Berlin had one. The Israeli’s are building one. Even the Northern Irish had one of sorts.
Now, it seems Baghdad is to have one- at least if Ryan Crocker, the latest US ambassador to Iraq, gets his way. A BBC report today states that Mister Crocker has announced the next few months will be critical to reconciling the warring factions in the country.
Someone should tell him it’s been said before. Over and over again, since – 2003?
Nouri el-Maliki, Irag’s prime minister, has told the Americans to stop building the wall around Adhamiya, a Sunni enclave of Baghdad surrounded by Shia districts, but the Americans want to press ahead.
That’s the trouble with America. It never bothers to learn from history. It just plows on with what seems like “a good idea at the time”, only to find out too late it wasn’t such a great plan after all.
Walls don’t work. They segregate, when what’s needed is integration.
The Berlin wall devastated that city. Years later, Germany is still recovering from the economic plight left after the wall came down. The “barriers” in Northern Ireland kept neither faction apart for very long. Thankfully, they too have now disappeared. One day, Israel’s wall – built ostensibly to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers, but in practice simply self-defining Israel’s national boundaries – will have to go too. That is, if they ever want to live in peace with their neighbors.
Meanwhile, the American military is hard at work surrounding Sunni Adhamiya with a ring of concrete.
A great way to win hearts and minds.
Filed under: Hard lessons