Siege mentality

By Michael J.W. Stickings

So you think the "surge" is the cure-all? Or, at least, you think it's working? Well...

A sharp increase in mortar attacks on the Green Zone -- the one-time oasis of security in Iraq's turbulent capital -- has prompted the U.S. Embassy to issue a strict new order telling all employees to wear flak vests and helmets while in unprotected buildings or whenever they are outside.

The order, obtained by The Associated Press, has created a siege mentality among U.S. staff inside the Green Zone following a recent suicide attack on parliament. It has also led to new fears about long-term safety in the place where the U.S. government is building a massive and expensive new embassy.

Over four years later, this is what the war's come to. And this is why I've said over and over again that any "successes" related to the "surge" are either fleeting or illusory. The fact that there's now a "siege mentality" in the Green Zone tells you what you need to know about the state of security in Iraq today.

(Of course, there's nothing really new here. From what I can tell, there's been something of a siege mentality there for a long, long time.)