For a growing number of young US troops in Iraq, boredom is becoming the new enemy as major anti-insurgency raids turn rarer and their disengagement from the country starts to take shape.
Behind T-walls – the concrete anti-blast barriers that are also omnipresent in Iraq’s capital – most soldiers in high-security Camp Liberty adjoining Baghdad airport already live in isolation from Iraqi life.
At the Main Street USA Food Court, not far from Vigilant Street, trailers converted into fast-food takeaway joints such as Burger King, Taco Bell, Popeyes, Seattle’s Best Coffee and Subway compete for business.
A huge supermarket caters for almost every imported need, including DVD films and music, especially for the desert joggers’ MP3 players and iPods, but there is no alcohol which is banned for the men and women in uniform.
