Deedee Rollend says...
14.5-square-kilometer or 5.6-square-mile area on the west bank of the Tigris in central Baghdad that was the center of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and remains the center of the international presence in the city.
The precise boundries of the "Green Zone" are difficult to determine, and indeed may change with time. The core of the Green Zone appears to be Hussein's former presidential complex.
Its official name beginning under the Iraqi Interim Government is the International Zone, though Green Zone remains the most commonly used term.
The contrasting Red Zone refers to parts of Baghdad immediately outside the perimeter, but is also loosely applied to all unsecured areas outside the off-site military posts. Both terms originated as military designations.
While most of the ministry buildings had been destroyed by airstrikes, this left a sizable number of buildings in central Baghdad abandoned.
The CPA administrators who arrived on the heels of the invading forces decided this left them ideal for use by Coalition administrators.
Eventually some five thousand officials and civil contractors settled in the area.
Since the handover of sovereignty to Iraqis, many of the facilities in the Green Zone have been turned over to the new Iraqi government. It is still a base for western private military contractors, and home to the U.S., British and Australian embassies.
The permanent U.S. embassy is currently being built in the southern Green Zone, overlooking the Tigris River.
On 1 January 2009, full control of the Green zone was handed back to Iraqi security forces.
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Posted on September 19, 2011
Is the green zone The Northern Gold southern half? Could you say all of baghdad It Is Much less gold?