WAIT, WAIT! CAN'T WE ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY AFTER THE WAR CRIMES TRIBUNALS?

After all, we do know how to do war-crimes trials. That's Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, chief prosecutor at Nuremberg in 1945.

Most of my friends are probably admiring New Jersey and its Democratic governor and state legislature today. Even here in Asia people are aware-- and heartily approve-- of Governor Corzine signing a bill abolishing the death penalty in New Jersey. Back when I was at PS 197 in Brooklyn I won a U.N. scholarship for an essay I wrote defending the death penalty. I've moderated my bloodthirsty tendencies a bit since then... but just a bit.

To me the only thing that's inherently wrong with the death penalty is how dependably imperfect our justice system is in figuring out who should get it and who shouldn't. The justice system is fatally biased against minorities and against poor people. So, although I still consider myself a proponent of the death penalty, I don't think it should be implemented-- except in special cases.

Right now I'm reading Rajiv Chandrasekaran's stupendous best seller, Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone. Anyone who needs a reason for exceptions to banning the death penalty need spend only a few hours contemplating the egregious war crimes committed by the Bush Regime and its lackeys in Iraq. For example, the Geneva Convention (and its predecessor, the Hague Convention of 1899; Article 43)-- as Bush Regime attorneys never tired of pointing out-- "required an occupying power to respect all the laws of the occupied country except when it is necessary to promote public order and safety." But right-wing ideologues the Bush Regime installed to run Iraq couldn't wait to impose the kind of vulture capitalism in Iraq they have been slowly imposing on America under the administrations of Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II. One dangerous nutcase Republican hack, Peter McPherson, immediately "slashed Iraq's top tax rate for individuals and businesses from 45% to a flat 15%. It was the sort of tax overhaul that fiscal conservatives long dreamed of implementing in the United States... The centerpiece of McPherson's agenda was a new foreign-investment law" whereby foreign companies could gobble up all of Iraq's natural resources and industries.

And there were far worse culprits than McPherson. He was replaced by Bush crony Thomas Foley, "an investment banker and a major Republican Party donor who had been President Bush's classmate at Harvard Business School."

A month after arriving, Foley [right] told a contractor from Bearing Point [a GOP-connected criminal consulting firm] that he intended to privatize all of Iraq's state-owned enterprises within thirty days.

"Tom, there are a couple of problems with that," the contractor said. "The first is an international law that prevents the sale of assets by an occupation government."

"I don't care about any of that stuff," Foley told the contractor, according to her recollection of the conversation. "I don't give a shit about international law. I made a commitment to the president that I'd privatize Iraq's businesses."

Imperial Life in the Emerald City reads like a blueprint for dismal and tragic failure in Iraq-- as though it was a premeditated objective. It is also a blueprint for how a Giuliani government would run-- I'll get more into that anon-- and it should be a blueprint for a thorough investigation by Congress. Hopefully, the worst of the criminals won't be indicted in New Jersey but in a state that knows how to punish real criminals... like Texas or Utah. Because despite the crocodile tears shed by the Republican Party's most effeminate presidential candidate, Mitt "I would never live in a pink house" Romney, these Republicans really do need to be punished for what they've done in Iraq-- for the sake of our national soul.


P.S.: KNOW YOUR U.S. PUBLIC SERVANTS--

THOMAS C. FOLEY

In June 2004, our Tom received the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award for his service as director of private-sector development for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. In 2006 he became U.S. ambassador to Ireland.

So that'll be "Mr. Ambassador" to you, girls and boys. Whatta guy!--Ken

#

WHO FUCKED UP THE WAR? VOINOVICH SAYS IT WAS BUSH-- BUT HE STILL VOTES FOR EVERY SINGLE LAME BUSH SCHEME INVOLVING IRAQ

While Harry Reid has the cots brought into the Senate for a one night demonstration of Republican obstructionism that is likely to go nowhere and while Pelosi still insists that impeachment-- clearly the only way out of Iraq-- is still off the table, and while George Voinovich-- who still hasn't been able to muster the balls Olympia Snowe has in voting against the Bush Iraq agenda of endless war-- warns Rove that Bush's legacy may be in trouble if he doesn't withdraw from Iraq (actually saying Bush "fucked up the war"), Peter Pace sent up a trail balloon today for the Regime saying that they plan on escalating the war even further. Like who didn't see that coming?

