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| Home Front: Politix |
| A Darker Shade of Green Zone |
| 2008-01-05 |
| In Baghdad, Low Expectations Have Supplanted High Ideals Washington Post Page A01 BAGHDAD -- Several dozen soldiers and embassy staff members relaxed on the patio around Saddam Hussein's old swimming pool, shivering in the desert chill, as a boombox blared Latin rhythms over the racket of low-flying helicopters. It was Salsa Night in the Green Zone, but on a Friday evening in late November, only a few bundled-up couples shuffled awkwardly to the beat. Suddenly, a 30-something woman and a 20-something man, both in Air Force uniform, took the dance floor, their camouflage jackets and holstered sidearms swinging with each smooth, expert turn. The bored patio denizens perked up, transfixed by a rare moment of magic. The moment was a fleeting reminder of the good times in the war's early days, when the pool patio was the Green Zone's social hub and young conservative staffers, eager to remake Iraq, danced away the cares of nation-building. Those times and people are long gone, replaced by sober diplomats and soldiers with lower expectations, slogging diligently through their duties, collecting combat pay, and envisioning an Iraq where the electricity works and where a trip to the market does not court death. It's still bad over there, you fools! But not as bad as Venezuela! |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #9 Does it come with the model? |
| Posted by: gorb 2008-01-05 22:28 |
| #8 And the amazon ad in the side bar is selling a dance dress! |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-01-05 21:51 |
| #7 Not enough dancing in the green zone - it's a quagmire! |
| Posted by: DMFD 2008-01-05 19:29 |
| #6 When they sold the TRUTH, they sold something people needed. Now that they don't sell that, they sell something no one needs. You do the math, because they can't.. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2008-01-05 18:39 |
| #5 used to be movable goal posts, now it's a "success line" at the vanishing point. Our MSM never fails in disugusting capitulation... wonder why they are losing money and bleeding jobs. Could it be because they don't do their jobs the way we think they should? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-01-05 18:22 |
| #4 In Baghdad, Low Expectations Have Supplanted High Ideals aahh setting the agenda, discrediting whomever or whatever we thought best, picking winner and losers.. and backstabbing! those were the days.. did you know we controlled everything once.. |
| Posted by: MSM 2008-01-05 18:01 |
| #3 Probably no place Iraq's future is less contested than in the green zone... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2008-01-05 17:33 |
| #2 shivering in the desert chill, as a boombox blared Latin rhythms over the racket of low-flying helicopters. It was Salsa Night in the Green Zone 8.3 |
| Posted by: Thomas Woof 2008-01-05 16:09 |
| #1 Ah, the good old days when we didn't know all is lost in Iraq..... /s off |
| Posted by: Throger Thains8048 2008-01-05 16:08 |