By Kenneth J. Theisen, 4/24/07
As we all know, the Bush regime is asking for more time to
“win” in Iraq. First there was the “surge” as the solution
to defeating insurgents in Iraq. Now, along with the surge, the U.S. military
has come up with another tactic that will help “win” the war. “Building walls” is the latest strategy. But what is the U.S.
really constructing in Iraq?
Last week U.S.
military officials announced the building of a “security” wall to allegedly separate
the Sunni Iraqis in Adhamiya (an area of Baghdad)
from the Shiites just to the east of the area. In the statement by the
military, the Adhamiya wall was “one of the centerpieces of a new strategy.” But almost immediately controversy erupted
around the erection of the wall. Protests
against the barrier began and leaflets were distributed that said the wall
would “turn the city into a big prison.”
On Sunday, April 22, Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki announced
he was ordering a halt to construction. In
Maliki’s statement he said that the wall reminded people of “other walls,” no
doubt a reference to Israel’s
infamous apartheid wall on the West Bank. It may have also reminded people of earthern
walls erected as a strategy used by Mussolini to defeat the Arab insurgency in Libya in the
first half of the 20th century. After
the Italians invaded the country, Mussolini’s fascist army built walls
throughout Libya
to restrict movement. He also erected
massive concentration camps throughout the country. Of course other notorious walls were those
erected by the Nazis around Jewish ghettoes and the infamous Berlin Wall.
After the Iraqi government announcement, U.S. military spokesman Major General William
Caldwell, quickly issued a statement that the U.S. does not have a new strategy
of creating “gated communities.” He claimed
that it is a tactic being used in only a few neighborhoods. Gated
communities? How quaint? One can almost imagine a small gated
community in a quiet peaceful neighborhood. But make no mistake, walls are part of the U.S. war of aggression in Iraq.
This was not the first wall erected in order to restrict the
movements of Iraqis. In fact, the U.S. military
has repeatedly utilized such walls as a military tactic. Remember Haditha where the U.S. massacred
two dozen civilians in 2005? Beginning
in December 2006 and continuing in January 2007, U.S. Marines dug a ditch and
erected a 12-foot wall, topped by concertina wire and armed sentries, around
the town in al-Anbar province. Dirt
berms or walls stretching 20 kilometers are outside the city limits. There is only one road in and one road out of
town. All travelers must past military
checkpoints where they are searched. Anyone
who wishes to leave town must get written permission from the Marines. A census was conducted and all residents of
the town are now known to the military in order to keep track of their
movements.
All vehicle traffic in Haditha is banned. But believe it or not, in a press release the
military tried to put a positive spin on this by saying “more people are
walking around in the streets” than ever before. As if they have any choice?
Colonel W. Blake Crowe, the US commander for western Al-Anbar
province does actually refer to these areas as “gated communities” contrary to the
statement of General Caldwell. In a
press release, he claimed, “We are establishing a gated community, where good
people can come in to the city, and bad people can’t.” For the 80,000 residents of the Haditha
district, I am sure they are under no illusion of residing in a gated
community. The words “concentration camp”
more accurately describe the situation. In
addition to Haditha, other areas including Haglaniyah, Barwanah, Rutbah, and
Anah have been “bermed” in the province.
U.S. Lt. Col. Jim Donnellan who is the battalion commander
in charge of the Haditha area admits that it resembles a police state. He says, “That’s what it is, that’s what
it needs to be.” The U.S. military
refers to all this as part of a “clear, hold and build” operation
called “al Majid.”
But the al Majid operation, like the Adhamiya wall, is only
a means to control the Iraqi people and the country. After Nazi Germany was defeated, many Germans
claimed they did not know that Hitler was exterminating people by the millions
in the concentration camps. Hitler
claimed he was acting in the interest of the German people as he committed war
crimes and other crimes against humanity.
So too, the Bush regime claims to act in our name. In Iraq
hundreds of thousands have died as a direct result of the U.S.
invasion. If left unchecked the Bush
regime will turn the entire country of Iraq into one giant concentration
camp. We can not claim not to know. The question is what will you do about it?