Bush Regime Won't Say Whether They'll Honor Maliki's Decision To Halt Construction Of Baghdad 'Wall'

[bigtree]

Associated Press 42 minutes ago

U.S.: Iraq wall meant to protect

By LAUREN FRAYER

BAGHDAD - The U.S. ambassador to
Iraq said Monday that the American military will "respect the wishes" of the Iraqi government regarding a barrier being built around a Sunni enclave in Baghdad, but he stopped short of saying construction would stop.

Meanwhile, bombings around Iraq killed at least 27 people and wounded nearly 60, authorities said.

Ambassador Ryan Crocker spoke at a news conference a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he had ordered the building of the barrier in Azamiyah to stop after the project drew strong criticism from residents and Sunni leaders.

"Obviously we will respect the wishes of the government and the prime minister," Crocker said at a news conference. "I'm not sure where we are right now concerning our discussions on how to move forward on this particular issue."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070423/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_070423102916


To everyone else, no means no, but to the Bush regime, no means "how do we find a way forward?"

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Something there is that doesn't love an AWOL commander." - Robert Frost

"Who would follow a deserter into a
Nation-Building War Profits crusade based on deliberate lies?
Only a kool aid drinker, fer sure."

- Robert Frost (excuse my faulty meter, but I have been dead a couple of decades)

[bigtree]

3. Before I built a wall I’d ask to know

What Iraqi I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.’

-Frost

[Chipper Chat]

4. Frosty food for thought:

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

1. The Road Not Taken


TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, 10

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. 15

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Come on Bushie-boy. Go back to the first path. 20

[bigtree]

11. Arabic Press fury at Baghdad wall

from BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6584079.stm


BASIM AL-SHAYKH IN IRAQ'S AL-DUSTUR

The sectarian isolation wall... is a hateful gesture feared to recur and spread in Baghdad until we find ourselves in the coming days in need of visas or special permits to enter this or that area. We are not against security precautions as such... but we also hope that this will not be done at the expense of our moral and inherited values.

ABD-AL-BARI ATWAN IN PAN-ARAB AL-QUDS AL-ARABI

Today it's al-Adhamiyah, tomorrow it will be Basra, the day after Mosul and the day after that Kirkuk - until the whole of Iraq becomes a Bantustan - a sectarian ghetto which closes its doors to strangers from other ghettos. There is no national identity anymore, only sectarian and racial identity.

MUHAMMAD KA'WSH IN JORDAN'S AL-ARAB AL-YAWM

No-one should keep silent about this new crime committed by the occupation in Baghdad, and all Iraqis must reject such a crime because turning al-Adhamiyah into a big prison means that other neighbourhoods will also turn into sectarian ghettos, with Sadr city probably being next.

A'ISHA AL-MURI IN UAE'S AL-ITTIHAD

The new US strategy has turned sectarian division from words to actual concrete on the ground.

WALID AL-NUWAYHID IN BAHRAIN'S AL-WASAT

The wall is a political scandal according to all international, moral and humanitarian standards. It is not just a part of a security project. Rather, it aims at isolating and turning neighbourhoods into sectarian ghettos.

more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6584079.stm

[baldguy]

2. Just what is Maliki Prime Minister of?

He isn't allowed to make decisions about his own country.

[bigtree]

5. I think we're going to find out

he may just fold like he has in the past

[TechBear_Seattle]

6. Maliki does not call the shots in Iraq

Crimeny, who does he think he is? Head of state?


:sarcasm: (as if it was needed)

[Roland99]

7. Bush on sovereignty >>>>>

"...sovereignty means that. It's sovereign. You're a ... you're a ... you've been given sovereignty and you're viewed as a sovereign entity."


Ok, he was talking about Native American tribal sovereignty but I think we get the point.

[bigtree]

8. here's the bullshit

LAUREN FRAYER, Associated Press Writer

April 23, 2007 6:23 AM

BAGHDAD (AP) - The American ambassador said Monday the U.S. would ''respect the wishes'' of the Iraqi government after the prime minister ordered a halt to construction of a three-mile wall separating a Sunni enclave from surrounding Shiite areas in Baghdad.

Any plan to build ''gated communities'' to protect Baghdad neighborhoods from sectarian attacks was in doubt after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said during a visit to Sunni-led Arab countries that he did not want the 12-foot high wall in Azamiyah to be seen as dividing the capital's sects.

However, confusion persisted about whether the plan would continue in some form: The chief Iraqi military spokesman said Monday the prime minister was responding to exaggerated reports about the barrier.

''We will continue to construct the security barriers in the Azamiyah neighborhood. This is a technical issue,'' Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said. ''Setting up barriers is one thing and building barriers is another. These are moveable barriers than can be removed.''

Al-Moussawi noted similar walls were in place elsewhere in the capital - including in other residential neighborhoods - as part of a nearly 10-week-old security operation. But hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Azamiyah to oppose what they called ''a big prison.''

http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=565003519288279973


CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS BULLSHIT?!

''THEY'RE 'SETTING THEM UP,' NOT 'BUILDING' THEM"

[bigtree]

9. Work On Wall Continues!

Apr 23, 2007, 13:51 GMT

Baghdad - The construction of a three-mile wall around a Sunni neighbourhood in Baghdad continued Monday, the military spokesman for the Iraqi government said, despite Premier Nuri al- Maliki's opposition to the plan.

Witnesses said Monday that construction was indeed continuing under the guard of US soldiers. The area is currently sealed off, they said.

Atta insisted that Iraqi citizens had requested that walls be erected between neighbourhoods for security considerations, and so the work on the Adhamiya wall among others would continue, he told Iraqiya state television.

Atta also said that the defence minister had a 'firm opinion' about the walls, saying that they were 'temporary.'

Atta's statements came only a day after al-Maliki had openly called for a halt to the wall of separation, saying he opposed it.

Atta had told the press that building such and similar walls across Baghdad was part of a security plan enacted on February 14 in an effort to quell ongoing violence in the city.

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/news/article_1295162.php/Work_on_Baghdad_wall_continues_as_violence_kills_29__Roundup_

[gatorboy]

10. Hey, a Halliburton contract is a Halliburton contract.

You can't make those folks wait!

[bigtree]

12. they don't care if they build them or not

they get 'paid' either way