Gen. Petraeus' Strategy, Maliki's Response

By Big Tent Democrat, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Sun Apr 22, 2007 at 04:34:27 PM EST
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A critical part of General Petraeus' strategy:

Another part of the strategy is to wall off communities along their traditional boundaries to control population access and prevent attacks. "That's part of the concrete caterpillar," Petraeus said, pointing out a barrier going up in a neighborhood in west Baghdad. . . .

Iraq PM Maliki's response:

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Sunday that he has ordered a halt to the construction of a barrier that would separate a Sunni enclave from surrounding Shiite areas in Baghdad, saying there are other ways to protect the neighborhood. The U.S. military announced last week that it was building a large concrete wall in the northern Azamiyah section of Baghdad in an effort to protect the minority Sunnis from attacks by Shiites living nearby. . . . In his first public comments on the issue, al-Maliki said he had ordered the construction to stop. "I oppose the building of the wall and its construction will stop," al-Maliki told reporters during a joint news conference with the Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Moussa in Cairo, Egypt. "There are other methods to protect neighborhoods."

Well, I wonder if, unlike John McCain, Gen. Petraeus has a Plan B.

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Gen. Petraeus' Strategy, Maliki's Response | 6 comments (6 topical)

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Here's something else Petraeus said (5.00 / 2) (#1)
by profmarcus on Sun Apr 22, 2007 at 05:47:04 PM EST

"I don't think you're ever going to get rid of all the car bombs," conceded Petraeus to the Post. "Iraq is going to have to learn -- as did, say, Northern Ireland -- to live with some degree of sensational attacks."

goddam it to friggin' rotting hell... we invaded the country illegally and under false pretenses so we could lay our hands on its oil, and NOW we say they're going to have to LEARN TO LIVE WITH THE CHAOS WE'VE CAUSED...??? oh, man...

And, yes, I DO take it personally

I think that maybe Petraeus understands (5.00 / 2) (#2)
by Edger on Sun Apr 22, 2007 at 06:12:41 PM EST

more than he's given credit for. I susspect he was speaking in a broader sense and I think he is referring to the fact, one that he has stated before, that there is NO miltary solution to terrorism:

the IRA was not intrinsically-- was not somehow arising from something intrinsic to Catholicism. And actually the IRA is a relevant example. Because when the Catholics of Northern Ireland became disillusioned by being represented by the IRA that is what brought the IRA to the peace table. At that moment their power disappeared.

...having lived in England during the years of the of the IRA campaign it became something that people, in a way, came to accept. That every so often a bomb would go off in a shopping mall, shopping center, and in the end, people refused to allow that to change their daily lives and just proceeded. And I think that refusal to be deflected from the path of normality also played a great deal of the role in the defeat of the IRA, that they didn't achieve their goal.

Salman Rushdie: video here... transcript here.


: I imagine Petraeus also knows this. (5.00 / 2) (#3)
by Edger on Sun Apr 22, 2007 at 06:20:06 PM EST

U.S. must negotiate with insurgents and militias
Al-Mutlak's allies say that rather than unleashing a worsened civil war, a U.S. troop withdrawal would have a calming effect.

"If there is a timetable for the U.S. troops to get out, if a real Iraqi government has authority to make decisions, it can reach an understanding with the groups in the Mahdi Army to solve the situation, to stop the violence, and also with the insurgent groups," said Jawad al-Khalisi, a Shiite ayatollah and seminary leader in Baghdad who has tried to reconcile the radicals under a nationalist, pro-withdrawal banner. "The Iraqi people will get rid of the extremist powers from both sides. We won't allow them to continue their violent and terrorist acts."

This era in history will be defined as (5.00 / 2) (#4)
by Freewill on Sun Apr 22, 2007 at 07:05:17 PM EST

The Wall Builder Era

Excerpt from future history books:

The Wall Builder Era started around 2000 a.d. However, historical experts argue the actual date but many believe that the first actual wall believed to protect America from "outsiders" happened when the Republican Majority at that time created jobs for immigrant employing, no-bid contractors to create a wall along the U.S./Mexico border.

Because the belief during that period was that walls could stop everything the U.S. Government also erected walls in the Baghdad City of Iraq. What eluded the leaders of that era was the fact that no wall ever created up to the point in time was ever created high enough to eliminate very large ladders. Also, the primitive weapons used during that era were rocket propelled and satelitte guided thus rendering any wall useless.

Emanual Labure a foreign contracted wall builder employed by Halliburton stated: "I very much like the money but it makes no sense to me very much why they do such these things? It does not make things safer." Mr. Labure demonstrated a simple technique that involved a shovel and a simple motion to create a hole that could go beneath the newly constructed wall thus rendering it ineffective.

Ali Scarey Terror, a Dubai Security expert, explained: "The U.S. Leaders who lacked experience in hard work and actual manual labor misunderstood what a wall really did. It allows your opponents to remain hidden behind the wall as they shower the other side with rockets and bombs completely allowing for the perpetrators to remain unseen."

U.S. Leaders believed that these types of construction efforts demonstrated their comprehension to the real facts of the time but instead they were completely near-sighted in their eagerness to prove that they were right about everything.

The Wall Building era lasted for only a few years ending in the year 2011 when the Soviet Leader stated: "Mr. President tear down these walls! Thus, turning world wide public opinion against the wall building nation, the U.S.A."

They're tearing it down (5.00 / 2) (#5)
by Donna Z on Sun Apr 22, 2007 at 08:36:13 PM EST

Last night the news (CNN) showed the Iraqis pulling down parts of the wall. Of course since Americans are putting up this wall, it will probably just serve to make people more angry if that is possible.

There are no good options in Iraq.

If the Walls Could Talk (none / 0) (#7)
by john horse on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 05:32:45 PM EST

If the walls could talk they would ask whether the purpose of the walls were to keep enemies out or to imprison those within?

If the walls could talk they would ask if the purpose of the walls were to keep enemies out then how come they don't seem to work with foreign occupiers?

If the walls could talk they would warn those building the walls to make sure to include an exit.