Maliki HALTS construction of Great Wall of Baghdad! "This wall reminds us of other walls," he said.

[bigtree]

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Sunni-Shiite Wall Construction Halted

CAIRO, Egypt — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Sunday that he has ordered a halt to the construction of a barrier that would separate a Sunni enclave from surrounding Shiite areas in Baghdad, saying there are other ways to protect the neighborhood.

The U.S. military announced last week that it was building a large concrete wall in the northern Azamiyah section of Baghdad in an effort to protect the minority Sunnis from attacks by Shiites living nearby.

The decision drew sharp criticism from residents and Sunni leaders who complained it would isolate their community.

In his first public comments on the issue, al-Maliki said he had ordered the construction to stop.

"I oppose the building of the wall and its construction will stop," al-Maliki told reporters during a joint news conference with the Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Moussa in Cairo, Egypt. "There are other methods to protect neighborhoods."

He did not elaborate but added "this wall reminds us of other walls," in an apparent reference to the wall that divided the German city of Berlin during the Cold War.

http://www.silive.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/base/international-37/1177267761272690.xml&storylist=international

[Old and In the Way]

1. Gee, he does wasn't to ghetto-ize Bagdhad?

I'm surprised it got this far along.

[Rex]

2. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa? Who gave him any power?

But Halliburton DID get all the money upfront this time? Right?

[bigtree]

3. my wife's first reaction

more money down a shithole

[GregD]

4. in an apparent reference to the wall that divided the German city of Berlin during the Cold War

Uhh, excuse me, but I think there may be another wall in the same region that this may be a reference to... Fuck you FOX!

[bigtree]

8. sorry for the fox link, but it's an AP story . . . the writer is Oassim Abdul-Zahra

http://www.silive.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/base/international-37/1177267761272690.xml&storylist=international

[leftchick]

9. no shit

catapulting the propaganda again. We all know what wall he was referring to....

[bigtree]

10. nice pic

[saltpoint]

16. It is. It's a striking picture, and it drives the brutality of the idea of the wall

home in a hurry.

[WiseButAngrySara]

24. Another WALL is right! Not the Berlin Wall, Not the Great Wall

of China... I can't believe that even Faux News would dare to insinuate that it could be any other wall than the Israel Wall. Do they really think that their viewers are that stupid? Maybe they are.

[leftchick]

33. actually it is an AP article

editorializing the news as usual.

here is the wall he was referring to....

[Cha]

5. rove doesn't get to have his

fucking wall..wah wah wah.

Tough Shite, rove, you piece of toxic waste.

[gatorboy]

6. Halliburton construction contractors are not gonna be happy!

[krkaufman]

39. See Comment 2, above. : )

link

[WinkyDink]

7. What is Iraqi Arabic for "Ich bin (ein) Berliner"?

[saltpoint]

11. It's not political, but aesthetic. Al-Maliki's probably holding out for . . .

MARBLE COLUMNS.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

12. Isn't half a wall better than no wall?

Y'all are so negative... :sarcasm:

[bigtree]

13. he needs to tear the thing down.

[tabasco]

14. Even the Iraqi puppet govt. has more shame than the Bush mafia.

Sad days for my Nation.

[Nimrod2005]

15. ROFL.....

Except it is really NOT funny!

[SoCalDem]

17. So.. who the HELL wanted this monstrosity?

Sunnis say NO
alMaliki says NO
Gen Caldwell claimed to not even KNOW about it..

If it was being built to "protect" the Sunnis from the Shia, even the Shia would not be "for" it, since it would make their ethnic cleansing more difficult..

:shrug:

[saltpoint]

18. That General Caldwell. He's a charmer, ain't he?

[leftchick]

20. has Patraeus commented on it?

it sounds like one of his brilliant ideas.

[bigtree]

26. looks like a major setback for the Bush strategy of dividing Iraq

which was basically bolstering the Shiite majority's hold on power and suppressing the Sunni influence to the point of making Sunnis outlaw by associating the entire community with al-Qaeda.

[babylonsister]

19. Well, well, sounds like there's a lack of communication goin' on!

But I applaud this (if the US listens). Longer ladders can be built, and who wants to feel like a prisoner anymore than they already do?

[bigtree]

21. I would have liked to have been in the room when the WH got the news

This was supposed to be "one of the centerpieces" of their new strategy . . .


April 22, 2007

The military said in a statement earlier this week that U.S. soldiers had begun building a three-mile wall to protect the minority community on the eastern side of the Tigris River.

When the wall is finished, Azamiyah will be gated and traffic control points manned by Iraqi soldiers will be the only entries, it said, stressing that the decision had been made in coordination with the Iraqis.

