Iraqi Premier Orders Work Stopped on Wall
The idea of building a wall in Baghdad to separate Sunni and Shia residents from each other, was always the most manifest expression of the failure of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. People who had lived together side by side as neighbours for generations were suddenly so polarised that the US military were insisting that this was the only way to maintain security.
Now Maliki, the Iraqi Premier, has spoken out insisting that the building of the wall should stop, saying it reminded people of “other walls.”
The announcement, which he made in Cairo while on a state visit, appeared intended to allay mounting criticism from both Sunni Arab and Shiite parties about the project.
“I oppose the building of the wall, and its construction will stop,” Mr. Maliki told reporters during a joint news conference with the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa. “There are other methods to protect neighborhoods.”
However, the US Military are saying that they will continue "dialogue" with the Iraqis over the best way to ensure security, whilst pointedly refusing to say that the construction of the wall will cease.
Mr. Maliki did not specify in his remarks what other walls he referred to. However, the separation barrier in the West Bank being erected by Israel, which Israel says is for protection but greatly angers Palestinians, is a particularly delicate issue among Arabs.
In Baghdad, the wall would surround the Adhamiya neighborhood, a Sunni Arab enclave bordered by Shiite areas. Adhamiya often comes under mortar attack and suffers incursions from those neighborhoods. However, it has also been a stronghold of militant Sunni Arab groups, and the wall would have helped the Iraqi security forces to control their movements.
Earlier on Sunday, the spokesman for the American military in Iraq sought to allay criticism of the project and explain its intent by saying that it was meant to be only a temporary barrier to improve security.
However, that is not what the military were saying last week.
However, American military officials said last week in a statement that the Adhamiya wall was “one of the centerpieces of a new strategy.” They also said that the wall was aimed at separating Sunni Arabs in Adhamiya from Shiites to the east.
The wall is simply a symbol of the American inability to restore order to Iraq's streets, and it would represent the failure of the US and Iraqi government to engage in dialogue with the warring fractions.The Sunni Arab Iraqi Islamic Party and the Shiite group linked to the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr both announced that they opposed dividing Baghdad by sect. In sharp statements, they said the wall would increase sectarian hatred and fuel efforts to partition the country.
“Surrounding areas of the capital with barbed wire and concrete blocks would harm these areas economically and socially,” the Islamic Party said in an e-mail message to news organizations. “In addition, it will enhance sectarian feelings.”
Abu Firas al-Mutairi, a representative of the Sadr movement in Najaf, which has supported Mr. Maliki, said: “The Sadr movement considers building a wall around Al Adhamiya as a way to lay siege to the Iraqi people and to separate them into cantons. It is like the Berlin Wall that divided Germany.”
“This step is the first step toward dividing the regions into cantons and blockading people there,” he added. “Today it happens in Adhamiya. Tomorrow it will happen in Sadr City,” referring to the Shiite slum in Baghdad that is a stronghold of Mr. Sadr.
Only dialogue between the various groups will have any chance of restoring peace. There are even online petitions insisting that this is the only way to save Iraqi lives.
Bush has famously refused to follow the advice of the Baker Report which called on dialogue with all sides including Iraq's neighbours, Iran and Syria, who Bush insists are interfering in the conflict. Indeed, by seeing Iran as the reason for all the US's ills in Iraq, Bush is emulating the man that he supposedly "liberated" Iraq from.
Bizarrely, US policy in Iraq is now very similar to that of the Baath party whom President Bush used to denounce so fervently. The US and the Baath both see the not-so-hidden hand of Iran as being behind the Shia militias and political parties. The Baath is by far the most anti-Iranian party in Iraq.It also seems impossible to imagine that Bush will manage to stabilise Iraq whilst he simultaneously tries to destabilise Iran and Syria. That's simply an insane proposition.
Someone needs to tell him that, rather than building walls, he should be following Baker's non-partisan advice and start talking.
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