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• War weary Iraqis scoff at smoking ban plan  

raq's cabinet approved a bill on Thursday to ban smoking in public places, but after years of bombings and kidnappings, chain-smoking Iraqis said they had more important things to worry about.

While violence has fallen sharply in Iraq in the last 18 months, insurgents still conduct major attacks on civilians. And with unemployment at nearly 20 percent, many Iraqis while away the day in cafes in a fog of fruity, aromatic waterpipe smoke.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the aim of the law was to reduce the number of smokers and to protect the public from smoke -- no small feat in a country where even hospital corridors are littered with cigarette butts.

"The government should worry about car bombs before worrying about the effects of smoking. It has to stop terrorism," said Ali Marham, a 35-year-old computer worker, smoking a waterpipe at a cafe in Baghdad's central Karrada district.

If ratified by parliament, the ban would include a prohibition on smoking in ministry buildings, airports, company buildings, theatres, cinemas and schools, Dabbagh said in a statement. "There will be designated areas for smoking."

It was not clear if the ban would apply to waterpipes.

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