hawasim

n. a looter or thief. Subjects: Arabic, Iraq, Crime & Prisons, Slang

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Citations: 2003 [A.Y.S.] Iraq at a glance (Baghdad, Iraq) (Nov. 1) “Freedom is a Responsibility”: I said “do you have a car?!” he said “yes, doctor,” at once I concluded that he was a thief (in slang known as Hawasim, a name derived from Saddam’s description to the coming war at that time as Al-hawasim which means The Decisive War, after the end of the war, everyone whom seen in the loot and robbery is called ‘Hawasim’ !!). 2004 Mushriq Abbas, Nasir al-Ali Al-Nahdah (Iraq) (Mar. 15) p. 1 @ BBC Monitoring Middle East (Mar. 19, 2004) “Iraqi report on smuggling of Saddam era tanks, heavy arms to Iran”: According to residents of the area, hundreds of tanks have been purchased from civilians, Al-Hawasim gangs [a term used by Iraqis to refer to the thieves well-nourished during and after the last war, which was named Al-Hawasim by the former regime], or the foreign forces. [2004 Patrick Graham @ Iraq Harper’s (June 1) “Beyond Fallujah” vol. 308, no. 1849, p. 37: Saddam had called this war the Harb Al Hawasim, the Final War, and Iraqis immediately renamed looted goods in Iraq Hawasim.] 2004 Peter Y. Hong @ Baghdad, Iraq Los Angeles Times (July 19) “Baghdad Real Estate Sizzles Amid Chaos” p. A1: Some of his customers, he said, are hawasim, looters who took part in the rampant plundering of government buildings, banks, Iraqi army bases and businesses after the war.

Posted 17 Aug 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend