supposed killers are all talk, dense and incompetent.

Electricity and gas are also popular topics. One doctored photograph claims to offer an explanation for why Iraqis still have only a few hours of electricity a day: Two transformer towers are flipping a wire in circles like a jump-rope while a third tower bounces up and down.

And in another video, a young, bearded Iraqi dances with abandon after successfully refilling his propane gas cylinder. With a spiraling Arabic song as the soundtrack, he wriggles and smiles, shaking the cylinder over his head like a trophy. He also kisses it.

Clips from official sources and those adapted from television, both Western and Arabic, are also shared. Some Sunnis are currently passing around video outtakes of the militant Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr talking casually to advisers or friends that they believe make him look foolish (in part because he criticizes people who are “Afendi,” well-dressed and flashing their cellphones).

Everyone seems to enjoy laughing at Mr. Hussein. His propaganda has literally become a joke: a 2003 broadcast from Iraq’s state-run station, just before the war, shows a gaggle of soldiers with machine guns dancing and singing along with Khasim al-Sultan, an Iraqi pop star.

“If you want the stars, we will reach out for the stars,” the men sing, offering a pledge to Mr. Hussein. “We will wipe America from the map!”

Firas al-Taie, 19, after showing the clip, laughed and tried to explain why Iraqis find the segment entertaining.

“It’s not matching the reality,” he said, in halting English. “They said this thing and then something else happened.”

Like many young Iraqis, he said that his cellphone was his most cherished possession. He said several of his uncles in Jordan pooled together the roughly $300 he needed for the phone of his choice last summer after he graduated from high school.

Asked how his middle-class family could justify such an expense, Mr. Taie, an engineering student at Baghdad University, said it was all a matter of the violence and Iraq’s relentless state of alert.

“It’s important,” he said. “You have to have a cellphone. If I go to the college, or anyplace really, my parents call me like 100 times to see if I’m safe.”

He said he doubted the need would let up anytime soon.

Published in the International section on August 8, 2006.

Must Haves: Cellphones Top Iraqi Cool List

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Published: August 8, 2006

(Page 2 of 2)

For human rights workers in Iraq, cellphones play a darker role. Omar al-Jabouri, who heads the human rights office for

the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party, said he often received pictures of men tortured or killed by death squads, many of them taken with the cellphones of witnesses or the victims’ relatives. At bombings, Iraqis are often seen recording the carnage in pictures or short videos.

The Reach of WarGo to Complete Coverage » Multimedia

Video: Cellphones in Iraq Hostilities in the MideastGo to Complete Coverage »

VIDEO

Surviving in Bourj al-Barajneh INTERACTIVE GRAPHICS

Attacks, Day by Day Pummeling the Heart of Hezbollah

Aid Convoy in Lebanon

More Multimedia: Israel | Lebanon | Middle East

But mostly, people here use their cellphones for commiserating, searching for laughs among the tears or trying to knock the powerful off their pedestals. Over the past year, American soldiers, Saddam Hussein and the current Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, have all been the subjects of humorous clips passed from phone to phone.

“In Iraq, there is such an accumulation of frustration,” said Fauwzya al-Attiya, a sociologist at Baghdad University. “If an Iraqi does not embrace humor in his life, he’s finished.”

These days, some of the most popular clips poke fun at Islamist radicals. In one amateur video, a masked man, pictured at dusk with a knife, threatens to behead a fish because “all the fish did not come out of the sea.” With an exclamation of “God is great,” he bends over and slices off the fish’s head, laying it on top of the scaly body.

Another video captures young men trying to decapitate a victim with a fake, dull knife and failing; like Hans and Franz, the muscle-bound weightlifters famously mocked on Saturday Night Live, the supposed killers are all talk, dense and incompetent.

Electricity and gas are also popular topics. One doctored photograph claims to offer an explanation for why Iraqis still have only a few hours of electricity a day: Two transformer towers are flipping a wire in circles like a jump-rope while a third tower bounces up and down.

And in another video, a young, bearded Iraqi dances with abandon after successfully refilling his propane gas cylinder. With a spiraling Arabic song as the soundtrack, he wriggles and smiles, shaking the cylinder over his head like a trophy. He also kisses it.

Clips from official sources and those adapted from television, both Western and Arabic, are also shared. Some Sunnis are currently passing around video outtakes of the militant Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr talking casually to advisers or friends that they believe make him look foolish (in part because he criticizes people who are “Afendi,” well-dressed and flashing their cellphones).

Everyone seems to enjoy laughing at Mr. Hussein. His propaganda has literally become a joke: a 2003 broadcast from Iraq’s state-run station, just before the war, shows a gaggle of soldiers with machine guns dancing and singing along with Khasim al-Sultan, an Iraqi pop star.

“If you want the stars, we will reach out for the stars,” the men sing, offering a pledge to Mr. Hussein. “We will wipe America from the map!”

Firas al-Taie, 19, after showing the clip, laughed and tried to explain why Iraqis find the segment entertaining.

“It’s not matching the reality,” he said, in halting English. “They said this thing and then something else happened.”

Like many young Iraqis, he said that his cellphone was his most cherished possession. He said several of his uncles in Jordan pooled together the roughly $300 he needed for the phone of his choice last summer after he graduated from high school.

Asked how his middle-class family could justify such an expense, Mr. Taie, an engineering student at Baghdad University, said it was all a matter of the violence and Iraq’s relentless state of alert.

“It’s important,” he said. “You have to have a cellphone. If I go to the college, or anyplace really, my parents call me like 100 times to see if I’m safe.”

He said he doubted the need would let up anytime soon.