http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041201/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_rpg_alley&cid=540&ncid=1473BAGHDAD, Iraq - The driver barreled down the road from Baghdad International Airport, his eyes darting from side to side for signs of trouble. A few hundred yards ahead, a convoy of U.S. contractors stopped on an overpass. Armed men jumped from the vehicles — weapons at the ready.
Three vehicles from the Iraqi National Guard had been struck by rocket-propelled grenades and the contractors stopped to help. Not so the rest of the cars. Fearing the gunmen may still be around, the driver and dozens of civilian cars and trucks crowded onto an exit road for a quick escape.
It is a scene repeated with alarming frequency along the white-knuckle 10-mile stretch of highway — known to U.S. troops as "RPG Alley" — which links the center of Baghdad with the airport on the western outskirts of the city.
The U.S. State Department has described the airport road as one of the most dangerous routes in Iraq (news - web sites), and the British Embassy has banned its diplomats from using it because of the high risk of attack.
The situation on the airport road has become a metaphor for the entire Iraq mission. More than 18 months after the fall of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), the world's most powerful military cannot guarantee the safety of Iraqis, foreigners and its own troops who use one of the country's most important routes.
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