Shepherd's Pie

The Green Zone

"...The Green Zone, the city within a city that houses the occupation headquarters in Saddam's former palace, was filled with Young Republicans straight out of the Heritage Foundation, all of them given responsibility they could never have dreamed of receiving at home. Jay Hallen, a twenty-four-year-old who had applied for a job at the White House, was put in charge of launching Baghdad's new stock exchange. Scott Erwin, a twenty-one-year-old former intern to Dick Cheney, reported in an email home that I am assisting Iraqis in the management of finances and budgeting for the domestic security forces. The college senior's favorite job before this one? My time as an ice-cream truck driver. In those early days, the Green Zone felt a bit like the Peace Corps, for people who think the Peace Corps is a communist plot. It was a chance to sleep on cots, wear army boots, and cry incoming, all while being guarded around the clock by real soldiers..."

from Naomi Klein's article "Baghdad Year Zero" from Harpers.

Excellent article on the conflicts of privatization in Iraq. The ideology at hand in the ruthless reconstruction going on. Overall "The Green Zone" is strange phenomenon, and essential to understanding what is going in Iraq.

posted by JRS @ 9:40 AM