Baghdad's Highway of Death 'now safe' (sort of) [View All]

Baghdad's Highway of Death 'now safe'
By Oliver Poole in Baghdad
(Filed: 10/12/2005)

The US military says it has secured the road linking Baghdad airport to the city - two and a half years after American troops first entered the capital.

Attacks on the five-mile route have dropped from 142 between April and June to fewer than a dozen last month.

The road had been a glaring symbol of the US failure to control Iraq. It became known as the Highway of Death since the journey meant risking shootings, suicide car bombs and booby traps.

...

Maj Gen Rick Lynch, the American military spokesman, this week called the road "one of the most safe and secure routes in all of Iraq".

However, this being Iraq, that safety is relative. The road may no longer be a death trap but it is far from free of gunfire. My flight into the city from Jordan on Wednesday was aborted after the pilot reported that, as he started his descent, the airport was being attacked by insurgents.

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