The above, as the following, is from the Mercury News, San Jose:

"As the afternoon wears on, three friends watch the crowd filling the rooftop Dream Land Cafe in the upscale Zayouna neighborhood of Baghdad. Sultan Amjad, Harith Muthana and Marwan Walid, all 18, have known each other since grade school.

They spent the early afternoon eyeing girls outside a junior high, trying to attract attention with little luck.

"We will come next Thursday and do it again. We will never give up until we get girlfriends," Walid said.

Cars are their other passion: Amjad's father owns a car shop, and he often regales his friends with photos, snapped on his mobile phone, of fancy cars for sale.

By 4 p.m., the friends are on the street, dickering with a merchant over a pair of flip-flops, then heading for an Internet cafe.

"We'll go online and find some girls to chat with," Walid says.

But the Internet place is packed. Still boasting of their plans, the three head home."

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Some things never change.


A