Al-Maliki ORDERS U.S. to HALT BUILDING WALL in Baghdad!

[KoKo]

Al-Maliki orders halt to construction of a wall around Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad

The Associated Press
Sunday, April 22, 2007

CAIRO, Egypt: Iraq's prime minister said Sunday that he has ordered a halt to the U.S. construction of a barrier separating a Sunni enclave from surrounding Shiite areas in Baghdad after fierce criticism over the project at home.

The challenge to the U.S. initiative came as Nouri al-Maliki began a regional tour to shore up support from mostly Sunni Arab nations for his Shiite-dominated government as sectarian violence persists despite a nearly 10-week-old security crackdown.

The U.S. military announced last week that it was building a five kilometer (three mile) long and 3.6 meter (12 foot) tall concrete wall in Azamiyah, a Sunni stronghold in northern Baghdad whose residents have often been the victims of retaliatory mortar attacks by Shiite militants following bombings usually blamed on insurgents.

-snip-

"I oppose the building of the wall and its construction will stop," al-Maliki said during a joint news conference with the Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Moussa in Cairo. "There are other methods to protect neighborhoods."

He did not elaborate but added "this wall reminds us of other walls," in an apparent reference to the wall that divided Berlin during the Cold War and Israel's construction of a barrier in the West Bank to keep out suicide bombers.

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver declined to comment on whether construction of the wall would stop, saying only that all security measures were constantly under discussion.


http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/22/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Neighborhood-Barrier.php

[rodeodance]

1. umm a few stories say h only "asked" the US military of halt it.

[wtmusic]

2. Bad puppet!

:spank:

[Fridays Child]

3. Yes, Condi had better get over there for a photo op, immediately. Besides...

...doesn't she have some subpeonas to avoid?

[yellowcanine]

4. Does anyone smell that? Smells like coup shit.

[Tesla]

6. Oh no!!!

I wonder if Haliburton gets to keep the "no-bid" contract money!!


Poor Haliburton, I'm sure they are bummed with all this wall and no where to put it!!

[madokie]

10. I do the scent is very strong here even after going on 8 years

[The Stranger]

5. This wall-building is a page torn directly from Nazi Germany and the Stalinist Soviet Union.

It is U.S. Totalitarianism hiding in plain sight.

[Norquist Nemesis]

13. Or maybe a more recent wall/fence closer in proximity

Let's see...who might the U.S. be getting some advice from over strategies to protect neighborhoods and isolate a group of people?

[HereSince1628]

7. And the US appears to ignore the request....

Hey, the Neocons studied the nazis in college.

They've learned the lessons of Warsaw. And they know if you want to get to a final solution you've first got to get the population contained (for their own protection of course) in a ghetto.

These are just temporary walls. They can be removed as soon as the project is over. No problem.

[KansDem]

9. "MR. BUSH...TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!"

*crickets*

[Norquist Nemesis]

8. Can someone please explain to me how the media is concluding

his reference to the wall is related to Berlin??? This is the first piece I've seen that offered the Israeli wall (which was my first thought of what he's referring to). But they all say it was an "apparent reference"...where do they get this?

[watrwefitinfor]

15. My first thought was the wall around the Warsaw Ghetto. n/t

[WHAT]

18. Really!

more bologna...

[partylessinOhio]

11. Let's hope that Nouri al-Maliki has the "power" to stop the wall building.

All contractors, foreign and domestic, should be thrown out of Iraq, NOW!

[The_Casual_Observer]

12. That's the kind of shit they have the US troops doing over there.

Great.

[elocs]

14. How exactly does he "order" the U.S. to do anything? From where does he get the power? n/t

[ClintonTyree]

16. Purple thumbs

n/t

[elocs]

17. It would be nice if it worked that way, except it will not be allowed to happen. n/t

[KoKo]

19. Kick ...CNN verifies that Maliki "ordered" wall to come down along with Barbara Starr.

So this is the latest.

[NastyRiffraff]

20. Maliki's a dead man walking

Especially if it's Halliburton's wall. BushCo will never put up with Maliki, or any Iraqi, giving orders. And I mean never