Marine Gen. Peter Pace revealed that he and the chiefs of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force are developing their own assessment of the situation in Iraq, to be presented to Bush in September. That will be separate from the highly anticipated report to Congress that month by Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander for Iraq.

The Joint Chiefs are considering a range of actions, including another troop buildup, Pace said without making any predictions. He called it prudent planning to enable the services to be ready for Bush's decision.

Most professional military men already know Bush is a vicious little prick who will turn on them in an instant and blame them for everything that goes wrong-- or end their careers if he thinks they're being disloyal to his Regime's ideological diktats. Dan Froomkin laid it out beautifully in his Washington Post column this morning:

President Bush says that he should be trusted on military issues because he listens to his commanders. But he has a tendency to celebrate his generals when they're providing him political cover-- then stick a knife in their backs when they're no longer of any use to him.

Last week, Bush rejected any blame for the chaos that ensued in Iraq after the March 2003 invasion. So whose fault was it? Bush pointed the finger at Gen. Tommy Franks, the Central Command chief at the time. "My primary question to General Franks was, do you have what it takes to succeed? And do you have what it takes to succeed after you succeed in removing Saddam Hussein? And his answer was, yes," Bush said.

Bush brought in David BetrayUs because he's a right wing Republican hack with his eyes on political office and because Bush knew he is a true believer in the same discredited ideological approach to Iraq that he and the other dead enders are. "When virtually all of Bush military line of command, including the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff, opposed his 'surge' proposal late last year, Bush responded not by listening, but by removing the top two commanders responsible for Iraq and replacing them with more amenable leaders, including Army Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus."

But everything about Iraq is not all doom and gloom. We just got an e-mail from Fred, the DWT correspondent semi-embedded with Halliburton in Baghdad. The Greed Zone is buzzin' this week with news from Halliburton's KBR division that in 10 days new yoga classes for beginners will commence. Photo above courtsey of KBR, Baghdad.

LIFE IN THE GREED ZONE-- YEP, THERE'S SOMETHING WORSE THAN CODE RED

Nothing about this story has anything to do with Republican Party hacks Patraeus and Pence-- except the blame part

When we last heard from Fred, the DWT Baghdad correspondent, he gave us a very clear explanation of the various-- and color-coded-- degrees of water problems in the Greed Zone. He gave us all the ramifications, courtesy of Dick Cheney's company Halliburton, between green and red. He didn't explain "black." This morning, when Halliburton subsidiary KBR implemented it, he did: "MISSION CRITICAL WATER NEEDS ONLY: LSA water hours from 0500 - 0900 and 1700 - 2100 daily; Emergency response vehicles maintained at 50% water capacity." I guess the step after that goes way beyond the pathetic benchmarks Bush and corporate Dems passed this week.

Water for showers, toilets, ordinary use is brought into the Embassy Compound (in the Green Zone) by truck. When trucks cannot move, problems quickly become apparent. Drinking water is brought in from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia by 18-wheelers with pallet loads of liter (for the kitchen) and half liter bottles for drinking.

I'm just guessin' here, but maybe the trucks with the water are having problems getting into Baghdad because Iraqis-- if not Cheney Democrats in the U.S. Congress-- are eager for Americans to decamp asap. In fact, Moqtada al-Sadr is saying the U.S. must remove their troops from his country. Bush and his cronies claim the U.S. will withdraw when Iraq wants us to but he's waiting until God calls him and tells him that that's the case.

Meanwhile, water isn't the only thing having a hard time getting into Baghdad. Fred explains the process of a person getting into Baghdad. He flew in from Amman, Jordan. His trip doesn't have anything to do with the photo-op McCain staged to falsely paint Baghdad as a safe place to take a leisurely stroll with your gay friend from South Carolina.

Traveling to Baghdad under US Government auspices is a dilly of an experience. It was so fascinating that I took notes along the way. After arriving, everything seemed so surreal that I continued taking notes. I was here in mid-2004 but somehow I either was not exposed to the more weird aspects of life in the Green Zone or did not notice it. Anyway, here is the first part of my story for your amusement.

It took 20 hours to get to Baghdad by plane from Amman, Jordan. Prewar, one could drive it in about ten hours. The trip was bizarre to say the least. I even had written instructions and tried to follow them to the letter but alas, a few things were left out.

