Fight Yields ID Cards for Green Zone

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Tuesday May 1, 2007 12:31 AM

By ROBERT BURNS

AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Documents captured in recent fighting in Baghdad included two identity cards for access to the fortified Green Zone, which contains Iraqi government headquarters, and an ID card for access to the U.S. Embassy, the Pentagon says.

The area where the documents were captured - just west of the Green Zone - has been a stronghold of Sunni extremists linked to al-Qaida, said Army Col. Steven Townsend, commander of 3rd Stryker Brigade that led the operation.

Townsend, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon on Monday in a videoconference from Baghdad, did not mention the discovery of the identity cards. That information was provided separately by Pentagon officials after he spoke.

The adequacy of security in the Green Zone, also known as the international zone, has recently come into question, particularly in the aftermath of the April 12 suicide bombing in the Iraqi parliament building's dining hall. One lawmaker was killed in the blast, which was claimed by an al-Qaida-led amalgam of Sunni insurgents.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6599003,00.html


And this is the most secure area in all of Iraq. What a freaking mess.