Danger: Green Zone (The Nation)

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Danger: Green Zone

Nicholas von Hoffman

Grateful Iraqis gave outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair a small token of their affection the other day on the occasion of the First Poodle's seventh and final visit to their country. They dropped three mortar shells in the Green Zone not far from the British embassy where the PM stayed. One shot actually landed in the compound.

The Green Zone is the palace and vast, walled grounds once belonging to Saddam Hussein and now housing in supposed safety the American headquarters, what purports to be the Iraqi government and whoever else must be kept from danger.

The TV pictures of Vice President Dick Cheney recently visiting the Green Zone showed him wearing body armor. Are you getting a creeping feeling that, surge or no surge, there are no safe places for Americans in Iraq?

If the purpose of being a terrorist is to terrify, some Iraqis are doing well at their chosen vocation. The McClatchy newspaper chain, which continues to provide the best war coverage, reports that American Embassy staff are scared out of their wits living as they must within the Green Zone's insecure confines.

McClatchy Baghdad bureau chief Leila Fadel writes, "U.S. Embassy employees in Iraq are growing increasingly angry over what they say are inadequate security precautions in the heavily fortified Green Zone, where recent mortar and rocket attacks have claimed the lives of six people, including two US citizens. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070604/howl