The delays started even before travel begins. Someone in Baghdad must first verify that you have a CAC or Common Access Card, country clearance, a Letter of Authorization (LOA, at the airport they referred to them as Travel Orders) and that there is room for you in the inn, i.e. is there an empty bunk in one of the several thousand trailers or other billets in the International Zone (better known as the Green Zone)? None of this happens in parallel, all must be done in a specific sequence. When all is gathered, a seat is reserved for you on a C-130.

Two days a week, a C-130 flies from Kuwait to Baghdad, then Baghdad to Amman, then Amman back to Baghdad and finally from Baghdad back to Kuwait; all very orderly, but intentionally (for security reasons) not on any discernable time schedule.

On the afternoon before the flight, specifically between the hours of 4 and 8 pm, you are obliged to telephone (or inquire via the Internet) the transportation people and ask for the Amman to BIAP (Baghdad International AirPort) ‘show time’. I telephoned at the appointed time and was told that show time at Marka airport-– an old airport now mostly devoted to general aviation-– was “oh-nine-thirty.”

At 8:15 the following morning, a colleague drove me to the airport. On the drive, I mused that the usually brown hills had turned green as the result of a tiny bit of rain a few days earlier and thought of it as a good sign. Such is life in a desert environment.

Marka airport dates from an earlier era. The terminal looks as though it had just slipped into a hole in the ground. It is small, nearly empty, dimly lit and dreary. Other than the employees, everyone in the terminal appeared to be headed for the same flight to Baghdad.

After standing in line for an hour, I paid the departure tax, gave someone at the ticket counter (no tickets were actually issued) my luggage bag and a copy of my LOA and was checked in. One carry-on is permitted – as long as you can carry it on your lap.

After checking in, we passengers gathered in a small open area overlooking part of the runway and waited some more. A forlorn looking Duty Free shop was open as was a stand that sold cookies, sodas and such but otherwise the joint was empty.

After a rather long wait, Jordan Immigration opened a departure counter and someone called out that the immigration line was open. So, I had the dubious pleasure of yet another line in which to stand. Having completed that task, everyone re-gathered into a glassed-off waiting area and, of course, waited some more.

At 12:45 pm, a bus pulled up and after more waiting, a group of us crowded onto the bus and were taken to the plane. This being a C-130 we boarded by walking up a ramp at the back of the plane. The seats are web mesh on aluminum frames. Down each side of the plane a row of seats faces inward; down the center of the plane two rows of seats separated by web mesh faces outward. I’ve attached pictures for your amusement.


The web mesh is the seat back. For those sitting in the middle rows of seats only the mesh separates each persons back from the back of the person on the other side. The plane narrows in the middle to accommodate the wheel wells. Passengers seated in that section find themselves sharing knee space as well. Amazingly enough, several passengers seemed to sleep or toil away (play?) on laptops that were truly on their laps, despite the rather uncomfortable arrangement. When one of the air force types (shall I call him the flight attendant?) went from the front of the plane to the back, he did so by stepping carefully between the knees of the passengers from one seat edge to the next.

Some 70 of us crowded onto the plane. The toilet on the plane is a bucket behind a curtain, if anyone is desperate for relief.

Our baggage, collected on a pallet and wrapped in plastic wrap like a piece of meat at the supermarket, was fork-lifted onto the plane, the ramp raised, the door latched and off we went. The plane jerked forward from a standing position but climbed into the sky quite nicely. The flight was noisy and uncomfortable but not overly long.

At 1:54 pm, the pilot landed the plane in a spiral motion-– rather reminiscent of the time I did my pilot’s biennial with a stunt pilot as my check pilot. In this case however, the reason for landing in such an unusual way was to avoid flying over areas where the troublemakers like to shoot at low flying planes. Touchdown was rather sudden and abrupt.

Even leaving the plane is an experience. First the luggage pallet is removed – we probably could not get off the plane otherwise – then a hippy-looking chap yelled “skull caps off” and “follow me." We stumbled off the plane, in two remarkably straight lines, for some distance behind the plane. The reason was immediately obvious. The engines were still running, the noise was deafening and the wind the engines generated was incredible. We next pushed off to a tent/building where our arrival was registered.

I was instructed to call upon arrival at BIAP but told not to give any flight times, etc. over the phone (seemed strange as the flight was over) but I followed the instructions. I had to borrow a phone as my Jordanian phone did not work despite receiving a SMS message welcoming me to Iraq from Fastlink Jordan.

