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.
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.
On the eastern bank of the Tigris River, where I stayed, the government could provide electricity only between 6 and 7 a.m. All the appliances would burst into action, waking up the household. For those who can afford it, a small generator fills in the gaps in power. But a generator consumes up to 20 gallons of gasoline a day, an enormous amount in a time of shortages.
Under Saddam Hussein, 40 gallons of gasoline cost half a dollar. Today, you'd have to pay $75 for the same quantity on the black market - or you could stand in line for four to five days at a gas station and pay about $35.
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a mobile phone has become the top status symbol in Iraq. However, since the intensification of sectarian violence, cell phones have also become the means most used to send threats (by text message) or to demand a ransom (by calling the family of the kidnapped hostage). People often change their numbers before they give up altogether and move to a safer district.
An exceptional curfew is declared for 3 p.m. on only two hours notice, causing general panic. Crying women descend on cars, begging for rides to get home in time. Drivers abandon their vehicles in the congestion to get wherever they were going more quickly on foot. The curfew lasted four days -
more http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=6713743 by Anne Nivat
thanks Conscientious
Posted by Stubbornson at July 19, 2007 02:25 PM