Inside the Green Zone Bubble
Living inside Baghdad's Green Zone seems to encourage a dangerous disconnect between its occupants -- American or Iraqi -- and the chaotic and violent reality outside its bounds. American journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran takes a sobering look inside for the UK paper The Sunday Times.Living inside Baghdad’s Green Zone seems to encourage a dangerous disconnect between its occupants — American or Iraqi — and the chaotic and violent reality outside its bounds. American journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran takes a sobering look inside for the UK paper The Sunday Times.
WAIT BEFORE YOU GO...The Sunday Times:
The sectarian fighting that is occurring on the streets is not simply about religious zealotry.
It’s a naked grab for power that begins inside the green zone, where Iraqi political leaders are fighting for influence. They continue to bicker with one another because they are largely cut off from the consequences. They do not live in fear that their neighbours might turn on them or that Shi’ite militiamen or Sunni insurgents might come and kill them.
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The president may not want war with Iran, but he does want to push the regime into submission and tout U.S. military dominance to his base.
Meanwhile, thousands of Iraqi anti-government protesters call on both Iran and America to leave the country.
There's no justification for Qassem Soleimani's assassination, and if we avoid another war in the Middle East, we'll have Tehran to thank.
As a candidate in 2016, he praised war crimes and expressed a desire to commit some of his own. No one can claim surprise or betrayal now.
However Iran chooses to respond to the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, America's influence in the region is guaranteed to deteriorate.
Rocket falls near U.S. Embassy in Iraq hours after funeral for Qassem Soleimani at which crowd chants "Death to America, death to Israel."
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