It said the concrete wall, including barriers as tall as 12 feet "is one of the centerpieces of a new strategy by coalition and Iraqi forces to break the cycle of sectarian violence" in Baghdad.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4737733.html



Monday, 23 April 2007

"The intent is not to divide the city along sectarian lines," Brigadier-General John Campbell, deputy commanding general for American forces in Baghdad, said in a statement.

"The intent is to provide a more secured neighbourhood for people who live in selected neighbourhoods. Some of the people who I've talked to have had favourable comments about it, and they want us to build some of them faster."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4034835a12.html

[babylonsister]

25. We "think" we've got big brass ones, don't we. And the NERVE is right!

The intent is not to divide the city...? If it walks like a duck, etc.

[BlooInBloo]

22. chk-chk.... BURN!

[WiseButAngrySara]

23. Good! The nerve of us the U.S.! We just started building

a Wall in their country and didn't even consult the Prime Minister? What kind of FREEDOM is that?

[jwirr]

27. Exactly.

[saltpoint]

28. If we can oversee construction of such imposing walls in Baghdad, why

can't we construct a reliable bulwark against hurricanes on the Gulf Coast?

al-Maliki should dissemble the walls partitioning his capital and donate them to the people of New Orleans.

[bigtree]

30. or build some houses

[saltpoint]

31. Yes. There are many better ways to spend money than Dubya's

"endeavors" in Iraq.

[acmavm]

29. How about the wall the Israeli's are building? Could that be another

example that he's thinking about?

This wall thing is crazy. What were they building it out of? I don't know of any explosive proof building material. Can someone enlighten me if they know of one that could withstand high explosives.

[symbolman]

32. Spread the word

and this will put a BUG in their BONNET.

The Bush plan has been GENOCIDE all along. Killing off the Sunnis..

Pass that Jewel around, and tell me it's NOT TRUE.

GENOCIDE, the Bush admin is practicing GENOCIDE, that's the REALITY of it.

[Tom Joad]

34. We need him to speak to the Wall-makers destroying Palestine.

This may be one of the walls he was referring to, not just the infamous Berlin wall.

www.stopthewall.org

[leftchick]

35. I am sure it was THE wall he referred to

thank you for the link.

[bigtree]

36. U.S. Ambassador defends wall

U.S.: Iraq wall meant to protect

By LAUREN FRAYER, Associated Press Writer 42 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - The U.S. ambassador to
Iraq said Monday that the American military will "respect the wishes" of the Iraqi government regarding a barrier being built around a Sunni enclave in Baghdad, but he stopped short of saying construction would stop.

Ambassador Ryan Crocker spoke at a news conference a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he had ordered the building of the barrier in Azamiyah to stop after the project drew strong criticism from residents and Sunni leaders.

"Obviously we will respect the wishes of the government and the prime minister," Crocker said at a news conference. "I'm not sure where we are right now concerning our discussions on how to move forward on this particular issue."

But he defended the principle behind the Azamiyah barrier, saying it was aimed at protecting the community, not segregating it.

Crocker said the intention of the barrier in Azamiyah as well as those constructed around markets in the capital is "to try and identify where the fault lines are and where avenues of attack lie and set up the barriers literally to prevent those attacks."

"It is in no one's intention or thinking that this is going to be a permanent state of affairs," he added.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070423/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_070423102916

[leftchick]

37. Juan Cole: "he pointed toward Israel"

The mainstream US media will sidestep this point, but al-Maliki pretty explicitly said that the reason he called off the wall building is that he doesn't want his government compared to that of Israel. That is, the Adhamiya wall is being likened in the Arab world to the Apartheid Wall being built by the Israelis in the West Bank. Al-Maliki made the statement in Cairo, and when he referred to the "other walls" he didn't want the one in Adhamiya compared to, he pointed toward Israel. The Western press is bringing up the Berlin Wall as part of his meaning, but the videotape makes it absolutely clear that his referent was Israel's project. On the other hand, Nassar al-Rubaie, a Sadrist member of the Iraqi parliament, did warn that the US is building a series of Berlin Walls in Baghdad.

The politics of the wall points to the ways in which the Israeli-Palestinian issue is absolutely central to the difficulties the United States is having in being accepted in Iraq. Many Iraqis perceive the US presence as just an extension of Israeli occupation of Arabs and Arab land, and routinely refer to US troops as "the Jews."



http://www.juancole.com/labels/Iraq%20War.html

[Hubert Flottz]

38. There is no joy in Mudville!

Sounds like Iraq wants to "Liberate" Iraq. I think that's a great idea. I thought the same thing ten years ago.

[Babsbrain]

40. buh-bye al-Maliki

We hardly knew ya!

Don't you understand that you don't contradict the Demander-in-Chief?