If you were looking for luxury and fun in the sun after the war in Iraq began in 2003, you could find it in Baghdad. Seriously. Well, to be more precise, a very specific 7-square mile area of Baghdad called the Green Zone, or, as it came to be known-the Emerald City.
The surreal alternate reality that existed in the Green Zone is chronicled by the former Baghdad Bureau Chief for the Washington Post Rajiv Chandrasekeran, in his book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City."
He’ll speak tonight at Middlebury College about his book.
Chandrasekeran says after the US invasion in 2003 the Green Zone was home to the now-dissolved Coalition Provisional Authority or CPA– the American-run occupation government in Iraq: