> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Green Zone Turns Red, White and Black
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/green-zone-turns-red-white-and-black/
- Published: 2009-01-03T01:01:34.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-23T02:15:24.000Z
- Description: As Iraq takes control of the Green Zone, Big Think videos Michael Walzer on Unjust War in Iraq.
- Author: big think
- Tags: #en, #Migrated, #Import 2026-04-09 18:49, #appended-excerpt

Baghdad’s infamous Green Zone quietly slipped into Iraqi hands on the first day of 2009\. The [US embassy](http://iraq.usembassy.gov/?ref=opendemocracy.net) is moving to its new fortifications nearby and the hallmarks of American culture that sustained American troops–[from Starbucks to Pizza Hut](http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/blog/2006/12/baghdad%5Fdiaries.html?ref=opendemocracy.net)–have been re-exported. But as the US military relinquished control of the huge swath of Euphrates River frontage they have occupied since the spring of 2003, questions remained over how Iraqis will govern from the new Green Zone. Though the national security situation has improved dramatically, and is now completely under an Iraqi mandate, some analysts say insurgents will surely test the zone’s new owners. [Big Think](http://www.bigthink.com/?ref=opendemocracy.net) looks back on the history of the American-controlled Green Zone with three items: an excellent critique of the zone from the counter-insurgency experts at [Small Wars Journal](http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2008/05/leaving-the-green-zone/?ref=opendemocracy.net) last May; the International Republican Institute’s 46-page “Visitor’s Guide to Baghdad’s Green Zone” (removed from centcom website but available at [Wired](http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/11/green-zone-tour.html?ref=opendemocracy.net)); and a [vivid account](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1223363-1,00.html?ref=opendemocracy.net) of Baghdad’s chaos in 2006 by Time correspondent Aparisim Ghosh. With the occupation in the process of being dismantled, at least militarily, conflict experts can begin to wade through the sea of analyses--spurious and valid--that pave the way to the history textbooks. A good starting place might be the comments of Michael Walzer, Professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies. He spoke to [Big Think ](http://www.bigthink.com/?ref=opendemocracy.net)about applying the theory of a just war to the Iraq debacle.  

As Iraq takes control of the Green Zone, [Big Think](http://www.bigthink.com/?ref=opendemocracy.net) videos Michael Walzer on Unjust War in Iraq.