抖阴ap

BAGHDAD — After more than eight years in Iraq, the departing American military’s legacy includes a fledgling democracy and bitter memories of war and, for the nation’s youth, rap music, tattoos and slang.

In other words, as the Dec. 31 deadline for completing their withdrawal nears, U.S. troops are leaving behind the good, the bad and what “Lil Czar” Mohammed calls the “punky.”

Sporting baggy soldier camouflage pants, high-top sneakers and a back-turned “N.Y.” baseball cap, the chubby 22-year-old was showing off his break-dancing moves on a sunny afternoon in a Baghdad park. A dollar sign was shaved into his closely cropped hair.

“While others might stop being rappers after the Americans leave, I will go on (rapping) till I reach N.Y.,” said Mohammed, who teaches part-time at a primary school.

His forearm bore a tattoo of dice above the words “GANG STAR.” That was the tattooist’s mistake, he said; it was supposed to say “gangsta.”

Eight million Iraqis — a quarter of the population — have been born since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, and nearly half the country is under 19, according to Brett McGurk, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and, until recently, senior adviser to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

So after years of watching U.S. soldiers on patrol, it’s inevitable that hip-hop styles, tough-guy mannerisms and slangy English patter would catch on with young Iraqis.

Calling themselves “punky,” or “hustlers,” many are donning hoodie sweat shirts, listening to 50 Cent or Eminem, and watching “Twilight” vampire movies. They eat hamburgers and pizza and do death-defying Rollerblade runs through speeding traffic. Teens spike their hair or shave it Marine-style. The “Iraq Rap” page on Facebook has 1,480 fans.

To many of their fellow Iraqis, the habits appear weird, if not downright offensive. But to the youths, it is a vital part of their pursuit of the American dream as they imagine it to be.

“Lil Czar” Mohammed, a Shiite Muslim, says he was introduced to American culture by a Christian friend, Laith, who subsequently had to flee the anti-Christian violence that broke out in Baghdad.

“I had nothing to help my friend. He left,” Mohammed said. “But when I get the money and become a rich boss, I will tell my friend Laith to come back.”

Not all Iraqis welcome the culture the Americans brought. Dr. Fawzia A. al-Attia, a sociologist at Baghdad University, says one result is that young Iraqis now reject school uniforms, engage in forbidden love affairs and otherwise rebel against their elders.

“There was no strategy to contain this sudden openness,” she said. “. . . These young Iraqi people need to be instructed. They need to know about the positive aspects of the American society to imitate.”

Showbiz and military chic aside, young Iraqis agree that the American troops opened their minds to the outside world.

“I found that all Iraqis want to learn English,” said Nawras Mohammed, 24, and using the Internet or watching satellite TV is fine. “The positive and the negative aspects of the American presence depend on us.”