Region | Iraq
Maze of walls brings peace but hems in Iraqis
The walls block access to schools, mosques, churches, hotels, homes, markets and even entire neighbourhoods - almost anything that could be attacked. For many Iraqis, they have become the iconic symbol of the war.
- AP
- Published: 00:04 June 28, 2008
- A woman plays with her children in a central Baghdad park. A maze of walls and security towers across Baghdad has checked sniper fire and bombings, but it has also restricted the movement of residents.
- Image Credit: AP
Baghdad: Baghdad hasn't been this quiet in years.
But the respite from bloodshed comes at a high price. Up to 20 feet high in some sections.
Rows after rows of barrier walls divide the city into smaller and smaller areas that protect people from bombings, sniper fire and kidnappings.
They also lead to gridlock, rising prices for food and homes, and complaints about living in what feels like a prison.
The walls block access to schools, mosques, churches, hotels, homes, markets and even entire neighbourhoods - almost anything that could be attacked. For many Iraqis, they have become the iconic symbol of the war.
"Maybe one day they will remove it," said Kareem Mustafa, a 26-year-old Sadr City resident who lives a five-minute walk from a wall built this spring in the large Shiite district. "I don't know when, but it is not soon."
Indeed, new walls are still going up, the latest one around the northwestern Shiite neighbourhood of Hurriyah, where thousands of Sunnis were slaughtered or expelled in 2006.
They could well be around for years to come, reflecting Iraq's fragile peace and enshrining the capital's sectarian divisions.
Neighbourhood canvas
Some walls are colourful, painted by young local artists with scenes depicting green pastures or the pomp and glory of Iraq's ancient civilisations.
Others are commercial, plastered with fliers advertising everything from the local kebab joint to seaside vacations in Iran or university degrees in Ukraine.
Still others are religious or political, with posters of popular clerics or graffiti hostile to the United States, Israel or - most recently - Iraq's prime minister. Most are just bleak and gray, a reminder that danger lurks on the other side.
Dora, a one-time stronghold of Sunni insurgents in southern Baghdad, has so many walls and observation towers that some parts resemble a maze.
The district's notorious Moalimeen area, which until a year ago had been among the most dangerous places in the capital, is now accessible to pedestrians through revolving iron doors guarded by troops.
"The walls have stopped gunmen from coming into the neighbourhood," said Salim Ahmad, a 29-year-old oil refinery worker who lives and works in Dora.
"But we also feel that we are in a prison and isolated from the rest of the city." In some areas of Baghdad, the walls delay the movement of food and other essential supplies, raising prices. Where successful in preventing attacks and reducing crime, the walls push up the prices of homes.
The US military defends the walls, crediting them with disrupting the movement and supply routes of the Sunni militants of Al Qaida in Iraq and the Shiite militiamen of the so-called special groups.
First introduced by the Americans in 2003 to protect their Green Zone headquarters, walls became much more widespread with the launch early last year of a major security campaign in Baghdad. In some walled-off neighbourhoods, access was granted only on proof of residence or special ID cards.
Because of the Sadr City wall, Mustafa's journey to work every day now involves a 15-minute walk and two minibus rides - a major inconvenience considering Baghdad's unforgiving summer heat. "It makes us feel like prisoners, but things have calmed since they placed it."
On June 12, the US military began building the new barrier around Hurriyah. In defending the Hurriyah walls, Maj. Frank Garcia, a spokesman for US forces in western Baghdad, cited their "significant effect" in the northern Baghdad district of Azamiyah, a Sunni stronghold where Al Qaida militants and other extremists once ruled the streets.
But business generated by Azamiyah residents is not enough to sustain commerce. About half of them fled to escape the violence. They have yet to return.
Share this article
Popular in News
News Editor's choice
-
A year after 173 defenceless people were killed
Mumbai itself is far from safe from another deadly attack, even though the level of security consciousness of the average Mumbaikar has been raised since 26/11
-
Nato supports Obama's plea
European and other allies to send around 6,000 troops to Afghanistan
-
Official confirms mayor is the suspect
Many witnesses have come forward, justice secretary says
-
Into an oasis of values
A place to snuggle in the warmth of old manners away from the bustle of city life