It is not obvious where the luggage is placed upon arrival, and given the impression I had that the bags continued to the Green Zone with the passengers, I did not go fetch my bag-- a bit of a mistake-- but that’s another story.

For most folks who arrive on a C-130, getting to the Green Zone from BIAP is via steel-plated buses called Rhinos. The color, size and hulking shape of these beasts suggest that they are well-named. Unfortunately the Rhinos do not run until the wee hours of the morning (to avoid being shot at during the daytime, when folks can be along the road without appearing suspicious). So for those of us who arrived via C-130, it’s a 6 to 10 hour additional wait.

Having time to kill, I went exploring. I found a Dining Facility (in Green Zone-speak, a DFAC) but they would not let me enter with my laptop (security has its own peculiar logic) and there was no place to store it safely. I found a PX (Post eXchange) and cluster of trailers housing a Burger King, a Subway sandwich shop, a Green Beans (a Starbucks-like coffee shop found on military bases), a jewelry shop, a barber shop, a beauty salon and a gift shop. All seemed in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by churned up and hardened mud with large river stones in place of paving. The whole business was surrounded by concrete T-walls (blast protection).

Later I took a bus to Camp Striker (where the Rhinos pick up their passengers). The bus was accompanied by a van onto which they place any luggage that passengers are carrying (again, all in the name of security). At Striker, the waiting area is housed in a large temporary building with coffee, tea, television, and wireless internet (for a fee), etc. For those who can tolerate endless propaganda there are some couches and chairs around a couple of televisions with identical smatterings of Fox News and military pep talk pieces. There are also a few books and magazines to read.

At about 11:00 pm, the Rhino passengers queued up, identified themselves and had their names placed on a manifest and were told the number of the bus that they are to take to the Green Zone. Rhino passengers are required to have a flak jacket and helmet. Of course I did not have these items (and did not get any for several days). But I did receive a lengthy lecture on the subject. Just where, how or when I could have acquired this equipment was left out of the lecture.

The Rhinos finally arrived, an announcement was made and we we went out to meet them. The luggage was lined up in a row and sniffer dogs examined them after which the baggage and other boxes were tossed into a shipping container that sat on a flat bed trailer.

Five or six Rhinos (one purposefully empty) took us to the Green Zone. We were escorted by humvees with a pair of helicopters watching overhead. At the Green Zone, the luggage truck was unloaded, and again inspected by other sniffer dogs.

I was not told beforehand that I would be going into the Palace that morning, and thus did not get the necessary temporary badge. By the time someone came to get me, the badge person had left and my escort and I had to wait until someone of higher rank arranged for a temporary badge. The badge was needed simply to let me pass through the Palace on my way to a “Transient Hootch”, Hootch being the name given to the sleeping quarters that are trailers or modified shipping containers. It is a Vietnamese word for huts that serve as living quarters. The US military borrowed the name from the Vietnamese during the Vietnam war and have used it ever since. Once a temporary badge was issued, my escort took me to Billeting, picked up a room key and finally, at 4:00 am I crawled into bed.

So, you see the waiting is unbelievable, especially when you realize that everyone who enters or leaves the airport via this process loses a day in entering and a day in leaving. The drag on individuals and the cost to the USG must be enormous. I think the C-130 holds about 70 people. My guess is that the people cost alone easily exceeds $500,000 each trip. My logic: each trip 65 to 75 people travel to Amman and 65 to 75 from Amman plus similar numbers going through Kuwait – each person loses 16 to 24 hours in traveling this short distance-- the average fee expended for the services of these people likely exceeds $1,000 per person per day (my estimate may even be low)-- add in the cost of the C-130s, the security personnel, the Rhinos, the escorts and the number soon staggers the imagination-- all this in the name of security.

The costs go on. You cannot just change planes in Amman or Kuwait and fly on to Baghdad. Thus folks other than the military who are traveling to Iraq for the US Government must of necessity be lodged in a hotel for a day or more until such time as they can continue their journey.

