Looks like Bush got to Maliki about his order to halt construction on the Baghdad 'wall'

[bigtree]

April 25, 2007

Iraq says modifying Baghdad neighbourhood wall

By Aseel Kami

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq has modified a U.S. military plan to protect a Sunni enclave in Baghdad with high concrete walls, and is using barbed wire and smaller cement barriers instead, an Iraqi military spokesman said on Wednesday.

The move to alter the controversial project follows an order from Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to halt construction of the 5-km wall around Adhamiya, a Sunni Arab area surrounded on three sides by Shi'ite communities.

"We have sought other substitutes such as barbed wire, sand walls and small concrete barriers," said Brigadier-General Qassim Moussawi, spokesman for a U.S.-backed security crackdown in Baghdad.

"We immediately started implementing the order of the prime minister three days ago."

U.S. military spokesman Rear Admiral Mark Fox said on Monday that the erection of barriers around Baghdad's markets and neighbourhoods was approved by Iraq's government and that it was up to the Iraqis to make modifications.

But neither Fox nor U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker at a separate news conference on Monday would say if work would stop.



http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/4/25/wo...

[babylonsister]

1. Posted this last night; apparently military officials are now making decisions:

http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=4530 ...

Iraq military official: Barrier will be built


By Monte Morin, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, April 24, 2007

BAGHDAD — The fate of a controversial, concrete barrier under construction in one of Baghdad’s roughest neighborhoods remained uncertain Monday as Iraq’s prime minister ordered the barrier removed because it served as a reminder of “other walls that we reject.”

Less than a day after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called for the wall’s removal, an Iraqi military spokesman insisted that work would go ahead as scheduled.

The statement from al-Maliki was an apparent reference to the Palestinian wall in Israel’s West Bank — a sore point in the Arab world. Al-Maliki issued his Sunday comments from Cairo, Egypt, as he is currently conducting a regional tour of neighboring countries.

“I’ve ordered it to stop and to find other means of protection for the neighborhoods,” al-Maliki said.

The comments follow several days of heated criticism for the project and charges that military commanders failed to seek adequate input from local residents. Al-Maliki’s comments have further muddied the already-confusing situation.

The barrier, which some U.S. soldiers have jokingly referred to as the “Great Wall of Adhamiyah,” consists of numerous, 12-foot-tall concrete barriers, which would stretch roughly three miles when fully assembled. The barriers are intended to divide Adhamiyah’s primarily Sunni population from surrounding Shiite neighborhoods and funnel traffic between the areas through checkpoints.

more...

[Hubert Flottz]

3. Now tell me that the "Government Of Iraq" is not Bush's puppets.

Bush is holding all the strings in Iraq.

[bigtree]

4. It make you wonder if Maliki was just lying

or if he's removed from authority over the Iraqi military factions which operate with our military.

[gatorboy]

2. Ahhhh. Nothing says "Spreading Democracy" like barbed wire

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Isn't that why occupiers set up 'puppet' governments?