Review: Welcome to the BCC, your place to shut out the world
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 23, 2011
As Hawkeye Pierce wrote home from Korea "the fighting goes on, the hatred, the violence, the senseless brutality, men behaving like animals - and then there's the war."The grunts from M*A*S*H would have felt right at home hanging out in the Baghdad Country Club, a small rump of a bar that flourished briefly in the heart of the Iraqi Capital's Green Zone, a refuge inside a walled refuge during the Iraq conflict.Joshuah Bearman tells the story of the BCC, an alcohol and testosterone-fuelled haven where songs by the band "Men at Work" were pulled from the jukebox after a pack of blotto Aussies went nuts hearing "Down Under" blasting over the PA.It's also the story of James (first name only for security reasons), the former British Army paratrooper now a war zone contractor, who was the counter-culture visionary who opened the club in the middle of an insurgency at the peak of the war where liquor is prohibited by Iraqi General order No. 1. Just try to imagine the struggles involved in opening in bombed-out Baghdad a reliable supply line for food and alcohol.Describing James is to talk about what it means to be an entrepreneur. He's the type of guy whose inclination "was to figure out what no one else was doing and make that your game." James had his own sidekick, Ajax, a former Iraqi translator, a chain smoking wiry little fixer who "knew lots of guys" and was trusted by almost everyone.The Baghdad Country Club opened its doors in August 2006. A pattern of harassment by military and civilian authorities began in 2007. Finally, Green Zone police along with the FBI descended and raided the establishment.The raid was something even Ajax couldn't fix. Some people connected with the place were given 24 hours to leave the country. We aren't told how long the BCC had remained in business. But you sense it flourished briefly and flared out quickly.James says that inside the BCC within the Green Zone in the heart of Baghdad there was always a siege mentality. People came together to relax and take comfort. For a brief few months, it was the only place where people could shut out the world.The BCC's story is a matter-of-fact account considering the time and place. It presents a view of war from a new angle. The story succeeds, for me anyway, by portraying what everyday life was like for short while in a fortified enclave in a war zone.[3.5 stars]