High concrete walls guarded by heavily armed soldiers represent the face of the Green Zone today. Cut off from the rest of the country, the walls hide untold political and personal stories. On the gates that lead into the zone, home to the Iraqi government and foreign embassies, warning signs scream out, keeping prying eyes at bay.

Five years after the U.S. occupation of Iraq began, the Green Zone has become a world unto itself, living a life removed from the rest of the country. It is life wholly unimaginable to Iraqis living beyond the fortified walls.

The Zone extends over an area of approximately ten kilometres, containing residential areas as well as key landmarks of the old regime including the Rasheed Hotel, the former Republican Palace, the Baath party headquarters, as well as the tomb of its founder, Michael Aflaq. It also contains a number of important monuments including that of the Unknown Soldier. The Tigris River is the natural border of the eastern side of the zone.

There are four entrances: three from the al-Karkh side and one from al-Rasafa. These entrances are heavily guarded by a series of security checkpoints. Inspection procedures are intense and the queues long. Green Zone workers carry special cards that grant them different privileges: red cards grant limited movement; the yellow card grants extra flexibility; while the green ‘escort’ card allows its holder to bring in guests.

Whatever you card colour all visitors undergo strict security checks at a minimum of four checkpoints. The first checkpoint is supervised by African and East Asian multinational forces, checking documents and ensuring mobile phones are turned off and their batteries removed; at a second checkpoint, visitors undergo a strict inspection of all their possessions; a third checkpoint subjects visitors to body searches; finally a last checkpoint looks once more at official documents. Throughout the process police and army detachments are deployed in all directions.

Despite these intense restrictions, security is still not assured. Around 650 workers in the Green Zone have to date been assassinated. More than half of them were targeted while leaving the Zone area, according to official statistics prepared by the Operations Directorate of at the Iraqi Defence Ministry. At the same time mortar attacks, car bombs and suicide bombers have and continue to hit the zone. Two years ago a restaurant used by U.S. soldiers was targeted and one year and a half ago a suicide bomber hit parliament killing one parliamentarian. Statistics provided by Janah Hammoud, spokesperson for multinational forces inside the Green Zone, revealed that more than 150 mortar rockets fell inside the zone in 2007. But he added that “attacks have dramatically decreased in the beginning of 2008.”

The newly built U.S. Embassy, which will house 5,500 employees, extends over 420,000 square meters, equal to 16% of the total Green Zone.

As the Iraqi government assumes greater control and as security increases, however tepidly, so the shape and feel of the Zone is changing as well. Labeed ‘Abbawi, Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister, told Niqash that “the map of the green zone will change dramatically next year, when Iraqis take full control of its security. A special district, ‘the diplomatic district’, will be built for Arab and foreign embassies. US influence will decline and Iraqi forces will be deployed in other parts of the zone. Most of the concrete barriers will be lifted and the role of the zone as a political capital will cease to exist.”

“This project will end the state of isolation suffered by people as well as politicians living inside the zone,” said ‘Abbawi.