Jimmy's just an ordinary-looking guy: average height, grey-haired, with a slightly olive complexion. He has a wonderful smile, and is a host extraordinaire, generous to a fault. You can see that by the fact that people like him flock to his restaurant, people just like him, and drink endless cups of tea, smoke cigarettes, and speak in quiet, relaxed tones.
Jimmy is an Iraqi Kurd. In 1980 he and his brother were arrested in Baghdad, along with nearly two hundred others. Jimmy was "interrogated", then pressured to work for Saddam Hussein's regime. If he accepted this work, as a terrorist and saboteur in foreign countries, he would be freed. (As a Kurd, he was "expendable" to Saddam.) If he didn't agree to do this, he and his brother would be tortured until they died, or until he changed his mind.
Go read the whole thing and then come back.
This just goes to show that, against the backdrop of world-changing events, there are always individuals who are trying to cope with the changes as best they can. When we talk about the large-scale picture, like the invasion of Iraq or the apparent capitulation of Spain, we tend to lose sight of the individuals which collectively make up this milieu. There are people out there who are evil, there's no doubt about it. But for each one of them, there are many like Jimmy who are good people and who are just trying to make it through to the other side. We must not forget this.
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