Iraqis resentful of the Green Zone

By Basil Adas, Correspondent
Published: April 01, 2008, 00:42
Baghdad: Iraqis resent the Green Zone, not only because it symbolises the American occupation in Baghdad, but also because it is the only region in Iraq which does not suffer from a lack of services unlike other Iraqi cities and regions.
"My house is on the Tigris River bank and exactly opposite the Green Zone. At nights, I sit and watch the electricity and gaze at the lights because they never black out there.
"I sometimes imagine that I live in another country and the Green Zone is a country completely independent of Iraq and then I ask myself the question why not all regions in Baghdad are like that?" said Khodair Abbas, a resident of Karada neighbourhood in Baghdad which is close to the Green Zone.