Walls

The military is proposing building a wall through Baghdad to quell the insurgents. Walls, always walls.

What message are they sending to the world?

Walls are for keeping out, for separating, for protection. Some of the reasoning makes sense to me. I know that there needs to be an end to the ability of insurgents to be able to penetrate into neighborhoods and spread their brand of evil.

But walls are never a means for moving forward. I suffered a weird convergence from reading the book "The world is flat". Thomas Friedman warns us that wall building only keeps us stuck in the past, but does not move us ahead. At the same time there is an effort in Baghdad to make gated communities. In the same time period, I heard of a commentary of comparing President Bush to President Reagan who said in a speech "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!" He was referring to the Berlin wall, and ending communism. That is not what appears to be happening in Baghdad. They are constructing walls.

I was walking through several communities in an attempt at some exercise. I was going to cut through an apartment complex into another neighborhood. I couldn't. There was a wall up, which prohibited me from passing. I had to walk a considerable distance around the obstacle to get where I wanted to be.

The message is clear. We don't welcome your type here! Just leave us alone.

I am not naive in believing that we should welcome all with open arms. The place where the fence is placed around the apartment is probably host to some citizens that do not act in law-abiding ways. In putting up a wall we say loud and clear that we refuse to deal with you.

What the insistent insurgents have demonstrated over and over again is that walls will not stop them. They will be dealt with and the consequences are so much more undesirable.