I'll take Two!

What's this? Someone else trying to cash in on the sacred and holy wreckage of the Trade Center?

Standing in bright sunlight filtered through the dirty windows of a giant self-storage warehouse in Queens, N. Y., Kevin Sudeith unfurls one carpet after another, unleashing a cloud of wool fibers and mothball fumes. He lines them up along the windows, the better to reveal their colorful patterns and bizarre motifs.

At first glance they look like the rugs woven for hundreds of years by the tribal peoples of Afghanistan. But instead of traditional abstract motifs such as water jugs, chickens, blossoms and horses, these rugs depict tanks, paisley-shaped helicopters, jets, hand grenades and Kalashnikov rifles.

Swordsmen on horseback had been the most martial images found on tribal rugs, up until the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979. But the invasion gave Afghans an abrupt introduction to modern warfare. As Afghan men rose up to fight, women (for nearly all rugs are woven by women) began weaving these new sights into their rugs.

One of the earliest examples in Sudeith's collection shows mujahedin on horseback throttling to death red-horned devils representing Soviet soldiers. Along the rug's border runs a procession of Soviet tanks.

But in more recent times the focus changed:

After Sept. 11 Sudeith was convinced his war rug business was over. But just six months later the entry of U.S. forces into Afghanistan brought a new wave of interest. Sudeith's problem suddenly became supply.

For nearly two years after the terrorist attacks he couldn't get any rugs at all from Afghanistan. After trade resumed, he found a whole new genre of war rugs had arisen. On woolen fields where Soviet weapons used to appear now stood U.S. armaments. A $400 rug shows an F-16, an Abrams tank and the slogan "Heat to War." Others, clearly made for sale to Americans, proclaim death to terrorists and "Long live U.S. soldiers."

The most disturbing pieces commemorate the World Trade Center attack. One has planes labeled American and United crashing into the towers, but also features a white dove carrying an olive sprig in is beak ($600). When Ronald O'Callaghan, another dealer, first saw a WTC attack rug, he says, "I told my suppliers I never wanted to see another one of those again." (He's since changed his mind and is selling them.)

Here's one example:

And who are the suppliers? I guessed this as soon as I started reading.

Most dealers buy rugs by the bale, but Sudeith has a more intimate operation. Three of his current buyers are U.S. Special Forces operatives on the ground in Afghanistan. Sudeith pays one man double his costs, sending checks to his stateside wife. Another consigns rugs, getting paid when they're sold. The third receives costs plus a cut of profits. There are also a half-dozen native suppliers.

More examples here. Note: We at the Mudville Gazette can not vouch for or endorse the linked site!

(Big hat tip to CaliValleyGirl who's site will be a daily read from now on!)