Green Zone Offers Uncertain Refuge From Baghdad Violence

BAGHDAD, July 10, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- “All the people in the Green Zone have their bodyguards," one Baghdad man told RFE/RL recently. "It all belongs to the U.S. Army and the (Iraqi) National Guard. We Iraqis remain here; it is just explosions and no security in the streets. They are provided with electricity and water, provided with everything. The Green Zone is protected from all sides. They protect themselves, but no one protects us, the Iraqis.”

Ordinary Iraqis are unable to enter the Green Zone except on official business, and they see it only from the outside. And what they see bears little resemblance to the rest of the capital.

The sprawling, 10 square kilometer zone along the Tigris is sealed off behind security defenses and can be entered only through heavily guarded checkpoints.

The only people with regular access are officials, diplomats, and the several thousand residents of an upscale neighborhood that was incorporated into the zone when it was originally demarcated.

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