dublin castle part deux

as the green zone becomes dangerous, the government knows less and less of what is going on in the country:

• A second problem is that by necessity Iraqi government officials are surrounded by thicker and thicker blankets of security where they operate, within the strange menagerie of the Green Zone. That prevents them from making their own observations of life in the rest of Baghdad, said Laith Kubba, who was the spokesman for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari until Mr. Jaafari left office in early 2006.
• “The gap has gone too wide,” Mr. Kubba said. “Many of those people have insulated themselves from what’s out on the streets.” ("In the Heat of Battle and Politics, the Hard Facts Melt," By JAMES GLANZ, May 20, 2007, New York Times)

perhaps the saigon embassy (above
, 1970) is the operative comparison (baghdad embassy in construction above)?

walk in the park..., uhh, whistling in the dark

• IRAQI insurgents are increasingly hitting Baghdad's fortress-like Green Zone with rockets and mortar shells.
• Insurgents have struck inside the Green Zone, which includes the US embassy, on six of the past seven days, once with deadly consequences.
• A US soldier and a US Government contractor were killed on Tuesday night by a rocket attack that also seriously wounded a civilian, military and embassy officials said....
• "It's clear that there have been increasing targeting attacks against the international zone," Rear Admiral Mark Fox, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said at a news conference....
• The threat to Americans contrasts with an assessment by Republican senator John McCain, a supporter of President Bush's Iraq strategy, who said this week that "there are neighbourhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through". ("Baghdad Green Zone goes red," Karin Brulliard, Baghdad, March 30, 2007, The Age, Australia)