Is Baghdad the New Warsaw?
The NY Times reports US troops began building a 12 foot high, 3 mile long wall to divide Shiite and Sunni neighborhoods. Just like the Berlin Wall. US Commanders say “the wall is one of the centerpieces of a new strategy by coalition and Iraqi forces to break the cycle of sectarian violence.”
Residents see things differently:
A doctor in Adhamiya, Abu Hassan, said the wall would transform the residents into caged animals. “It’s unbelievable that they treat us in such an inhumane manner,” he said in a telephone interview. “They’re trying to isolate us from other parts of Baghdad. The hatred will be much greater between the two sects.”
“The Native Americans were treated better than us,” he added.
That last statement is a stretch by any measure; Indigenous Americans were subject to genocide. As bad as things are in Iraq, we haven’t quite gotten there - yet.
Nonetheless, one man’s wall is another man’s cage. I bet the US got the idea from Israel. Partitioning the Palestinians has worked so well…
Speaking of Israel, shouldn’t the Jews be protesting such aggressive segregation tactics? As I recall my history, the Warsaw ghettos were created to "protect" the Jewish population suffering increased hostilities at the time. We know how that story ended, too.
While the US continues to mouth platitudes regarding benchmarks of progress by Iraqi officials, they’re taking steps to create a permanent physical embodiment of sectarianism. Sunnis should well be enraged, they’re the ones who will stand at the checkpoints in order to travel to and from work or gather groceries. They are the ones who will look out their windows to a vista of concrete block and concertina wire and wonder - now that they’re all scrunched into the New Warsaw ghetto - when the rocketry will arrive. Given all that, wouldn’t this make these arbitrary benchmarks harder to achieve?
Perhaps the US is getting desperate. Might we be running out of options, grasping at tactical straws in light of the uncontrollable situation and a dearth of planning on our part? Perhaps we’re just going through pantomimes to placate an increasingly restless American public, failing presidential job ratings, and shouts of impeachments? Perhaps we’re not protecting a minority faction so much as walling ourselves in?