Iraqi cuisine (pacha, sabzi, manelsama)

[Laurence Horn]

>In a message dated 01/27/2003 5:36:20 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>Bapopik at AOL.COM writes:
>
>>  the crisp Iraqi lager that he might serve at his restaurants were it not
>for
>>  U.N. sanctions.
>
>Does Iraq produce and hope to export lager beer?  Or is "lager" used here to
>describe some non-alcoholic brew?

I would think the former.  Lager is lager, as far as I (or the OED)
know.  Iraq is pretty secular as Arab/Moslem countries go (note the
uncovered women in all the news shots, at least in the cities), and
the beer in the equally Islamic and even more secular Turkey is
pretty good.  (Plus they have all that raki there, if you like
licorice-flavored booze.)  I had beer--I think lager--in East
Jerusalem, but  that was produced by Palestinian Christians.

Larry

P.S.  Note the OED's entry for the nominal compound _lager lout_:
========
_lager lout_ colloq., a young man who behaves in an aggressive,
boorish manner as a result of drinking (typically lager) excessively.
========
Something to watch out for if and when we invade.