From: "Rich Gauszka" 

Why would one surmise that the only one that can print leflets quickly are
insurgents/al-Qaeda? Of course it's a matter of political opportunity for
Maliki. That would tell me that he sees stronger support in opposition to a
wall  than supporting it.

Like you I don't understand the opposition to a wall that might make my
everyday life safer but that's  another region with a  different mindset


"Mark"  wrote in message
news:462e846d{at}w3.nls.net...
> Looks like we continue to lose the media war, thanks mostly to the
> division right here me thinks (remember all the screaming when we were
> placing accurate articles in the Iraqi press -- can't do that now can we?
> Dumb).
>
> Anyway, these guys have proven reliable from the getgo:
>
> http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/2007/04/wall.html
> First and foremost, I don't know why "The Wall" is becoming
such an issue
> now. Work to construct similar walls started weeks ago in the Amiriya and
> Ghazaliyah districts. The "news" went utterly unnoticed then.
>
> But that's not what matters. What does matter is effectiveness versus
> side-effects. Neither should be neglected.
>
> Yesterday leaflets were distributed in the streets of Adhamiya (or
> Azamiya, English doesn't have the exact sound anyway). The leaflets -
> printed and distributed by persons unknown - called on residents to
> protest the building of the wall. Knowing that the only organized entity
> capable of such quick response to events in Adhamiya are either the
> insurgents or al-Qaeda strongly indicates that they were behind the
> planned protest. More important still is that it indicates they see the
> wall as a threat to their movement and ability to carry out their actions.
>
> From a tactical point of view these walls can be very useful in reducing
> the levels of violence in targeted areas. Militants will have to stay in
> their home areas to avoid passing through the controlled gates. This
> reduces their ability to transport weapons and munitions for storage or
> operations in other districts. Failing that they will have to relocate to
> a district where it would be easier for them to operate. In either case
> the capacity of the militants to sustain their current level of operations
> would be impaired....
>
> "Rich Gauszka"  wrote in message
> news:462e7fd1$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>> looks like no wall is politically acceptable for Maliki
>>
>>
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/world/middleeast/24iraq.html?bl&ex=1177560
000&en=2c500a00cf10dcf9&ei=5087%0A
>> And it has proved to be an unlikely boon for Prime Minister Nuri Kamal
>> al-Maliki, making the Shiite politician - at least for now - into a
>> champion for Sunnis because he publicly opposed the wall's construction.
>>
>>
>> "Adam"
<""4thwormcastfromthemolehill\"{at}the field.near the
bridge"> wrote
>> in message news:462e7762$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>>> Which is more politically acceptable, walls or death squads roaming at
>>> will?
>>>
>>> You decide...
>>>
>>> Adam
>>>
>>> Rich Gauszka wrote:
>>>>
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21604280-2703,00.html
>>>>
>>>> IN a fresh clash with his American allies, the Iraqi Prime
Minister has
>>>> ordered the US military to halt the construction of concrete walls
>>>> being
>>>> built around some of the most violent neighbourhoods in Baghdad.
>>>>
>>>> Nouri al-Maliki, the Shia leader, stepped in as Sunni communities
>>>> complained
>>>> that their neighbourhoods were being turned into ghettoes that could
>>>> choke
>>>> off life in their areas.
>>>>
>>>> "I oppose the building of the wall, and its
construction will stop," he
>>>> said
>>>> during a visit to Egypt yesterday. "There are other
methods to protect
>>>> neighbourhoods."
>>>>
>>>> The US military had started to build concrete walls around
five Baghdad
>>>> neighbourhoods, most of them Sunni, in an attempt to stop
car bombers
>>>> leaving them and death squads infiltrating them.
>>>>
>>>> Mr al-Maliki, who has often been at odds with his US backers over
>>>> security
>>>> policy in the capital, said that "this wall reminds
us of other walls",
>>>> in
>>>> an apparent reference to the Israeli wall running through the
>>>> Palestinian
>>>> West Bank.
>>>>
>>>> Sunnis living in the newly sealed-off enclaves had
complained that the
>>>> walls
>>>> would cause severe traffic congestion and entrench the
sectarian rift
>>>> already dividing many Sunni from Shia areas.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "Ad"
 wrote in message
>>>> news:462c5c33$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>>>>> http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=20462
>>>>>
>>>>> I did say a while back that they should build city walls around
>>>>> trouble
>>>>> spots so as to "protect & control"....I
was thinking about whole
>>>>> towns/cities e.g. Ramadi....but here is an internal wall....
>>>>>
>>>>> "Residents of Sunni Baghdad district on Saturday
accused US forces
>>>>> walling
>>>>> them in behind a five-kilometre (three-mile) security barrier of
>>>>> hardening
>>>>> the city's already bitter sectarian divisions.
>>>>>
>>>>> On April 10, US paratroopers began hauling six-tonne
(14,000-pound)
>>>>> sections of concrete wall into place around the Sunni
district of
>>>>> Adhamiyah, one of the minority community's last
enclaves in Shiite
>>>>> east
>>>>> Baghdad.
>>>>>
>>>>> The wall is designed to prevent Shiite death squads
from launching
>>>>> attacks
>>>>> to drive out the Sunnis, and to prevent Sunni
insurgents from using
>>>>> the
>>>>> pocket as a base for raids and bombing runs into Shiite areas.
>>>>>
>>>>> Eleven days after the project began, the highway
dividing Adhamiyah
>>>>> from
>>>>> its Shiite neighbours is lined with tall concrete barriers. A US
>>>>> military
>>>>> statement issued on Tuesday said troops would work
nightly until it is
>>>>> completed.
>>>>>
>>>>> "The idea is to curb some of the self-sustaining
violence by
>>>>> controlling
>>>>> who has access to the neighbourhoods," said
Captain Marc Sanborn, a
>>>>> military engineer from the 82nd Airborne Division,
according to the US
>>>>> statement.
>>>>>
>>>>> The area is to become what the US military called a
"gated community"
>>>>> protected by barriers and checkpoints manned by Iraqi
troops."
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Adam
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>
>
>

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