By Gina Chon
I was interviewing an ambassador today and we were able to sit at a table in the yard outside our office. Because we spend most of our time cooped up inside, it was nice to feel the breeze and the warmth of the sun while we talked. We wouldn’t have been able to do that a few months ago, when mortar rounds constantly bombarded our area.
Much has been made about the recent security improvements and there is no doubt that things have gotten better. But it’s not easy to assess, because everything becomes relative here. Five hundred attacks a month are better than 800, which are better than 1,000. Some in the U.S. military talk about getting things to a tolerable level of violence, when the decline will start to plateau and that will become “the new normal.”
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An Iraqi artist paints a mural on concrete blocks in central Baghdad. Concrete walls are used as blast protection and as separation barriers. |
An Iraqi artist paints a mural on concrete blocks in central Baghdad. Concrete walls are used as blast protection and as separation barriers.
It’s still dangerous for Iraqis, but as long as they stay in familiar neighborhoods, they do have an easier time getting around than foreigners. I still can’t go out to markets and restaurants without worrying about being kidnapped. My Iraqi friends still don’t want to be seen with me in most Baghdad neighborhoods. And I still can’t go to someone’s home in the Red Zone for dinner without having a security briefing and wearing body armor.
After the interview was over, we chatted about life here and how things will seem strange when we go home. We joked about how precious our ID cards are, the ones that say where we can go, what we have access to. Our badge holders that carry the ID cards are our most valued possessions here. Without them, I could not go anywhere, not to press conferences and not on embeds. The ambassador said that a few days ago he forgot to wear his badge holder and he felt naked. I’m now used to getting patted down and having our car searched whenever I attend a press conference. I’ve only been here for a month and that already seems normal.
I asked an Iraqi colleague today when he thought the 16-foot-tall concrete walls that line many Baghdad neighborhoods would disappear. He said probably five or six years. But he doesn’t mind because they have made neighborhoods safer since there is just one way in and out for many of these areas. Besides, he’s used to them by now. The walls are normal.