Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Yankees stay out

I hadn’t realized there are still “exclusion zones” in Baghdad’s Sadr City that are off limits to U.S. military personnel, but Stars & Stripes– which nowadays provides the best coverage of U.S. military operations in Iraq– mentions them in the fourth paragraph of this story. Not even U.S. advisors to Iraqi units can accompany those ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
589795_090106_sadr5.jpg
589795_090106_sadr5.jpg

I hadn't realized there are still "exclusion zones" in Baghdad's Sadr City that are off limits to U.S. military personnel, but Stars & Stripes-- which nowadays provides the best coverage of U.S. military operations in Iraq-- mentions them in the fourth paragraph of this story. Not even U.S. advisors to Iraqi units can accompany those units into the no-go zones, which constitute two-thirds of Sadr City, notes a follow-up article.

I hadn’t realized there are still “exclusion zones” in Baghdad’s Sadr City that are off limits to U.S. military personnel, but Stars & Stripes– which nowadays provides the best coverage of U.S. military operations in Iraq– mentions them in the fourth paragraph of this story. Not even U.S. advisors to Iraqi units can accompany those units into the no-go zones, which constitute two-thirds of Sadr City, notes a follow-up article.

It makes me wonder if other Iraqi factions-or Iraqi commanders who don’t want pesky American oversight–will demand similar privileges in the future.

Photo: Wathiq Khuzaie /Getty Images

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

Read More On Iraq | Military

More from Foreign Policy

Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.
Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak

Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.
Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage

The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.
A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine

The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi
Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi

The Masterminds

Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.