'Green Zone' – a swanky retreat for busy Americans

In Elzain Elzain's Baghdad, they serve peanut butter, lobster and ice cream. The cell phones have a 914 area code. The television sets show Monday Night Football. The people speak English. And the strictly enforced speed limit is 35 mph.

"It's like I never left America," said Elzain, an artist from Washington D.C. who works as an interpreter for the US-led occupation government.

Elzain and several thousand other government workers, contractors and soldiers live and work in what is called the Green Zone.

The four-square-mile area, encircled by 15-foot concrete walls and rings of barbed wire, includes Saddam Hussain's presidential palace compound, which is now the headquarters of the Coalition Provisional Authority that rules Iraq.

Once an oasis of fabulous architecture, date palms and swimming pools, it is now an eerie mix of shiny white trailers, SUVs, Black Hawk helicopters and other symbols of occupation.

Some residents say they prefer the comfort of surroundings like home and are happy to stay here, rather than venture out into the real Iraq. But most people say they came to help – and for the adventure. Their greatest frustration is that they feel trapped inside the Green Zone.

Officials say the idea was to create a "safe area" where civilian advisers and military officials trying to help the country could do their work with less risk than in Baghdad proper.

Venturing from the protection of the Green Zone is not just a chore, it's a feat. Forms must be filled out explaining the reason for the outing, requesting transportation and a protective detail. Some trips must be rescheduled three or four times, with recent trips to visit children at an orphanage, to speak at a women's centre and repair a water treatment plant postponed because of security concerns.

The seclusion is compounding the challenge of the reconstruction.

"The Americans are behind the walls in the palace. They have difficulty knowing what's going on. I call it the 'green area syndrome,"' said Frank Dall, project director for Washington-based Creative Associates International Inc., which is assisting the US Agency for International Development with education reform and is housed outside the zone.

"You want to feel like you are of the people. But when you are here there are rules and you can't go out and you can't talk to them," Elzain said. "You are isolated."

The heart of the Green Zone is the Republican Palace, a huge horseshoe-shape building where the interim government officials, the foreign "advisers" live and work.

Inside, there are marble hallways and velvet chaises mixed in with office equipment and plastic lawn chairs. Saddam's gilded throne sits in a conference room that has become a church for Christians and a praying area for Muslims.

On the ceiling there's a fresco showing horses jumping into a brilliant blue sky; on one wall there's another showing the launch of Scud missiles, reportedly toward Israel.

The cafeteria, run by US contractor KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton Inc., has retro silver tables that look like part of a "Happy Days" set. Signs printed on computer paper and taped to the walls direct visitors to offices.

Near the swimming pool in the back is a giant television screen, which usually is showing sports events. There's a new gym with free weights and yoga classes. Around the main palace are smaller but just as grand buildings, a convention centre, a hospital, a military command centre.

Because of concerns that food could be poisoned or contaminated, nearly everything is imported. Some local entrepreneurs set up the Green Zone Restaurant and Coffee Shop to provide an alternative to cafeteria fare.

The most popular choice is an Iraqi grilled chicken. The second and the third choices: American hamburgers and pizza – that is, the Iraqi versions. There are smaller versions of the Green Zone throughout the country.