Sleeping in reinforced bunkers and armored vehicles needed when traveling inside the Green Zone

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gJwQrCF2vYgsdLos3fgiH6QFXSGwD8VNAGSO0

BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. State Department on Saturday tightened restrictions on embassy staff in Baghdad, ordering all employees to sleep inside reinforced structures and to use only armored vehicles when traveling in the Green Zone due to incoming rocket fire.

Two American citizens have been killed and several wounded by rocket or mortar attacks this week as the heavily fortified area has come under steady fire by suspected Shiite extremists angry over a government crackdown in the southern oil port of Basra.

The announcement came two days after embassy personnel were advised to remain under "hard cover at all times" and required to wear helmets and other protective gear if they ventured outside.

In a memo sent to embassy personnel on Saturday, the State Department reiterated the previous requirements and added that all personnel must limit their time outside "hardened facilities" and travel in the Green Zone only in armored vehicles.

[panader0]

1. Hey Don

I have a gut feeling that things are going to heat up real soon and real hard in Iraq. The success of the "surge" is an illusion. Sadr's peacefire is the more likely reason for the subsidence of violenec. The evnts of recent weeks have shown that the violence is still there, boiling under the surface.
We must leave now. I favor a complete drawdown ASAP. The resulting "surge" in violence is like when a fever breaks. If bushco want to be there, you can rest assured that the reason is sinister.

[TomInTib]

3. Summer, mid- to late.

There will be a cataclysm of violence that will blow the Dem Convention off the stage and probably blow Batshit-Crazy McCain directly through the door of the White House.

[panader0]

5. I see it the other way around.

The increase in violence will make J-Mac's position even more untenable.

[TomInTib]

7. Not if...

there are a couple of interesting "incidents" here (or in Canada or England or all three).

Just wait.

These guys aren't leaving town without a fight.


I hope I am wrong, but I put nothing past these bastards.

[MindMatter]

6. That is even more reason why we need to be putting the heat on McCain RIGHT NOW

instead of having this Clinton-McCain lovefest. The American public was starting to warm up to McCain's hawkish position because he was saying, in essence, "The only way we can live with these mongrels is by dominating them militarily -- and looky here, it only too an extra 30,000 troops to do that. I was right all along."

We cannot wait until September to go after him on this score. We need to be attacking him right now with a unified voice that says:

1) the surge is not the answer
2) the best the surge can do is to hold down violence while the political process comes together
3) we are running out of time. We don't have enough troops to hold down the violence even for 6 months, let alone 100 years

McCain, you are 100% wrong. The only way that America can become safer is to do exactly the opposite of what you advocate.

[magellan]

2. I feel an increasing sense of dread with this.

We need to get them out NOW.

[Hangingon]

4. This is a real test for the Iraqi Army.

[MasonJar]

8. Good plan, now can we have some reinforced bunkers for the one million

Iraqi citizens who have been murdered by W in his attempt to take over another country's oil fields?