BAGHDAD - A sharp increase in mortar attacks on the Green Zone - the onetime oasis of security in Iraq's turbulent capital - has prompted the U.S. Embassy to issue a strict new order telling all employees to wear flak vests and helmets while in unprotected buildings or whenever they are outside.
The order, obtained by the Associated Press, has created a siege mentality among U.S. staff inside the Green Zone after a recent suicide attack on parliament. It has also led to new fears about long-term safety in the place where the United States is building a huge, expensive embassy.
The situation marks a sharp turnaround for the heavily guarded Green Zone - long viewed as the safest corner of Baghdad with its shops, restaurants, American fast-food outlets, and key Iraqi and American government offices.
The security deterioration also holds dire implications for the Iraqi government, which uses the Green Zone as a haven for key meetings crucial to its ability to govern.
Reporters covering Vice President Cheney's visit yesterday were hustled into a secure area when a large explosion rattled windows in the U.S. Embassy late in the afternoon. Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said the vice president's meeting "was not disturbed and he was not moved."
The increase in mortar attacks comes despite the presence of tens of thousands more American and Iraqi soldiers in the streets of Baghdad for the security crackdown ordered by President Bush in January.