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BAGHDAD, Iraq — The Iraqi government removed some blast walls around the Green Zone in the capital on Sunday for the first time since it was established following the US-led invasion in 2003.
Baghdad’s Green Zone became home to Iraq's parliament and other government offices. Locals are still skeptical of the decision made by new Iraqi PM Adil Abdul-Mahdi.
"I don’t believe it and can’t imagine it (the opening of the Green Zone) because both the US and British embassies are in the Green Zone. So I don’t expect it (the re-opening) but if they do, it would resolve so many issues in the streets," said Mohammed who also from Baghdad.
Abdul-Mahdi made the decision in October, saying he wanted to make the entire country "a Green Zone."
"Instead of going to Khadimiya area, making a big loop, it would take 10 minutes to reach Adan square, the airport or Alawi area," explained Mohammed.
The area is 10-square kilometers and located in the Karkh district of central Baghdad on the Tigris River
"This is good, if they remove the cement blocks and t-walls people won’t be delayed, there are students out there, employees and others who have commitments," said one taxi driver, referring to the three-plus meter ‘Bremer barriers’ named after the former US diplomat and administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq.
There are daily reports of violence across Iraq. The government has acknowledged ISIS remnants active in provinces just north of the capital.
For now at least, the move remains a symbolic gesture indicating the removal of barriers between Iraq's citizens and the elite.
The separation — particularly between the provinces and the capital — was a prime complaint in the former government of PM Haider al-Abadi who declared ISIS defeated on December 9, 2017.
"It’s been years, every day they say ‘tomorrow ... tomorrow’ (to reopen the Green Zone) and nothing. We hope that they would re-open it, now that they have removed some t-walls, but we still don’t know if it’s true or not," Ryad Ahmed, a Baghdad resident, told AFP.
Baghdad’s Green Zone became home to Iraq's parliament and other government offices. Locals are still skeptical of the decision made by new Iraqi PM Adil Abdul-Mahdi.
"I don’t believe it and can’t imagine it (the opening of the Green Zone) because both the US and British embassies are in the Green Zone. So I don’t expect it (the re-opening) but if they do, it would resolve so many issues in the streets," said Mohammed who also from Baghdad.
Abdul-Mahdi made the decision in October, saying he wanted to make the entire country "a Green Zone."
"Instead of going to Khadimiya area, making a big loop, it would take 10 minutes to reach Adan square, the airport or Alawi area," explained Mohammed.
The area is 10-square kilometers and located in the Karkh district of central Baghdad on the Tigris River
"This is good, if they remove the cement blocks and t-walls people won’t be delayed, there are students out there, employees and others who have commitments," said one taxi driver, referring to the three-plus meter ‘Bremer barriers’ named after the former US diplomat and administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq.
There are daily reports of violence across Iraq. The government has acknowledged ISIS remnants active in provinces just north of the capital.
For now at least, the move remains a symbolic gesture indicating the removal of barriers between Iraq's citizens and the elite.
The separation — particularly between the provinces and the capital — was a prime complaint in the former government of PM Haider al-Abadi who declared ISIS defeated on December 9, 2017.
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