While Fred tells us how difficult and uncomfortable it is for Americans to get in to the Greed Zone, Frank Rich has a gloomy column on the plight of Iraqis-- many, the very ones who bought into the Bush Regime "freedom and democracy" bullshit-- who now need to get out. As Iraq descends more and more into bloody and hopeless chaos, over 15% of it's population has become refugees-- but only a few hundred (all translators) have been given asylum in the U.S. And if you wonder why those men and women have targets on their backs, it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out. Instinctively, everyone knows what a quisling is. American soldiers stationed in Iraq are starting to realize that only one things seems to unite all Iraqis: a desire to take their country back from American occupier.

LIFE IN THE GREED ZONE: ARE CUBANS ALLOWED?

When a report out of Baghdad came rumbling over the transom from Fred just now, I thought it might be something about the American soldiers captured by the Iraqi insurgents. It wasn't. Nor was it about the spiraling costs of Bush's absolutely catastrophic war. It wasn't even about Paul Brinkley's much-maligned attempts to get the Iraqi economy running again, something that is of great concern to Fred.

Brinkley and his colleagues at the Pentagon believe that rehabilitating shuttered, state-run enterprises could reduce violence by employing tens of thousands of Iraqis. Officials at State counter that the initiative is antithetical to free-market reforms the United States should promote in Iraq.

The bureaucratic knife fight over the best way to revive Iraq's moribund economy illustrates how the two principal players in the reconstruction of Iraq-- the departments of Defense and State-- remain at odds over basic economic and political measures. The bickering has hamstrung initiatives to promote stability four years after Saddam Hussein's fall.

Nope; instead it could be filed under "Life Goes On In The Good Ole U.S.A. Greed Zone. And Fred's commentary? "Baghdad's Cigar Aficionado Club; the pictures say it all."

LIFE IN THE GREED ZONE: LET THEM DRINK... PERRIER?

I hope you've been following the adventures of DWT Baghdad correspondent, Fred, doing his best to avoid mercenaries and Bush Regime screw-ups in the Greed Zone. (Earlier reports are here, and here, and here) I just got another e-mail from Fred this weekend that I'd like to share:

Benjamin Franklin noted [as did, more recently, Craig David] that we know the worth of water when the well runs dry. He might also have pointed out the value of anticipating such an event. I did not, and now I must pay. I am busier here than ever expected and thus let laundry needs go unanswered.
 
Too bad, I must now go to the PX to purchase socks and such with the hope that they have same in stock in my size. The PX is pathetic-- it has lots of stock available in CDs, televisions and the like, but essentials seem to be spasmodically stocked.
 
Water here at the Palace and the Hootches (the home away from home for expat Green Zone types) is delivered to holding tanks by truck, around 5,000 gallons at a time it appears. Given the hundreds (or is it thousands?) of people here, transporting water must be a big operation.
 
I wonder if the bowing up of a bridge across the Tigris has anything to do with the shortage. Baghdad was without electricity for some days because they couldn’t get fuel to the generators. Apparently after the bombing, a second bridge was made off limits to tanker trucks, and the tanker truck drivers refused to cross the alternative bridge because it was serving as a live target gallery for certain malcontents.

Damned those malcontents! There followed an e-mail from Halliburton's KBR division, an "All Hands Notice," declaring that as of April 28 the water status is amber. Amber is the third of 4 stages, just before red. Here's the KB definitions:

a.      Green: Water supply is adequate, no additional conservation efforts are necessary

b.     Yellow: Will usually be initiated when water services have been disrupted for 2 hours or more and the ETR is more than 12 hours

                                               i.      KBR will monitor and report water level every four hours.
                                                             ii.      KBR Fire Department:
                                                           1.      Maintain full water tank levels in emergency                     response vehicles
                                                           2.      Coordinate with city services for emergency water support if needed
                                                            iii.      DCMA will inform KBR to execute a Letter of Technical Direction allowing Task Order 130 to draw water from Task Order 139 supplies at FOB Prosperity ROWPU intermediate storage bladder
                                                           iv.      Stop watering grass and all landscaping
                                                             v.      Cease operation of the KBR car wash station
                                                           vi.      Discontinue Full Service Laundry washing, remain open for drop off and pick up only
                                                          vii.      Shut down self-service laundries
                                                        viii.      Cease water replenishment for palace swimming pool
 
c.     Amber: Will usually be initiated when water services have been disrupted for 6 hours or more and the ETR is more than 24 hours; execute the steps for phase Yellow, additionally;

