Life in the 'red zone' - The hell of Baghdad

[Barrett808]

Life in the 'red zone'
The hell of Baghdad
By Anne Nivat
Published: July 18, 2007

It was hard enough to organize my trip from France to Baghdad. But once there, it proved even tougher to get to get into the "green zone," the American military and diplomatic headquarters and construction site of a new American embassy that will be the largest in the world.

I had an appointment with an aide to General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq. A press officer offered to meet me at one of the main checkpoints. I advised him by cell phone how he would recognize me: "Don't look for a Western-looking woman. I'm dressed like an Iraqi."

He met me in full combat gear. Between the first checkpoint and the parking lot of the U.S. Embassy, still based in Saddam Hussein's Republican Palace, a distance of about a mile, I was checked six times. I had come from the "red zone."

The "red zone": that is to say, all of Baghdad outside the fortified American enclave. The "no-go zone." The sprawling capital city that is home to more than 10 million people. That's where I lived for two weeks to get "the other side" of the story. To do that, I had no choice but to blend in.

Dressed in a loose black tunic with long sleeves called an abbaya, I strapped on sandals, tucked my hair under a scarf tied at the chin and blended into the crowded streets of Baghdad. Only my contacts knew that I was a foreigner and a reporter, and I didn't tell anyone where I was staying or for how long. I was careful never to speak in public.

(more)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/18/opinion/ednivat.php

[truedelphi]

1. Thank you for posting this n/t

[Barrett808]

3. Had to be done. n/t

[Massachusetts]

2. Excellent article

Anne Nivat is a French journalist

[DemReadingDU]

4. Excellent article

Thank you for posting