Next time you're reading about how GIs are heading off to pacify one Iraqi city or another, remember the road to the airport.
There is probably no place in the country with a higher concentration of troops than between Baghdad's airport and the Green Zone. Want to know how pacified it is? This, from the BBC:
A 15-mile stretch between Baghdad airport and the city centre is said to be the world's most expensive taxi ride.
Small convoys of armoured cars and Western gunmen charge about £2,750 ($5,108) for the perilous journey.
The route, known as the Qadisiyah Expressway, has become the scene of regular attacks and kidnappings by insurgents.
Security costs have soared in Iraq reflecting the escalating risks for foreign workers.
The high-speed drive costs four times more than the £670 Royal Jordanian charges for a one-way flight from London to Baghdad via Amman.
It equates to about £183 a mile compared to 25p a mile for the 2,540-mile flight on the only commercial airline flying to Baghdad.
'Gun car'
"You could jump in an Iraqi taxi with a gun and get there for $20," said one security contractor, quoted by the UK's Times newspaper.
But with kidnappings a daily occurrence and Westerners being sold to Islamist militant groups for about £150,000, he advised against it.
A few thousand pounds will afford you two cars and four Western ex-military bodyguards, usually American, South African or British, packing MP5 submachine guns, M16 rifles and/or AK47 assault rifles.
The client rides in one vehicle at speeds averaging 100 mph, while the other, called the "gun car", travels close-by, looking out for potential assailants.
Since the beginning of the resistance, this vital route has come under attack from car bombs, suicide attacks, snipers and rocket-propelled grenades.
P.S. Today NYT adds, " A soldier, from the First Cavalry Division, was shot in the head and killed by sniper fire on Monday while his convoy was stopped on the airport road in Baghdad."