                                               i.      Limit cleaning to sanitary purposes only; as long as we are using latrines they need to be cleaned.
                                                             ii.      KBR will draw water from the fire station storage tanks if necessary; discontinue water draw when storage tanks level falls to 50% (DO NOT DRAW DOWN BELOW 50%)
 
d.     Red: Will usually be initiated when water services have been disrupted for 6 hours or more and there is no reliable ETR

                                               i.      Implement LSA water hours from 0500-0900 and 1700-2100 daily

The implementation of the Amber alert includes shutting down the KBR car wash station, self-service laundries, full service laundry service and water replenishment for swimming pools. I just noticed that there's something worse than red: black. I guess that's when even Cheney realizes the jig is up-- though when Lieberman will pull his head out of his ass and smell the roses is anyone's guess.


UPDATE: HAZARDOUS DUTY PAY?

"State Department employees in Iraq seldom leave the capital's heavily fortified Green Zone. Even there, rocket and mortar attacks are frequent, and the sound of gunfire is constant. Suicide bombers have penetrated the zone on rare occasions, most recently on April 12." And today's USAToday is reporting that American diplomats are returning from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder, "the same debilitating, stress-related symptoms that have afflicted many U.S. troops, prompting the State Department to order a mental health survey of 1,400 employees who have completed assignments there."
 

LIFE IN THE GREED ZONE: BAGHDAD COUNTRY CLUB OFF LIMITS AFTER 6PM-- UNLESS ACCOMPANIED BY McCAIN'S ARMED CONTINGENT

Yesterday something like 200 civilians going about their day to day lives in George Bush's Iraq were killed. McCain was out sniffing for campaign dollars and not on a Baghdad neighborhood stroll or a bargain hunting shopping trip with silly Lindsey Graham (R-Closet) and crazy Mike Pence (R-Indiana country market).

This morning, Fred, our pal in Baghdad, forwarded us a Security Notice (#06-688) that went out to all U.S. personnel working there from Senior Regional Security Officer Randall Bennett. The subject: Baghdad Country Club Bar and Restaurant Off-Limits after 1800 hours. Oh dear; what will nights in the Greed Zone be like now?

The Regional Security Office (RSO) continues to receive threat reporting of possible attacks planned within the International Zone and works closely with the Joint Area Support Group (JASG), International Zone (IZ) Police, and other military elements to counter these threats.

Our best defense, however, will always be the personal ownership each Mission employee assumes for his/her own safety. Each of you should periodically review your security posture to identify any possible vulnerability such as the RSO does so for the entire Mission. In a critical threat environment, the most fundamental security concepts are to lower your personal profile and to avoid places where Westerners frequently congregate, such as restaurants, bars, and nightclubs.

RSO has conducted a security survey of the Baghdad Country Club restaurant/bar. The restaurant/bar presents several vulnerabilities to include zero setback, no reinforced perimeter physical security, and only three Iraqi guards on patrol at night. The wine bar and restaurant will only be open in the evenings beginning at 7:00 p.m.

The RSO has placed this establishment off-limits after 6:00 p.m. If you choose to go to the adjacent beverage and general merchandise store during the day, you should increase your vigilance, look for possible surveillance or suspicious activity, travel in groups, and have someone watch your vehicle while you are in the store. If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact ARSO Ricardo Gibert at 914-822-9060 or gibertr@state.gov/

Can someone forward this to Senators McCain and Graham and Congressmen Renzi and Pence?

IRAQ: THINGS BLOW UP

As you now surely know, when Candidate McCain first made his absurd claim that things were so hunky-dory in Baghdad that he and Bill Bennett could open a casino go for a stroll through some neighborhoods, he wasn't talking about the Green Zone, which isn't really a neighborhood as much as a fortified, heavily guarded American enclave, the heart of the Occupation, which, of course, includes the puppet government. Sure, that pseudo neighborhood is safe enough for a stroll... often. But not always. Today was one of those days when you would have preferred being in a nice Indiana market, one in Indiana.

A suicide bomber managed to get into the Green Zone-- dubbed by locals "The Greed Zone"-- and... blow up.

At least two members of the Iraqi government have been killed in a suspected suicide bomb attack inside the Iraqi parliament, within Baghdad's high-security Green Zone.

Unconfirmed reports say a third person has died.

Other eyewitness reports suggest that up to six people may have been killed.

The explosion has been described as a blatant security breach in the third month of the US-Iraqi crackdown on violence in the capital.

