Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone is home to high-powered foreigners running the interim government ... and to hundreds of ordinary Iraqis too. Their views on life could not be more different.
The Iraqis live in 600 apartments and several houses - places they have always called home but which they now find cordoned off from the rest of the capital.
The American military has given Iraqis who live inside the zone ID cards to ease their movement through the perimeter checkpoints, but still, they often endure long waits.
'We are happy today, the line is not long. Some days we wait six hours,' said one woman as she and her husband waited to return home.
Residents of the area say they don't generally mind the US military presence and that it has made their neighbourhood free from the crime that has been rampant in other parts of the city. Then again, their new neighbours are targets for attack.
Hanaa Kareem, who lives inside the Green Zone, said: 'We feel very afraid. It is hard to sleep at night, we fear something will happen.'
Ms Kareem leaves the zone every day to go shopping. 'All of the stores inside have raised their prices,' she said. 'If it costs 1,000 [dinars] out there, it will cost 2,000 in here.'