The
Green Zone (
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
: ) is the common name for the International Zone of Iraq— a 10-square-kilometer (3.8-square-mile) area in central
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
,
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
, that was the center of the
Coalition Provisional AuthorityThe Coalition Provisional Authority was established as a transitional government following the invasion of Iraq by the United States, United Kingdom and the other members of the Multinational force in Iraq which was formed to oust the government of Saddam Hussein in 2003...
and remains the center of the international presence in the city. Its official name beginning under the
Iraqi Interim GovernmentThe Iraqi Interim Government was created by the United States and its coalition allies as a caretaker government to govern Iraq until the Iraqi Transitional Government was installed following the Iraqi National Assembly election conducted on January 30, 2005...
is the
International Zone, though
Green Zone remains the most commonly used term. The contrasting
Red ZoneRed Zone is a term designating unsafe areas in Iraq after the 2003 invasion by the United States, Britain, and other allies. It is contrasted with the high-security sector of Baghdad called the Green Zone. Since the Green Zone is a very small area, "Red Zone" is applied to the rest of Baghdad.U.S...
refers to parts of Baghdad immediately outside the perimeter, but is also loosely applied to all unsecured areas outside the off-site military posts.
The
Green Zone (
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
: ) is the common name for the International Zone of Iraq— a 10-square-kilometer (3.8-square-mile) area in central
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
,
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
, that was the center of the
Coalition Provisional AuthorityThe Coalition Provisional Authority was established as a transitional government following the invasion of Iraq by the United States, United Kingdom and the other members of the Multinational force in Iraq which was formed to oust the government of Saddam Hussein in 2003...
and remains the center of the international presence in the city. Its official name beginning under the
Iraqi Interim GovernmentThe Iraqi Interim Government was created by the United States and its coalition allies as a caretaker government to govern Iraq until the Iraqi Transitional Government was installed following the Iraqi National Assembly election conducted on January 30, 2005...
is the
International Zone, though
Green Zone remains the most commonly used term. The contrasting
Red ZoneRed Zone is a term designating unsafe areas in Iraq after the 2003 invasion by the United States, Britain, and other allies. It is contrasted with the high-security sector of Baghdad called the Green Zone. Since the Green Zone is a very small area, "Red Zone" is applied to the rest of Baghdad.U.S...
refers to parts of Baghdad immediately outside the perimeter, but is also loosely applied to all unsecured areas outside the off-site military posts. Both terms originated as military designations.
Pre-invasion
The Green Zone was a heavily fortified zone in the center of the Iraqi capital that served as the headquarters of successive Iraqi regimes. It was the administrative center for the Ba'ath Party. The area was not originally home to the villas of government officials, though it was very important and was home to many military bases, several government ministries, and a number of palaces of
Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
and his family. The largest of these was the
Republican PalaceThe Republican Palace in Iraq is the largest of the palaces commissioned by Saddam Hussein and was his preferred place to meet visiting heads of state. The United States spared the palace during its shock and awe raid during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, in the belief that it might hold valuable...
that was Saddam's primary seat of power. The area is known as
Karradat Mariam, named for the famous woman who helped thousands of poor people in Baghdad.
Post-invasion
The region was taken by American forces in
April 2003April 2003 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December-April 1, 2003:* Hong Kong movie and Cantopop star Leslie Cheung commits suicide at the age of 46....
, in some of the heaviest fighting in Baghdad. In the lead-up to the invasion, Saddam and most of the other residents of the area fled fearing arrest by Coalition forces or reprisals by Iraqis. Some of the original inhabitants who did not flee also continue to live in the area. Many are undocumented squatters in the area referred to as the "215 Apartments".
While most of the ministry buildings had been destroyed by airstrikes, this left a sizable number of buildings in central Baghdad abandoned. The Coalition Provisional Authority administrators who arrived on the heels of the invading forces decided this left them ideal for use by Coalition administrators.
Jay GarnerLieutenant General Jay Montgomery Garner, USA Ret is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who was appointed in 2003 as Director of the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq following the 2003 invasion of Iraq but was soon replaced by Ambassador Paul Bremer and...
, head of the reconstruction team, set up his headquarters in the
Republican PalaceThe Republican Palace in Iraq is the largest of the palaces commissioned by Saddam Hussein and was his preferred place to meet visiting heads of state. The United States spared the palace during its shock and awe raid during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, in the belief that it might hold valuable...
; other villas were taken by groups of government officials and private contractors. Charlie company 3/124 infantry of the Florida Army National Guard settled among the orange groves behind the palace and provided security for the palace and a large portion of the sector from April 2003 to February 2004. Eventually some five thousand officials and civil contractors settled in the area.
The abandoned buildings were not only attractive to Coalition forces, but also to homeless Iraqis. Among these were individuals who had lost their homes in the conflict, but most were urban poor who had been homeless or in
slumA slum, as defined by the United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the proportion of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
s before the war and saw moving into the abandoned houses as a sizable increase in their standard of living. They felt that since they were not Ba'athist, they had as much right to the vacated houses as the Coalition authorities. There continue to be some five thousand of these Iraqis living in the Green Zone.
