Iraq's Consumer Goods Boom Continues

March 14, 2004 -- Ever since coalition authorities took control of Iraq, the country has seen a consumer goods boom.

Four months ago, our news teams reported an "explosion of commerce" in Iraq. One year after the war, it's still exploding.

Time's Terry McCarthy reports that in the southern city of Basra, "People are earning better wages, they are spending more in the markets and in the stores, so the merchants are earning more."

The businessmen are able to invest more and there is more stuff coming in across the borders. A growing affluence is visible across the country.

A 19-year-old medical student named Mohammed Tawfeq has opened an Internet café in Basra. He tells the BBC's Jill McGivering that "business is booming &we have about 50 customers a day. All sorts of people. Students sending e-mails, teachers doing research. And a lot of people who come to read the international news."

Cultural products such as music, art and literature have flooded into what had been a severely deprived market.

ABCNEWS' Mark Stone reports that all kinds of electronics — from everyday necessities to luxury electronic "toys" — are now available in Baghdad. You can buy imported satellite dishes, refrigerators, computers, modems, the latest cell phones, and cars.

(Quotes above sort of piecemeal. Read entire article at the above link.)

In this area of the war, the United States is clealy WINNING.