Posted on 10/10/2008 11:45:29 AM PDT by neverdem
One of the reasons for the success of the surge in Baghdad was the construction of blast walls that separated Sunni and Shia neighborhoods. These walls gave a certain level of security to both sides who had been ravaged by sectarian violence for months.
The walls come a tumblin' down. ..
Market by market, square by square, the walls are beginning to come down. The miles of hulking blast walls, ugly but effective, were installed as a central feature of the surge of American troops to stop neighbors from killing one another."They protected against car bombs and drive-by attacks," said Adnan, 39, a vegetable seller in the once violent neighborhood of Dora, who argues that the walls now block the markets and the commerce that Baghdad needs to thrive. "Now it is safe."
Slowly, and not without some fear, the Iraqis are beginning the process of taking responsibility for their own internal security:
On Oct. 1, the Sunni-dominated Awakening movement, widely credited with helping restore order to neighborhoods that were among the most deadly, passed from the American to the Iraqi government payroll in Baghdad. There is deep mutual mistrust between the new employer and many of its new employees, many of whom are former insurgents.
Another element of the transition, which has attracted far less notice than the Awakening transfer, is the effort by the Iraqi Army to begin turning over neighborhoods to the paramilitary National Police. In the future, its officers, too, will leave and be replaced by regular police officers.
All three moves mark a transition to an era in which Iraq's Shiite-dominated government seeks more control over its own military and sway over America's.
"The Iraqi security forces are now able to protect Iraq," said Joaidi Nahim Mahmoud Arif, a National Police sergeant in Dora, in southern Baghdad. "They will depend on themselves above all."
Timing couldn’t be better.
Bush’s Fault
Too bad Paulson and Bush created a phony panic to drive the markets into the dirt.
bttt
Obama: The surge hasn’t worked.
Bring them to Chicago. They need them. Murder rate is through the roof.
Even the NY Times is getting a clue Allegra!
Excellent.
How’s their economy looking ?
Houses available ?
Do they have room for a freedom-loving American refugee seeking political asylum from BHO ?
And it is wonderful to see those walls coming down. I remember when they all started going up. ;-)
"They protected against car bombs and drive-by attacks," said Adnan, 39, a vegetable seller in the once violent neighborhood of Dora, who argues that the walls now block the markets and the commerce that Baghdad needs to thrive. "Now it is safe."
:-)
I've made a couple of jokes about just staying here if that unthinkable thing happens.
Well...maybe half jokes. It is, after all, a free country.
Thank you, American military and assisting civilians.
Are they bringing here to protect us from 0bama’s brown shirts?
It one his punks gets in my face........GRrrrrrrrrr
You know, we should print hundreds of copies (screw copyright laws, hell laws don’t seem to mean anything any more) and mail them 0bama.
Just to be a PIA
Walls are coming down....unfortunately no quantification in the story. How much...how fast?
There has only been a very little of that so far. The Iraqi Security Forces have really gotten so good that they're able to ferret a lot of that out before it happens.
They were trained by the very best. :)
Bush’s Fault
Isn’t it ironic? Iraq is nealy a free functioning society and we get the boot of socialism.
Bush’s Fault
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