Those Iraqis who prefer tinting today do so for a number of reasons. These include greater privacy, blocking the gaze of others (especially important for women) and feeling important and conspicuous, yet shrouded. Many young people avoid “transparent” places, including untinted cars and some public spaces, for fear of “discrimination,” preferring instead to conceal certain behaviors of which the public might not approve.
At checkpoints, the police merely examine cars with tinted windows to determine that nothing appears to be amiss and then allow them to proceed. Regardless, tinted-car convoys stir anxiety and resentment in Iraqi cities as a symbol of the influence and privilege enjoyed by the new ruling class.
Hassan Abed, a resident of Babel, south of Baghdad, shared his experience with such cars. He described their owners as “important and dangerous figures, the type of person who one must avoid interrogating or aggressively questioning.” Ahmad al-Wa’ili, a local store owner in Najaf, also south of Baghdad, told Al-Monitor, “Convoys of bodyguards for officials mean traffic jams, reversing the flow of traffic, and an emergency atmosphere that is burdensome to the locals.”
In general, Iraqis are critical of the heavy security details preferred by government officials, especially because media outlets have focused steadily on the tremendous expense incurred by their having bodyguards. It is widely considered a conspicuous exploitation of public funds.
Iraqi officials and parliamentary representatives enjoy a number of special privileges, such as large protection details, financial stipends and convoys of suburban vehicles for roaming the streets of Baghdad and other cities. Such amenities attract popular attention and resentment. Security expert and retired officer Saadun al-Hussein told Al-Monitor, “The [beneficiaries of the] personal protection details and the tinted convoys still think of themselves as above the law, above ordinary people. Many assassinations have taken place using them as cover.”
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