© 2026 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Our daily newsletter, delivered first thing weekdays, keeps you connected to your community with news, culture, national NPR headlines, and more.

Going Fort to Fort in Baghdad

In Baghdad, life behind razor wire and concrete barricades, guarded by watchtowers, often becomes claustrophobic for foreigners.

Baghdad used to be a bustling metropolis, a pleasant place to spend a day out. But it has turned into a patchwork quilt of heavily fortified compounds, modern-day forts that have cropped up across the city to protect their residents from violence and kidnapping.

So the only solution for those who can no longer stand being locked up is to go fort hopping.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Philip Reeves
Philip Reeves is an award-winning international correspondent covering South America. Previously, he served as NPR's correspondent covering Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India.
Thanks to you, WUSF is here — delivering fact-based news and stories that reflect our community.⁠ Your support powers everything we do.