The World’s Most Dangerous Place - Baghdad daily dance with death

[dArKeR]

A lot of Americans in Baghdad now are desperately reviewing their personal security, especially after Sunday’s attacks on the al Rashid Hotel and Monday’s half-hour rampage of six suicide car bombings around the city. If even Paul Wolfowitz isn’t safe (his room was only one floor away from taking a direct hit from a rocket), then who is? Here’s a primer for those who really must go.

GETTING THERE
If you don’t have a military flight, or a seat on a military convoy, then there are four main ways in to Iraq, all of them bad.

You can drive up from Kuwait, the safest route. There are downsides, though. For one, you need a visa from Kuwait, which is hard to get. Then you need permission to cross the border from Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior, which is even harder to get. If you have a car you can take into Iraq, fine; otherwise you’ll have to walk across the border at Safwan, where mobs will greet you as you try to fight your way into a car-for-hire waiting for you on the Iraqi side. Sometimes they stone travelers. After that, the road is relatively safe, although armed highway robbery happens fairly often, several times a week. Lie down on the back seat or, if you’re a woman, put on a chador so no one knows you’re American...

http://msnbc.com/news/986173.asp?0cl=c1

[xultar]

1. Nice tips...Post it onThe Travel Channel site too

and on Shrubs white house.gov site. I'm sure they would use it to print up some nice travel brochures and send to all of us just before the elections in 04.

[Gman]

2. Baghdad has become the modern day Beirut

which during the Reagan misadministration was the most dangerous city in the world...

[NNN0LHI]

3. This sounds like a nice trip for those who like adventure. I will pass

>>>You can drive in from Amman, across the 600 miles of the Western Desert. No visas or border permissions needed, and this is probably the fastest route. Downsides: it’s also the most dangerous. Highway robberies and even attacks on armed convoys happen daily, sometimes several times a day. Forget about trying to hide your money. The thieves will either find it, or kill you for not having it.<<<

[karlschneider]

4. But are there mosquitos? I need netting. And a tank. Shangri-la, huh...

Maybe they'll let me back in the Air Force...? Naw, I'm way too old. I'd sure like to drop some napalm...

on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

[DemoTex]

6. Reminds me of Saigon in 1968

But I'm just an old man, eh Karl? Damn I feel old lately!

[Say_What]

5. You mean I can travel to war torn Iraq but not to Cuba? Where's the

logic in that insanity? Oh, I forgot, this is life under the Bushies </sarcasm>

:argh:

[Rose Siding]

7. All those new schools and bridges

will be well worth the trip!