Talk:Green Zone

The article says that the Green Zone has been twice hit by suicide bombings. That seems low. At least the Ibn Zanbour hit yesterday, which killed dozens and wounded dozens more, should count? Takag 07:00, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

At one point the Zone had been considered safe but that is rapidly declining. --Dhartung | Talk 09:42, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

No, because it didn't occur inside of the Green Zone but in the Red Zone. -- User:Njanjear (unsigned edit)

In any case we should use general language rather than update every time there's an incident. The news sources available in the US, at least, are rarely specific enough. --Dhartung | Talk 15:00, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Pardon my ignorance, but is it only foreign powers in the Green Zone, or also is the new Iraqi (Provisional?) government inside the fortified area? Also, is the famous Saddam/US torture facility (Abu Gharaib) inside the fortified area? Takag 07:16, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The provisional government meets inside the Green Zone (there have been numerous incidents at the checkpoints, which are manned by US forces). Abu Ghraib prison is located west of Baghdad, outside the city proper. --Dhartung | Talk 09:42, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

there have still been only 2 suicide bombings in the Greenzone to date. I will be updating and moving the majority of the info for this area over to the title International Zone as this place is formally called. --TBAS 22:16, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

Updating is a good idea, but it should stay at its current name. Wikipedia's policy is to use common names rather than official ones, and as far as I have seen the media still almost universally refer to it as the Green Zone. - SimonP 22:47, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

Good call SimonP, I asked some other contractors and security groups and since the the turn-over began--it looks like the push to use "IZ" has pretty much stopped.

I have been working in the Green Zone (International Zone) for over 2 years and there's not much I dont know at least something about. I'll be updating this page as time permits. I'll leave all of the historical references if possible and only modify the ones that time has proven inaccurate.

Obviously, there's a lot that I won't be able to post due to OPSEC, (operational security), such as updated maps, security specifics, and detailed location specifics such as exactly where such-and-such groups have their compound and how many are there. I know you can find a lot of it on Google Earth--but that's not a call that I can make. --TBAS 02:55, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Wow, it is great to hear that we have a contributor with such knowledge. There is a lot of interest in these subjects, but the information is often confused and hard to obtain. Any work on the Baghdad article would also be great, and more specific pages like Republican Palace need a lot of work. These are also, as I'm sure you are aware, quite controversial subjects, so be careful about neutrality. - SimonP 03:21, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Republican Palace page was updated a tad  :) --TBAS 04:15, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure what the request is all about--"MOAC"? Mother of all checkpoints? Never heard of it. Must be something the media made up. As far as pics of the Embassy, ...hehe, you go ahead and try taking pix of them. First, they'll send a team to slam you and your camera goes by-by. If you run after taking your pix---orders are to shoot. The internet has a few pix of the construction going on but only from a distance and only what sticks above the T-Walls. The current temporary embassy, (US), is the Republican Palace.--TBAS 21:10, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Initial news reports about the April 12, 2007 attack were incorrect, only 1 person died, not 3 lawmakers. So I changed it here. Lecky333 17:20, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

THERE: RIGHT THERE

AHA! To whoever at CentCom who has been arguing against the existence of this article: NBC Nightly News just explicitally stated that the President was in the Green Zone today. Right there. If NBC is able to state this on national TV without being hounded, then so can we. Linuxbeak (AAAA!) 22:34, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

Gay Zone? Someone needs to edit.

Anyone know the truth?

Anyone know what life behind the walls of the Green Zone is like? I've heard of sex slaves, prostitutes, olympic size swimming pools etc. Some features of the green zone should be added to this article.

Unknown, yes, yes. But you didn't hear it from me... NetSerfer 02:26, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Update

Green Zone article is severely outdated.

I've been to the Green Zone MANY times. There are rumors of everything, but I have never seen an Olympic sized pool there, although the Embassy does have a smaller pool with a diving board.

The Green Zone has been officially re-named the International Zone.Matt Sanchez 04:35, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

The Olympic pool had a cracked foundation and was sitting next to what is now the PX and directly where the BlackWater compound is located; it was not in use upon our arrival. I watched it get torn down during the end of 2004. It was officially re-named the International Zone way back in the beginning of 2005. Lightertack (talk) 18:36, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Bibliography and Rajiv Chandrasekaran - not a source

The notion that the IZ is also called 'Emerald City' is nothing more than some one trying to push the importance of a book. I lived ther for 3 solid years; the same time Rajiv was there. I read about half of that book before I had to put it down in disgust. It is not a peer reviewed book. It is a 1st person original opinion piece with huge swaths of fiction in there. Several instances he describes completely wrong that myself and coworkers were present for...events that he could not have been present for unless he was a contractor with valid security ID's.

My notation on this is, or course, 1st person knowledge. However, his entire book is also 1st person, not peer reviewed.

He is tightly aligned with the Washingtonpost.com site. That site has, over the years, printed completely false stories about the IZ and contractors. One such huge gaffe was the article about a certain company loosing the LOGCAP III contract based on a press release by an Army Spokesperson. None of the info looked right so I contacted the spokesperson and he confirmed that none of his information had anything to do with LC III or LC IV and that he was grossly misconstrued. That story had been picked up worldwide and disseminated as truth - even though it was not. Washingtonpost.com never publicly recalled the fictitious story, (although it has been removed from their archives).

With this simple background, it can easily be said that washingtonpost.com and Mr Chandrasekaran cannot be considered valid sources of factual information...much less giving that partial work of fiction the title of bibliography. Perhaps it would be more suited as a reference in wikimedia. Lightertack (talk) 20:28, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Endwar

I don't think that Tom Clancy's endwar has anything to do with the green zone 203.87.45.25 (talk) 07:00, 21 November 2008 (UTC)