The Green Zone was also home to a small garrison of American troops who guarded it and manned the checkpoints leading to it. They were typically a battalion of soldiers at FOB Prosperity, under the command of the Multi-National Division - Baghdad. Additionally, a battalion of coalition soldiers from the
Republic of GeorgiaGeorgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
used to man some of the checkpoints in the International Zone.
The Green Zone is completely surrounded by high concrete blast walls, T-Walls and
barbed wireBarbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...
and access was available through a handful of entry control points, all of which were controlled by Coalition troops. It is this security that makes the Green Zone the safest area of Baghdad, and is referred to colloquially as "the bubble". The southern and eastern side of the zone is protected by the Tigris River – the only entrance to the zone from this side is the Arbataash Tamuz Bridge (known as the July 14th Bridge by Iraqis, the date that the former regime came to power.) This has led the insurgents to frequently shell the Green Zone with
mortarA mortar is a muzzle-loading indirect fire weapon that fires shells at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It typically has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber.- Function :...
s and
rocketA rocket or rocket vehicle is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust by the reaction of the rocket to the ejection of a jet of fast moving fluid exhaust from a rocket engine. Chemical rockets create their exhaust by the combustion of rocket propellant...
s, though these attacks cause few casualties. In
October 2004October 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
See also: October 2004 in sports-Events:...
it was hit by two suicide bombings, which destroyed the bazaar and the
Green Zone CafeThe Green Zone Cafe was a restaurant in the northeast corner of the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq. The restaurant was housed in a fabric and metal-frame building established in the parking lot of a former filling station...
. On April 12, 2007, a bomb went off in the Iraqi Parliament cafeteria, killing
Mohammed AwadMohammed Awad was a political party member of the Iraqi National Dialogue Council that represented them in the National Assembly of Iraq.On April 12, 2007, he was killed in the Green Zone at the convention centre canteen of the parliament building in Baghdad, Iraq, in the 2007 Iraqi Parliament...
(a member of the Sunni National Dialogue Front) and injuring 22, including one of the vice presidents. The Green Zone was shelled with rocket and mortar fire almost daily from Easter 2008 until May 5, 2008, causing numerous civilian and military casualties. A high percentage of the rocket and mortar fire originated in
Sadr CitySadr City is a suburb district of the city of Baghdad, Iraq. It was built in 1959 by Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassim and later unofficially renamed Sadr City after deceased Shia leader Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr. Sadr City is one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad...
. On April 6, 2008, two U.S. soldiers were killed and 17 more wounded when a rocket or mortar attack struck inside the Green Zone.
Since the handover of sovereignty to Iraqis, many of the facilities in the Green Zone have been turned over to the new Iraqi government. It is still a base for western
private military contractorsA private military company provides specialized expertise or services of a military nature, sometimes called or classified as mercenary...
, and home to the
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
,
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
n embassies. The
permanent U.S. embassyThe Embassy of the United States in Baghdad is the diplomatic mission of the United States in Iraq. It is located in Baghdad and is home to the Ambassador to Iraq. Ambassador Patricia A...
is located in the southern Green Zone, overlooking the Tigris River.
On 1 January 2009, full control of the Green Zone was handed back to Iraqi security forces.
Notable sites in the Green Zone
- Coalition Provisional Authority
The Coalition Provisional Authority was established as a transitional government following the invasion of Iraq by the United States, United Kingdom and the other members of the Multinational force in Iraq which was formed to oust the government of Saddam Hussein in 2003...
- Al-Rashid Hotel
- Hands of Victory
The Swords of Qādisīyah, also called the Hands of Victory, are a pair of triumphal arches in central Baghdad, Iraq. Each arch consists of a pair of hands holding crossed swords...
monument
- Iraqi Monument of the Unknown Soldier
The Monument to the Unknown Soldier is said to be inspired by the glorification of a martyr from the Iran–Iraq War. The Monument represents a traditional shield dropping from the dying grasp of an Iraqi warrior. The monument also houses an underground museum. The artificial hill is shaped like a...
- Green Zone Cafe
The Green Zone Cafe was a restaurant in the northeast corner of the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq. The restaurant was housed in a fabric and metal-frame building established in the parking lot of a former filling station...
(destroyed, reopened, closed)
- Green Zone Bazaar (destroyed)
- Assassin's Gate
The Assassin's Gate is one of four primary points of entry to the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq. The name originates from the unit initially providing security at the gate and does not refer to an event nor have any Iraqi meaning. It is described as "a sandstone arch"....
- Ibn Sina Hospital
Ibn Sina Hospital is a hospital in Baghdad, Iraq which was built by four Iraqi doctors - Modafar Al Shather, Kadim Shubar, Kasim Abdul Majeed and Clement Serkis - in the mid-1960s. It was purchased for a fraction of its true value by the Iraqi government for use by Saddam Hussein, his family and...
- Embassy of the United States in Baghdad
The Embassy of the United States in Baghdad is the diplomatic mission of the United States in Iraq. It is located in Baghdad and is home to the Ambassador to Iraq. Ambassador Patricia A...
External links