This article is an example of looking at a very small situation that really summarizes the very large situation in Iraq. The Government of Iraq and the Coalition are building a wall through a western Baghdad neighborhood called Ameriyah. Ameriyah has a majority Sunni population (of course the minority in the city of Baghdad, who is predominately Shia) and the wall intends to protect the Ameriyhans from attacks against them, hence the checkpoints, etc. Do you think the wall will protect the normal folks from the Sunni fundamentalists? The author of this piece may not have seen one of several pieces in Arab media that report, in Ameriyah, cucumbers and tomatoes cannot be stored in the same bin because it violates Islam or the punishment for smoking is getting a finger cut off. (Sounds a little radic-- er-- fundamentalist to me)
I don't think walls are ever a good thing. It is the stark opposite of a open and free society. General Petraus argues for them and perhaps that is best for Baghdad because the security is as bad as it is. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Indeed, these are desperate times for Iraq.
