Tuesday, December 19, 2006
International Zone guide book written
Lonely Planet, take note. A new guide book has been written for Americans who plan to spend some time in Baghdad's Green Zone, the relatively secure area in the heart of the occupied Iraqi capital. Called "A Visitor's Guide to Baghdad's International Zone," the book bills itself as "a comprehensive guide to local landmarks and history of the International Zone (formerly the Green Zone) in Baghdad, Iraq." With tongue in cheek, it adds that it's "written by tourists for the tourist."
Although it hasn't been officially published, photocopied and e-mail versions of the 41-page work are being passed around among U.S. Embassy and military officials, contractors and aid workers in Baghdad. There's even a copy of the guide in the waiting room to U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad's office; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice received a copy after a recent visit to Baghdad, and took it back to Washington with her. "It's floating out there," says the guidebook's author, Richard Houghton III, a former Capitol Hill staffer who has spent the last 19 months working for an NGO in the Green Zone. Though, he jokes, the version that has been circulating doesn't have the latest additions and may have "some typos."
Although it hasn't been officially published, photocopied and e-mail versions of the 41-page work are being passed around among U.S. Embassy and military officials, contractors and aid workers in Baghdad. There's even a copy of the guide in the waiting room to U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad's office; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice received a copy after a recent visit to Baghdad, and took it back to Washington with her. "It's floating out there," says the guidebook's author, Richard Houghton III, a former Capitol Hill staffer who has spent the last 19 months working for an NGO in the Green Zone. Though, he jokes, the version that has been circulating doesn't have the latest additions and may have "some typos."
