Fixed fortifications are monuments to man’s stupidity.
– General George S. Patton, Jr.
U.S. Army soldiers from 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division guard construction of a concrete wall running through the Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Baghdad, on Sunday, May 4, 2008.
Why is the U.S. Army building a wall in Sadr City? To separate the southern portion of this section of Baghdad from the Mahdi Army-controlled north, according to Bill Roggio of The Long War Journal. That’s right, even after the so-called “surge,” which made 2007 the bloodiest year of the war, the occupation forces still aren’t strong enough to control all of Iraq’s capital.
The main reason for the wall is tactical. The other side is beyond mortar range of the Green Zone, 7 kilometers away. But the Mahdi Army’s Iranian-made 107mm Katyusha rockets have an effective range of 9 km, and their 122mm rockets can do better than that. Also, there is very little to prevent Mahdi Army rocket and mortar teams from displacing to firing locations outside Sadr City.
How’s that wall coming along? After a month, it’s only half finished according to NBC’s Richard Engel. It’s being built under fire the whole way, because the enemy always knows exactly where our soldiers are. Sometimes, the firefights are so fierce they can only put up eight wall sections in a day. The wall is creating a swath of destruction as one building after another becomes a military target.
#1 by Cliff Lyon - May 6th, 2008 at 07:34
Can we (US military) do anything more stupid than lining up cement barriers? It seems to me, if you knock down one, the rest of the thing become landscape decoration.
And each new hole becomes a shooting gallery (and we are the sitting ducks) in between remote controlled IED attacks… for as long as it takes to fix the wall.
JBerger and Bob S must think we are as stupid as the people running this war.
I’m guessing you both voted for George Bush both times. Are you 27% percenters?
#2 by glenn - May 6th, 2008 at 12:55
Well Cliff as a proponent of the WALL that Israel has constructed, you mark yourself then as stupid, as well.
Seems to be working for Israel though.
Maybe we just have to build it BIGGER!!
Like Israel.
Why wouldn’t we? We paid to build theirs on the West Bank, we can build another for areas of Iraq.
#3 by glenn - May 6th, 2008 at 12:59
Maybe like THIS!
#4 by jdberger - May 6th, 2008 at 15:13
Oh…I dunno, Cliff. Sometimes walls work and sometimes they don’t.
Hadrian’s wall worked for a time. China’s wall was partially effective. Robert Frost didn’t like them between neighbors, but that exact kind of wall came in pretty handy in “The Shawshank Redemption”.
And for the record, it’s “jdberger”. If you’re going to insult me, at least spell my name right.
Hey! After watching that video I’m pretty impressed. Under daily fire, the soldiers are about half done with the project (after a month). Compare that to the progress on the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, which they have been trying to upgrade since the ‘89 earthquake.
In fact, compare it to any local public works project. You people have no sense of scale.
#5 by glenn - May 6th, 2008 at 17:08
I hate it when html doesn’t work. Robs the moment.
Yeah, let’s build it bigger.
Maybe like THIS WALL!!
#6 by Richard Warnick - May 6th, 2008 at 17:50
Ironically, the Sadr City wall runs along Al Quds (Jerusalem) Street for its entire length. For Arabs, the symbolism is inescapable. Americans automatically think of the Berlin Wall, Iraqis think of the Israeli security barriers on the West Bank and Gaza. It doesn’t help that the US military is using the term “security barrier” to describe the wall.
#7 by jdberger - May 7th, 2008 at 11:13
Those dastardly Jews occupying Arab land again, huh?