As well as the parliament building, the complex also houses the British consulate.

Dozens of people were injured-- some critically-- as the blast tore through a cafeteria while lawmakers were eating lunch.

One politician said: "I am standing at the site of the explosion and looking at the severed legs of the person who carried out the operation."

McCain and his little shopping-mad Senator Mini-Me (R-SC) and Rep. Pence (R-IN) were far away from Iraq by then, back home calling for more endless, pointless, unwinnable war, for more of other peoples' sons and daughters to go occupy Iraq and fight and die there. Oh yeah-- and one of the bridges over the Tigris was blown up too.

But life in the Greed Zone goes on. Last week a friend of mine, a highly placed individual in a key job-- we'll call him Fred-- sent me a pdf of the State Department's Baghdad Weekly, a virtual chronicle of the cut-off and disconnected life of Americans living complacently in the midst of the Iraqi Civil War. I started writing about it and then was so sickened that I couldn't continue. There were stories about the "Tigris 6K Rowing Relay Race," scrabble tournaments, spades tournaments, the dominoes tournament, the bridge club, Karaoke, Texas Hold 'em pick up games, horseshoe tournaments, ping pong tournaments, the 5K Run "Peace Jog," extreme spinning (which I somehow suspect has nothing to do with Sufis), a women's 3-on-3 hoops tournament, and warnings about the dangers of smoking. What I found the most incongruous was the juxtaposition between a country and western night, a salsa night and a Middle Eastern night. A friend of mine was less surprised to find they were showing a movie called Left Behind: The World At War. Fred's latest e-mail didn't sound as much like life in the frat house. It was an April 11 notice to "all hands" from USM Operations entitled "Water Status is Amber."

Be advised that we are now implementing AMBER water status. 
 
 
1.  Green: Water supply is adequate, no additional conservation efforts are necessary




 
1. Yellow: Will usually be initiated when water services have been disrupted for 2 hours or more and the ETR is more than 12 hours




                                                               i.      KBR will monitor and report water level every four hours.
                                                             ii.      KBR Fire Department:
1.      Maintain full water tank levels in emergency response vehicles
2.      Coordinate with city services for emergency water support if needed
                                                            iii.      DCMA will inform KBR to execute a Letter of Technical Direction allowing Task Order 130 to draw water from Task Order 139 supplies at FOB Prosperity ROWPU intermediate storage bladder
                                                           iv.      Stop watering grass and all landscaping
                                                             v.      Cease operation of the KBR car wash station
                                                           vi.      Discontinue Full Service Laundry washing, remain open for drop off and pick up only
                                                          vii.      Shut down self-service laundries
                                                        viii.      Cease water replenishment for palace swimming pool
 
1. Amber: Will usually be initiated when water services have been disrupted for 6 hours or more and the ETR is more than 24 hours; execute the steps for phase Yellow, additionally;




                                                               i.      Limit cleaning to sanitary purposes only; as long as we are using latrines they need to be cleaned.
                                                             ii.      KBR will draw water from the fire station storage tanks if necessary; discontinue water draw when storage tanks level falls to 50% (DO NOT DRAW DOWN BELOW 50%)
 
1. Red: Will usually be initiated when water services have been disrupted for 6 hours or more and there is no reliable ETR




                                                               i.      Implement LSA water hours from 0500-0900 and 1700-2100 daily
 
USMI Emergency Operations Center 

There was also an Iraq Reconstruction newsletter filled with stats about oil extraction and electricity in "restive Anbar Province." They also mention a poll that struck me, which claims that "despite violence only 26% preferred life under Saddam."

One in four (26%) Iraqi adults have had a family relative murdered in the last three years, while 23% of those living in Baghdad have had a family/relative kidnapped in the last three years. These are among the findings released today from the largest poll into Iraqi opinion ever to be published. Carried out by UK research firm ORB, which has been tracking public opinion in Iraq since 2005, the poll shows that despite the horrendous personal security problems only 26% of the country preferred life under the previous regime of Saddam Hussein, with almost half (49%) preferring life under the current political system. As one may expect, it is the Sunnis who are most likely to back the previous regime (51%) with the Shias (66%) preferring the current arrangements.

Something tells me a much greater percentage would prefer life in Indiana.


UPDATE Fubar over at the Needlenose had an interesting and telling comment on the Baghdad News worth taking a look at.