Welcome to the Green Zone
A lengthy article, well worth the read, on life in the Baghdad “Green Zone” and the ideas and ideals that make it hum: Welcome to the Green Zone >
The Green Zone is a little America embedded in the heart of Baghdad. It is the former preserve of Saddam Hussein and his favored associatesan uncrowded district of villas, palaces, and monuments set in a parklike expanse that spreads for four square miles inside a meander of the Tigris River at the center of the ruined city.
They were not so much idealistic as on a tripa power trip. I don’t mean this in a pejorative way, but they wanted to be Machiavellian, in the sense of ‘How do we shape the politics in this country? How do we get the result of having a government friendly to the United States?’ And every step that they took to try and achieve that achieved the opposite.”
“Why?”
“Because it was manipulative. Because it was not transparent. Because it was done in every possible way calculable that would make the Shiites suspicious.”