Inside America's Baghdad comfort Zone

[T_i_B]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=470802

We're entering the Green Zone, the fortress town of four square miles in which several thousand diplomats, civil servants, consultants, spies, soldiers and contractors live in the heart of Baghdad. To ordinary Iraqis this is a parallel universe, a place that is as remote from their own reality - from the frightening house searches by sudden squads of troops and the tedious power cuts - as Michael Jackson's Neverland.

This place was created as a safe haven to allow the occupation authorities and those assisting them in the reconstruction of Iraq to live and work at less risk of attack than within the rest of Baghdad. When the occupation began, some British officials were unhappy that the American military insisted that "coalition" officials locked themselves away for weeks after the fall of Baghdad, only ever venturing out with a heavily armed security detail. Repeated guerrilla attacks have caused this debate to subside. However, foreign journalists, who roam the country every day and live in houses and hotels outside, continue to be critical of what is known as "Green Zone Syndrome" - the shuttered mind-set of the cooped-up officials.

This is hardly surprising, given the extraordinary treatment that correspondents receive as they enter the Zone's Convention Centre, home of the Coalition Press Information Centre (CPIC), and the forum for many of the US military's press conferences. Journalists attending a recent appearance by the US top commander in Iraq, General Ricardo Sanchez, were body-searched four times, and bawled at by soldiers. Good manners are not a strong point in the Zone, let alone winning hearts and minds.

Many people stay inside the Zone for weeks. Although life is not exactly luxurious, there are home comforts. As in their military bases elsewhere in Iraq, the Americans have re-created the world from which they came. Their cafeterias serve burgers with barbecue sauce, peanut butter and jelly, even lobster - all imported, not least as a precaution against poisoning. As for the banks of TV sets, if they are not tuned to American football then they will be showing the neo-conservative, war-mad Fox News. Should we be surprised? Not really. After all, what would you expect from a place that is as remote from its Iraqi surroundings as it is from the Moon?

[Don_G]

1. Doonesbury Commented On It Today

[KharmaTrain]

3. Beautiful!

Recently my son and I watched Good Morning Vietnam and the images of the "bubble" of Saigon and Da Nang and that of Baghdad are truely striking.

Of course there are "good things" happening here...such as lots of handshakes and checks exchanging hands. Ooops those are behind closed doors and not cleared for viewing. Yep, this is where the schools are "re-opening" (back to where they were before we invaded) and power being restored (to where it was before we invaded) and oil to pay for the "rebuilding" is being directed (when it can flow and we don't end up sending it back into Iraq at a subsidized price). Ah, this truly is Eden in Mesopotamia.

One day there'll be those who won't be able to figure out how we were routed out of that town so quickly and badly...ala Saigon and Mogadishu. This insulation along with the harsh crack-downs across the country are the greatest recruting tools the "Fedeyeen" or "terrorists" or just plain freedom fighters need. But the knuckle-draggers here sure won't see it that way if it means admitting they've been really had.

[NNN0LHI]

2. And between football and Fox they listen to their favorite junkie, Rush L.

You can be sure of that.

Don