Baghdad Cut Off On All Sides: Deadly Airport Road Only Way Out

[MidEastMan]

Dec. 01, 2004 By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press, BAGHDAD, Iraq

The driver barreled down the road from Baghdad InternationalAirport, his eyes dartingfrom 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 - weaponsat the ready.

Three vehicles from the Iraqi National Guard had been struck by rocket-propelledgrenades and the contractors stopped to help. Not so the rest of the cars. Fearing thegunmen 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, 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, 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.
The four-lane road, much of it lined with scrub brush and palm trees where gunmen can hide, passes through dangerous Baghdad neighborhoods. Insurgents know they can always find plenty of targets - U.S. convoys, Iraqi military vehicles and civilian
contractors.

In the latest attack, three people were injured Wednesday when a "vehicle-borne improvised explosive device" - the U.S. military term for a car bomb - detonated as several Sport Utility Vehicles, favored by U.S. and other Western security contractors, were passing by.
One of the vehicles lay overturned in the middle of the road as U.S. troops sealed off the area and two helicopters arrived to evacuate casualties. The blast occurred at the same place where a bomber rammed into a U.S. military convoy the day before, wounding several soldiers and destroying two Humvees.

U.S. military officials do not release full details of attacks on he road, possibly to avoid encouraging the insurgents.

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http://www.albasrah.net/maqalat/english/1204/GI-Special-2C37-Baghdad-Cut-Off.pdf

[movonne]

1. I thought we had secured Badhdad???

[SharonAnn]

3. We did. We just have to stay there. Can't go in or out any more.

[movonne]

6. Thank you..

[grasswire]

2. how did the senators get in and out?

I've been wondering that.

[Dark]

4. I'm not surprised. Even the green zone was declared unsafe a while back.

[leftchick]

5. US Embassy orders diplomats not to use Baghdad's airport road

~snip~

BAGHDAD, Iraq The U-S Embassy in Iraq is prohibiting its employees from using the dangerous highway that links Baghdad and its international airport.

The British Foreign Office issued a similar order Monday.

The ten-mile stretch of road has been the scene of numerous roadside bombings and suicide attacks on U-S targets.

The embassy is also urging American civilians in Iraq to review their security situations and it's cautioning others to avoid traveling to Iraq unless it's absolutely necessary.

http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=2638928

[Tsiyu]

7. Mission Accomplished * Style

FUBARed as usual, Mr. *

[Stinky The Clown]

8. Hahahahahahahahahaha

What else can we do but laugh?

:hi:

[Columbia]

9. How bout cry?

There ain't nothing funny about it all.

[DrWeird]

10. I think it's pretty funny.

Gallows humor. But funny nonetheless.

[Columbia]

11. Tell that to the families of the wounded and dead

[DrWeird]

12. Iraqis or Americans?

nt

[Columbia]

14. Both

[DrWeird]

15. Who do you think is surrounding Baghdad?

Venezuelans?

[Columbia]

17. What in the world are you talking about

[Contrary1]

13. Unfortunately, those same

brave people would still be dead whether someone chose to laugh about it or not. Put the blame where it belongs.

[Columbia]

16. Not assigning blame

But it still is tasteless to laugh about it.

This is coming from one who had a friend die over there and still has friends over there (both Iraqi and American).

[Contrary1]

18. I don't think they meant to disrespect the troops,

or try to diminsh the danger they are facing. I think sometimes
people laugh out of frustration, when they can't do anything to
change the situation. Many of us predicted this a long time ago.
Sadly, most of the military "experts" would not even consider the
possibility that we might not win this one.

I understand how you must feel losing your friend, I am sorry.
And I hope that your friends that are in the middle of this make
it back home safely, wherever that may be.

Nineteen months after the "Mission Accomplished" banner flew...
here we are, still.

[Columbia]

20. Despite their intentions

The result is the same. I understand the frustration as I've experienced it firsthand. But as grim and ironic as the situation may seem, laughter serves only to freshly rip open healing wounds.

[Bridget Burke]

19. So--the final retreat will be by chopper, from the embassy roof.

Darn those flashbacks.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

22. La plus ça change...

[karlrschneider]

25. tres plus...

Which Iraqi city will be the reprised Saigon?
:eyes:

[MidEastMan]

21. kick

[MidEastMan]

26. kick again

[displacedtexan]

23. Didn't these bozos read Caesar's Commentaries?

Oops. I forgot for a moment that the backside of the bell curve was in charge.

Sorry.

[karlrschneider]

24. Freedom is on the march.

Or did he say "the rabbit is in the hutch"?

The Hobbit is in the Lurch?

The wombat is in the ditch?

Who the hell knows what these morans are saying any more?
:eyes:

[MidEastMan]

27. kick

[mainer]

28. So, uh... how do you get to the airport if you don't use the road?

Are you supposed to take a chopper to the airport?