Hundreds of Iraqi families have sought refuge in the Green Zone. Now the authorities want them out

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,521855,00.html

BAGHDAD'S REFUGEES

Trapped in the Green Zone

By Ulrike Putz

December 06, 2007

Hundreds of Iraqi families have sought refuge in Baghdad's Green Zone in recent years. Now the authorities want them out -- but beyond the barricades, death awaits. A visit to a no-man's land in the Iraqi capital.

The paper that has protected the lives of the Al Jaaf family has been presented so often that its fold creases have torn. It instructs anyone wanting to evict the family from its home under the "14th of July Bridge" in Baghdad to contact the name given. The letter is signed by one Chip Bell, captain of the US Army in Iraq. Various stamps and a military letterhead lend the document additional weight. But even though the Al Jaafs continue to treat the letter like hidden treasure, it has lost its value. "So have our lives," says Mrs Al Jaaf.

The Al Jaafs are one of hundreds of Iraqi families that have sought refuge in Baghdad's so-called Green Zone in recent years. The international enclave, home to the headquarters of the Americans and their allies, is a city within a city; Nestled in a bend in the Tigris, the quarter belonged to the elite under Saddam Hussein. This is where the dicatator's palaces stood and stilll stand, off limits to ordinary mortals.

Entry to the zone remains restricted today. Behind its high walls, tens of thousands of soldiers, diplomats, foreign workers and Iraqis live in relative safety. For the Al Jaafs, it's become safety on demand. Since the Iraqi government took over management of the zone, it has been trying to drive Iraqi families away. "They want us to move back into the city," says the father of the Al Jaaf family. The 52-year-old is certain that he and his family wouldn't survive a single day on the outside. "Anyone who has worked for the Americans is considered a traitor and is as good as dead," he says.

[LynnTheDem]

1. The parallels grow daily.

As does America's crime.

May God forgive us all. The world isn't likely to.

[atreides1]

2. Nothing New Here

The US government has a history of pissing down the backs of indigenous peoples who help them. It makes promises and then when their help is no longer needed they conveniently forget the promises that were made and throw their former helpers to the wolves!!!!!

Some things just never change!!