Baghdad's Green Zone Is Now A Ghost Town

U.S. soldiers retire the command colors during the ceremony marking the end of the U.S. military mission in Iraq in Baghdad, Dec. 15, 2011. DOD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo

Green Zone Empties Out Under Iraqi Control -- Washington Post

BAGHDAD — Green Zone. International Zone. The Bubble. To the foreigners still living there, the Iraqi capital’s fortified center has a new name: Ghost Town.

The Iraqi government has taken full control of the former heart of the American occupation. It decides who gets past the 17-foot-tall concrete blast walls encircling the zone.

On the inside, Iraqi police and military forces have raided the offices of private security companies, prompting the firms and commercial companies that rely on them to relocate.

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My Comment: The Green Zone will probably exist for a while because of the need to protect critical Iraqi government institutions from car bomb and other terror attacks. But the days when the Green Zone was a bustle of U.S. and allied activity .... those days are now long gone.