BAGHDAD'S BEGGARS HIT THE STREETS AGAIN

A woman wrapped in a dirty abaya sits beneath a tree in the Green Zone, her palms turned upward awaiting the kindness of strangers.

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer 48 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080401/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_green_zone_beggars

The sidewalks around the Convention Center are an ideal place for 50-year-old Um Mohammed — a nickname that means "mother of Mohammed" — to hustle for spare cash.

Beggars are reappearing in the Green Zone and elsewhere in the capital, an indication that police seem to be losing interest in carrying out orders last month to round them up. The Interior Ministry's directive followed a series of suicide attacks by homeless or disabled people who had been lured by insurgents.

"This segment of the population is an easy target for terrorist groups trying to deceive them and make them walking bombs," said Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, an Iraqi military spokesman.
Um Mohammed, a beggar who would not give her real name, said she preferred the Green Zone.
"I'm getting older and weaker, and I don't have the ability to walk and beg on the streets," she said.

Except for the occasional rocket or mortar, the heavily fortified area is a haven of relative peace in the middle of a city torn by war. Home to the Iraqi government and the U.S. Embassy, the 3.5-square-mile area is safer than the streets where daily bombings and shootings are an ever-present threat.

And the Green Zone is full of people — Americans, Iraqi officials and others — who can afford the occasional generosity.

It is unclear where those asking for handouts are coming — from outside the Green Zone or from within the homes and villas cordoned off from the rest of Baghdad inside the Green Zone boundaries.

The Green Zone is by no means infested with beggars. But a handful do get through regularly — especially when Iraq's parliament is in session inside the protected zone. Although entries to the Green Zone are guarded, Iraqis can gain access by producing proper identification cards and submitting to a search to make sure they aren't carrying explosives or weapons.

Yaqdhan al-Dikhil, security director for the Convention Center in the Green Zone, acknowledges the risk in allowing beggars into the protected area. He said photographs of beggars have been posted at checkpoints.