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HOT AS HELL IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE. Because the surge is going so well, the U.S. government has directed employees of the U.S. Embassy in the Green Zone in Baghdad to wear protective gear while traveling around the Zone and even while indoors:
A sharp increase in mortar attacks on the Green Zone -- the one-time oasis of security in Iraq's turbulent capital -- has prompted the U.S. Embassy to issue a strict new order telling all employees to wear flak vests and helmets while in unprotected buildings or whenever they are outside.I spoke with a friend based in the Green Zone earlier today, and he says it is already 110 degrees out, making the wearing of such protective gear exceedingly uncomfortable. That makes me wonder if this is not, in fact, exactly the kind of development that will "bring the war home" to the American contractors and administrators trapped within their increasingly fragile bubble in a way that might begin to impact U.S. policy. Already, I am told, there is a sense of impending doom throughout the Green Zone, as people wait for the next spectacular attack. And summer has barely begun; it will only get hotter.The order, obtained by The Associated Press, has created a siege mentality among U.S. staff inside the Green Zone following a recent suicide attack on parliament. It has also led to new fears about long-term safety in the place where the U.S. government is building a massive and expensive new embassy.
The situation marks a sharp turnaround for the heavily guarded Green Zone -- long viewed as the safest corner of Baghdad.
--Garance Franke-Ruta
