DOWNSTAIRS in the student union at Al Mustansiriya University, Baghdad, the music blared as young men and women jammed around tables sipping sodas meant to resemble 7-Up and munching potato chips sold out of popcorn machines.
Farah Rasheed and her friends spread out their notes, cramming for a biology exam. At the next table, Wahabi Talib and Mohammed Abdullah, a pair of 22-year-olds with wisps of emerging beards, jabbered about computer software and the dance party a couple of nights back.