Will Good Walls Make Good Neighbors In Iraq?

Bombings in Iraq have spawned a 'private fortifications industry' where concrete blast walls now surround many of the city's landmark buildings and lesser-known streets.

1 minute read

April 13, 2005, 1:00 PM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen

The Sandi Group, an American company participating in a multimillion-dollar contract to advise the Iraqi government on law enforcement, has fashioned its own green zone across the river, one of more than 100 such private fortresses, large and small, across the city.

...When the insurgency's campaign of bombings and assassinations cast the city into a state of fear in mid-2003, it was up to the firms to provide their own security, spawning a private fortifications industry. Concrete blast walls, trucked around the capital in sections and hoisted into place by cranes, now surround many of the city's landmark buildings and lesser-known streets.

These compounds have angered and annoyed Baghdad residents, cutting them off from foreign offices and further obstructing the city's increasingly clogged streets."

Thanks to Chris Steins

FULL STORY: Baghdad's Blast Walls Protect, Annoy

Wednesday, October 26, 2005 in The Los Angeles Times

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