On hiatus

On hiatus

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down….

(Berlin wall remnants)

NYTimes front page yesterday(at least online hehe..):

BAGHDAD, April 20 — American military commanders in Baghdad are trying a radical new strategy to quell the widening sectarian violence by building a 12-foot-high, three-mile-long wall separating a historic Sunni enclave from Shiite neighborhoods.

How radical is debatable, in fact concrete walls have become a fixture throughout much of Baghdad for quite some time. The cities own borders have been sealed off as well with a security ring.

Does a 3 mile wall through the center of Baghdad make sense? Will it provide another level of security to quell sectarian violence?Or will it only serve to militarize the city further away from any sense of normalcy?

The angle or frame of much of yesterday’s reporting played along the latter.

Third paragraph in the NYT piece:

A doctor in Adhamiya, Abu Hassan, said the wall would transform the residents into caged animals.

“It’s unbelievable that they treat us in such an inhumane manner,” he said in a telephone interview. “They’re trying to isolate us from other parts of Baghdad. The hatred will be much greater between the two sects.”

“The Native Americans were treated better than us,” he added.

The Herald Sun:

US FORCES in Baghdad are planning to seal off vast areas of the city with barricades, effectively imprisoning the inhabitants of neighbourhoods, according to The Independent.

And today by the BBC:

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has asked for construction to end on a concrete wall around a Sunni enclave in the capital, Baghdad.

Which in itself is a troubling sign of a lack of communication between U.S. commanders and at least this one Iraqi leader..

Let’s not get into a new age discussion of how we need to tear down walls in order to love our fellow man…

Let’s face it: It’s a warzone.

When people are driving into each other’s neighborhoods in order to blow themselves up in crowds, perhaps some physical obstacles are needed.

Will this further alienation between sects? Probably.

Will this heal the hatred some feel for others? No.

Will it stop suicide bombings? No.

Might it save a few lives and provide a measure of safety for innocents? Hopefully.

It would be nice if Baghdad was a place where people could be given the space and freedom we enjoy. Thanks to the unending stream of murderers(and our inability during the past four years to stop them) we find ourselves in a much different situation.

One in which we have to build walls (the euphemism “gated communities” makes me sick) across cities, seperating neighbors from one another..in the hopes that we can defeat this horror or really just buy enough time for Iraqis to create some sort of new reality and identity…one where walls are torn down and people come together in peace.

A somber anniversary

Four years later..

News sites are hitting up their graphics departments in a big way.

NY TIMES (deployment graphic pop-up link off of article) and another(map)

BBC (really really cool map)

Washington Post (graphs)

EL Pais (photos) and you should just check out their whole graphics page while you’re at it

LA Times(photos)

Boston Globe (protest pictures)

Chicago Tribune (audio slideshows)

Seattle Times (photo gallery link off article)

Time.com (photos and quotes)

AP (video)

U.S. News (check out the multimedia box)

I even saw one in the Metro today but I can’t find it online..

anyway..

Our Political Space

Here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, no fear of mortars or car-bombs impedes our elected representatives from politicking the day away.

Rep. Obey’s outburst stole the spotlight on a week when Democrats pushed forward the debate on Iraq. House Democrats have proposed setting a withdrawal date of August 2008. A “goal” rather than deadline according to some, the proposed legislation would set a series of benchmarks that have to be met or else troop withdrawal would begin.

The Christian Science Monitor reports:

“Unless there is progress made in meeting benchmarks by July 2007, we begin the redeployment of our troops out of a combat role in Iraq,” said Speaker Pelosi.

If they are met, the Secretary of Defense must begin redeploying US forces out of Iraq by March 1, 2008, and complete the redeployment within 180 days, she added.

The deal aims to strike a balance between two often competing wings of the House Democratic caucus: conservatives, who oppose any move to “micromanage” the war, and the liberal “Out of Iraq” caucus, which wants to see the newly empowered Democrats use war funding to leverage an end to the war now.

House Dems. will need 218 votes to get the vote through. The Washington Post reports on the effort its taking to get the caucus aboard.

Nadler’s conversion was a sign of the member-by-member, slow but deliberate headway Democratic leaders say they are making in their efforts to cobble together the 218 supporters they need to pass one of the most consequential pieces of defense legislation in decades, a $105 billion war-funding bill that would impose strict standards of rest and readiness for the military, establish clear benchmarks for the government of Iraq and set a timeline to end U.S. involvement in the war.

In the Senate, which will see the legislation on its floor next week, the main players are jockeying to come to support the timeline/deadline..and they hope getting near the 60 vote threshold to passing it. Expecting stiff Republican opposition, Sen. Reid is allowing Republicans to introduce their own provisions to the bill, so as to avoid the procedural deadlock on prior resolutions.

President Bush has vowed to veto any such legislation, while in fact asking for more money to send an additional 4,700 troops into Iraq.

Their Political Space

Today, the neighbor’s conference was an assertive and strong demonstration of political action. Maliki opened the day by urging the attendant nations to come to Iraq and his government’s defense against the violence of the insurgency. Whatever the results, the simple act of being able to put something like this together on the ground in Iraq is an achievement.

“Security was extremely tight as envoys gathered in Iraq’s Foreign Ministry, which is outside the heavily protected Green Zone. Shortly after the meeting began, at least two mortar shells hit near the Foreign Ministry. There were no casualties.”

Political maneuvering can also be seen on the domestic front. ItM reports:

“The political scene in Iraq these days is registering a level of activity like we haven’t seen since right after the elections”

The United Iraqi Alliance, the Shiite majority bloc in parliament, is showing some signs of wear according to the BBC. Former Prime Minister Iyad Alawi’s new alliance with some Sunni factions seems to be gaining from the majority’s defections.

ItM again:

“This morning, in a frank challenge to ayatollah Sistani’s earlier call for preserving the UIA’s unity, the head of al-Fadheela party -which controls 15 of its 130 seats- declared independence from the Shia bloc and said his team now would act as an independent bloc within parliament.”

Not the best news for Maliki’s government which relies on the UIA for it’s political strength, but a sign that power is redistributing along non-sectarian secular lines. When that happens, we can find new avenues of communication and possibilities for compromise, hopefully.

The fact that this is all happening as Operation Law and Order nears its second month, gives the indication that whatever the effects on the actual insurgency, the new security posture is giving lawmakers and leaders the impetus and confidence to do their jobs.