Walls will increase violence, specialists say

[maddezmom]

BAGHDAD, 23 April 2007 (IRIN) - BAGHDAD, 23 April 2007 (IRIN) - Baghdad specialists and citizens have hit out against the US strategy of building walls around Sunni districts that are surrounded by Shia areas. They say such barriers would worsen the lives of thousands of Iraqis and would increase violence.

"When they build barriers, automatically they are assuming the existence of religious and ethnic differences in Iraq, reinforcing the fighting groups' beliefs," Jassem al-Rheiri, a sociology professor at Baghdad University, said.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said during a visit to Egypt on Sunday that the construction of such walls, particularly the one in the mainly Sunni Adhamiya district, should be halted by US troops. He had been under pressure from Sunni communities who complained that their neighbourhoods were being turned into ghettoes that would choke off life in their areas.

"I oppose the building of the wall, and its construction will stop. There are other methods to protect neighbourhoods," al-Maliki told reporters in Egypt. However, it appears his statement has been ignored as locals say the walls continue to be built by US troops.

US officials have said the barriers they began building on 10 April should be finished by the end of April.

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/24d117eeb97208230843dd011da874a7.htm

[acmavm]

1. This wall thing just screams of desperation from the neocon

clown act sitting on their asses safely in this country.

[Fresh_Start]

2. Bush NEEDS the wall. Walls work for him.

He created a wall between reality and his dream world.
Inside his wall, he's adored, brilliant, and a great leader.
Outside his wall, he's despised, ignorant, and a failure as a leader.