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Baghdad Journal: Getting My Credentials

June 07, 2006 4:49 PM

Baghdad correspondent Miguel Marquez on his first days of a return trip to Iraq:

Went to the Green Zone today to get my CPIC (that's Combined Press Information Center) credential. As with many things in Iraq the "Green Zone" is a deceptive term. It seems to indicate safety, but making the trip there can induce fear.  US military and diplomatic officials have ceased referring to it as the Green Zone and prefer the more inclusive term International Zone. Whatever name you prefer, it can always be called dangerous.

The infamous walk-in entry checkpoint is about as bad as it gets. Suicide bombers have targeted the Iraqi civilians and journalists who line up to get inside. The American and Iraqi soldiers who guard the checkpoint are so jumpy they sometime fire at those they are trying to protect. That happened to us last November.

As we were doing the fast 80 yard walk from the concrete blast walls to the car waiting area, our blond -- clearly Western -- driver got out of the vehicle to tell the American soldiers sitting atop their tank that they were picking us up. That's when the soldier fired over the head of our driver, sending us all in different directions.

The soldier claimed our cars had sat at the waiting area too long. But the wait would only have been as long as it took for us to walk to the cars. As it was, our cars drove off and left us exposed outside the Green Zone waiting for fifteen anxious minutes. Letters of concern went out, questions were asked, and security has slowly improved.

Today, fortunately we had none of the checkpoint drama of the past. (The small things count.) I joined several of my Iraqi and British colleagues on an outing to get our CPIC credentials. The process, I must admit, was simple and efficient. That's because I'm American.

For my British and Iraqi colleagues it was bit more involved. They had to submit to biometric screening (retina scan and finger printing.) All I had to do was pose, press my right index finger, and sign. My colleagues had to fill out paper work then return later in the day for screening and to have their credentials issued.

One of my Iraqi colleagues -- who clearly did not want to return later in the day -- asked me in a room crowded with Iraqis, "How did you get yours?" "Because I'm American," I quietly admitted. Stranger than feeling like a foreigner in a foreign country is feeling like you are more at home than the locals who live in it.

Fortunately Iraqis have a great sense of humor (one would have to) and, as I am discovering, a healthy respect for irony. Since I got here on Saturday I have been blasted with complaints from almost every Iraqi about the sporadic electricity (it's already 115 during the day); the shortages of gasoline (lines still run for blocks and blocks); and the lack of cooking gas (hard to make dinner or warm a baby bottle without it).

So a suggestion for a new Iraqi flag has struck a chord. The current flag, adopted in 2004, is similar to the old flag: red, white, and black stripes, with three green stars in the center and the Arabic script Allahu Akbar for "God is greatest." The suggestion for the new flag, popular with the Iraqi street, celebrates the lack of electricity. An Iraqi hand fan (Mehafa), a generator and an oil lantern replace the stars. And the Arabic script now reads Allah Kareem for "God is generous."

There's one other electricity (or lack thereof) related suggestion from the frustrated but humorous, Iraqi street. When the electricity is off for nine hours at a time, some wiseacre (with enough electricity) composed this computer image -- suggesting one's light bulbs might be put to more practical uses.

See Miguel's videoblog about how he gets to Baghdad here: VIDEO

We will update with a new videoblog showing Miguel's entry into the Green Zone.

June 7, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (6)

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Posted by: vedra | Jun 9, 2006 11:52:29 AM

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