A Day in the 'Green Zone' With the Secretary of Defense

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 21, 2006 — -- True to military fashion, we spend the night in bunk beds. Seven men in one room always makes for an interesting night; most were quiet, but a few -- how to put this delicately? -- sounded like a chorus of underwater chainsaws. Showers were in a second trailer and the coed latrine -- women to the right, men to the left -- in yet a third.

Welcome to temporary living.

At the sprawling Camp Victory base, you get the sense that while a military operation is under way, it's not a war in the classic sense. Walking around, you see few people wearing body armor, and people are relaxed, going about their business as if they were on an Army base back in the United States.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates starts his day eating breakfast with some troops from the 10th Mountain Division and 1st Infantry Division, asking them about their impressions of the war and their mission. He spent an hour, mostly listening, and there was a general sense from the soldiers that they would like to have more U.S. troops helping them in Iraq.

The rest of our day was spent in the Green Zone in Baghdad. We took a 10-minute helicopter flight in UH-60 Blackhawks, flying low and fast across the sprawling megalopolis of Baghdad. Gunners sat on either side of the helicopter, scouring the ground below for any signs of enemy activity.

The Green Zone appears to be a maze of concrete -- concrete buildings, concrete jersey barriers, concrete protective walls. Everything is relatively close, but due to multiple checkpoints -- some which require no more than showing your driver's license -- and sharp, abrupt speed bumps that threaten to do a job on your vehicle's suspension, much less your back, it can take 10 minutes to go a couple of miles.

It is easy to become frustrated in Iraq. Mobile phone calls go through only a fraction of the time. When they do go through, they frequently get cut off midway through a conversation.

If you can get through, chances are there is a huge delay between the two callers, causing them to step on each other, requiring various pieces of conversation to be repeated over and over again, which will want to make you scream silently at the phone, or just burst out laughing because the whole situation is so comical.

We spent a couple of hours at the U.S. Embassy, the massive former Republican Guard palace of Saddam Hussein, where Defense Secretary Gates met with the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad.

It is a little surreal being in a grand, ornate room with inlaid marble floors, enormous chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, while at the same time eating a lunch of a ham and cheese sandwich, potato chips and a Pepsi, and looking at Christmas trees and lights adorning the walls.

A visit to the Iraqi prime minister's residence reveals perhaps more about the Iraqi press than the leader of the country. Upon arrival, there are no less than 25 tripods outside his house, no cameras on them and no cameramen in sight. We are told they are resting, perhaps sleeping on the lawn "in case of a news conference."

We are ushered into a photo opportunity with the defense secretary and the prime minister, and the infamous media frenzy is avoided. As the prime minister exits his residence, cameramen run after him, prompting him for comment on the Gates meeting.

Later, the press races one another up three flights of stairs to ensure good camera positions for a news conference with Gates and Iraqi Minister of Defense Abdul Qadir. Before the news conference begins, local cameramen roam around the room, shooting "cutaway shots of reporters," asking them to look busy taking notes as though they were listening to the event.

The return trip to Camp Victory involves a nighttime helicopter ride, with no running lights. From the ground, it is eerie when you hear the sound of a helicopter, and you look up and you can't see it. All you "see" is the sound of the helicopter engine and spinning rotor blades coming toward you and then going away from you, as if it were a phantom and didn't exist.

We have one more stop tomorrow before we come home.