The Green Zone is a special highly privileged area in Baghdad. It is heavily fortified and surround by high blast-resistant walls. It has everything most Iraqis lack: a steady supply of clean drinking water, sanitation and sewage services, lots of gas and most important electricity. The U.S. is now building its largest embassy in the world there. The vast 21-building complex is experiencing the usual cost overruns. The final price tag may exceed 3/4s of a trillion dollars. Outside the Green Zone is another world. It is called Iraq. Many journalists covering Iraq are of the drive-by category. Fly in, fly out, do a couple of stand-ups with a mosque in the background and an interview or two with a high ranking American officer and it's a wrap!

Dahr Jamail is an independent journalist who went to Iraq to report on the war and occupation. His articles appear in The Guardian, The Nation and other journals and magazines. His latest book is Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq.