Richard WarnickThe Walls of Baghdad: ‘We feel like prisoners in our own country’
I thought about addressing the latest Bush administration torture scandal, but it’s still unfolding. I’m going to wait for more facts– this investigation has been a long time coming, and will probably take up the rest of Bush’s time in the White House even if he hands out a bunch of pardons. Meanwhile, Iraq is still the number one issue.
Christian Science Monitor correspondent Sam Dagher reports that Baghdad residents are grateful for newfound security, but are bothered by life behind walls. Protests against a U.S.-built wall around Adhamiyah last April had no effect. Since then, walls have proliferated as part of the Baghdad security plan.
“We feel like prisoners in our own country,” says Ahmed Abdullah, a Sulaikh resident. “We must live in a situation that the world knows is occupation,” says Ali Kamal. Bilal Baher says he misses Adhamiyah’s famed sites, now off-limits. “The limits are encroaching on our souls,” he says.
The U.S. military, with a gift for euphemism, avoids using the word “wall.” Instead, they are building “barriers” to seal off “gated communities,” in the words of Lieutenant General Ray Odierno, commander of the multinational corps in Baghdad. Nearly eight months ago, he said: “We must be patient. As soon as conditions are more stable, I’m sure the government will lift the curfew, replace or remove the barriers and reduce the number of checkpoints around the city.”
Is there enough patience? Moqtada al-Sadr has denounced the walls as “sectarian, racist and unjust.” “This wall shows the evil will of the occupier and its sectarian and terrorist projects against our people,” al-Sadr said in a statement last spring. Sadr’s rhetoric remains as anti-American as ever. “I speak to the head of evil Bush, go out of our land, we don’t need you or your armies, the armies of darkness,” he said in a statement released December 5.
Sadr’s Mahdi Army is in the midst of a self-proclaimed cease fire and reorganization period. However, the next phase of the Baghdad security plan calls for U.S. ground forces to enter the Mahdi Army stronghold of Sadr City. Stay tuned.
December 11th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Richard,
I realize you are not one for conspiracy theories, but…
Have you ever considered the possibility that the administration’s goal in Iraq is in fact to establish a long term presence there and as such, what appears to you as bad policy and tactics that increase the intractability of the situation are in fact purposeful and actually quite in line with those goals?
Are you there yet or will you continue to “bang your head against the wall” under the naive belief that the Bush administration is simply incompetent?
December 12th, 2007 at 8:50 am
The Iraq “stay the course” strategy is incompetent by any sane measure, however there is solid evidence that behind it is the insane, mostly unstated goal of making Iraq a permanent American base in the Middle East.
The so-called “surge” was supposed to be about buying time to do the impossible, i.e. get the dysfunctional Iraqi government to implement the benchmarks. It also delayed the inevitable withdrawal from Iraq until after Bush leaves office– that part is probably going to work.
I’m writing a new post about Moqtada al-Sadr. Like many Iraqis, he blames the USA for deliberately fomenting sectarian conflict as part of a “divide and conquer” approach. IMHO it was completely accidental– Bush didn’t even know about the differences between Shiites and Sunnis before the invasion. What Iraqis believe matters politically, however.
Naomi Klein is partly right, you have to wonder about the Bush administration’s ability to succeed by failing, again and again.
December 12th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
“deliberately fomenting sectarian conflict as part of a “divide and conquer†approach” - ACCIDENTAL?
Are you high?
Moqtada al-Sadr (Mookie) is right. We DID do it on purpose. And we are doing it in Afghanistan on purpose.
Its the modus operandi to maintain corporate hegemony in the Middle East.
And we and the British did it in 1945 in the region around Jerusalem where Arabs and Jews were living together in a mostly functional, mutually beneficial co-existence.
It easier to make deals in a fractured country.
December 12th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Ah, Cliff ,you finally come around to what I suggested over 3 years ago, it is a purposeful cluster, no one could screw it up this bad by accident, is what I said then.
Could be to keep the oil from reaching China. We fear the alarming growth of that nation. Question is, will we do to China what the west did to an emerging Japan…, that led to our war with them?
Iraq and Iran after all being logistically the logical source for oil for China via pipeline. This is the geo-political reality, and while we groan under 3.25 a gallon gas, we’ll survive. China comes to a halt. Whole areas of China have no fuel(for economic mobility) right now, and it is a real problem.
Meanwhile the cannon fodder of our military secures the position, it is pretty obvious, draw down or not, we will never leave in the near future.
We could also pay heed to Brezinskis plans to foment the “clash of civilisations”. We want the oil and its benefit, and are using the crown method of using local factional differences to spread chaos, have our enemy destroy each other, and thereby rule. A lesson not lost on Israel I might add, they too are in on the ruse.
The expense is some printed up devalued tax dollars and the participation of brainwashed elements of our military.
It is so obvious what we have become under bush’s direction, we are the bleedin’ crown. Not to be surprised, his tory ancestors were crownies. Nothing new under the Sun, except history you don’t know. More true everyday in the States, as time goes on.