Article

2007-04-02 Iraq

Suicide vests found in Baghdad's Green Zone

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Posted by Fred 2007-04-02 00:00|| || Front Page|| [8 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 teenager with issues in aisle #1, clean up please.

Posted by anonymous 2007-04-02 01:39|| 2007-04-02 01:39|| Front Page Top

#2 Suicide vests found in Baghdad's Green Zone

Iraqi government officials are allowed to hire their own bodyguards who then have access to parts of the Green Zone.

I hope Verlane will fill us in as to how the secured areas work in the GZ [OP SEC filtered of course]

Posted by anonymous 2007-04-02 01:51|| 2007-04-02 01:51|| Front Page Top

#3 Well OPSEC is robust here, as in addition to being careful of course I am also surely unaware of many of the measures used to secure the IZ. Last week in my comment on the reportedly busted bomb plot I noted that private security already handled the Convention Center entrances, and of course they also are part of the solution at various other locations inside the IZ.

Entry to the IZ itself is the key, and that's handled by a mix of MNF-I and Iraqi elements, with multiple layers - all of this is well-known in Baghdad as many Iraqis travel in/out of the IZ. The key problem seems to be the Iraqi security elements attached to Iraqi politicians and officials. I recall the first scare of this kind (public) last year, and it was connected to an Iraqi bodyguard unit. But I really don't know a lot of the details, naturally.

Bomb-vests inside the IZ certainly move the pucker-factor up a notch or two.

The recent indirect fire deaths are awful and surely are just a case of very bad luck - I'd have to guess the % of indirect fire atttacks that produce casualties is extremely low, based on my time there. (All info that follows was publicly reported at the time these things happened) Two US personnel were killed by a rocket shortly after my arrival in '05 - I don't recall any other major injuries from indirect fire until towards the end of my time, when two local nationals were killed by a rocket and in a separate incident an Australian soldier was seriously wounded by a rocket.

The article gets it right - the IZ is mostly empty space, so odds are the incoming will hit nothing in particular, and that's the usual result.

Truth is, the only time I felt a bit scared (more rushed to take cover than scared) was when Iraq won a soccer game in December '05 and the happy fire from across the river was spectacular. Was fairly interesting trying to figure out what was going on at first.

They even used to put out security advisories when the potential for happy fire from sporting or political events could be forecast.

Posted by Verlaine 2007-04-02 02:46|| 2007-04-02 02:46|| Front Page Top

#4 thanks Verlaine, much appreciated fill in.

Posted by Red Dog">Red Dog 2007-04-02 02:57|| 2007-04-02 02:57|| Front Page Top

#5 Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]

Posted by Mohammed was a pedophile 2007-04-02 01:07|| 2007-04-02 01:07|| Front Page Top

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