Unbelievable headline of the Day: With violence down, Iraqis flock to revitalized Baghdad Zoo

[maddezmom]

With violence down, Iraqis flock to revitalized Baghdad Zoo
By ANNA JOHNSON

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Families stroll the park's sidewalks and picnic in the shade as laughing children clamor to see the main attraction -- lions once owned by Saddam Hussein's son, Odai.

Damaged after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the Baghdad Zoo has made a startling comeback, and thousands of Iraqis are flocking here to escape the city's grungy streets.

The zoo, located in the sprawling Zawra Park in the heart of Baghdad just outside the U.S.-controlled Green Zone, has been held up as an example of American reconstruction efforts. The military brought in new animals, rebuilt damaged exhibits and worked with international zoos and organizations to train the Iraqi zookeepers.

Still, the effects of war are all too plain. Because transporting refrigerated meat is too difficult, donkeys are raised in a fenced-off area. They are euthanized and fed to the lions. And although the zoo is far more serene than other parts of the capital, U.S. military helicopters frequently buzz overhead.

more:http://www.dailymail.com/News/200804250056

and then this:
U.S. air strikes kill 10 in Baghdad (74 wounded)
Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD, April 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Friday it had killed 10 fighters in helicopter missile strikes and ground battles in eastern Baghdad overnight.

Sources at two hospitals in Baghdad's Sadr City slum said they had received the bodies of 11 people killed in air strikes, all men. Another 74 people, including nine women and 12 children, were wounded, the hospital sources said.

In a statement, the U.S. military said soldiers had killed three fighters who attacked them with mortars. Two helicopter strikes against militants planting roadside bombs killed six, and a third strike killed one.

Eastern Baghdad's Sadr City slum and surrounding areas have seen fighting between Shi'ite militia and U.S. and Iraqi forces for the past month since Iraq's government launched a crackdown on militia loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.


more:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3283442