American ambassador: U.S. will ‘respect the wishes’ of Iraqi government on barrier wall

BAGHDAD – The American ambassador said Monday the U.S. would “respect the wishes” of the Iraqi government after the prime minister ordered a halt to construction of a three-mile wall separating a Sunni enclave from surrounding Shiite areas in Baghdad.\nAny plan to build “gated communities” to protect Baghdad neighborhoods from sectarian attacks was in doubt after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said during a visit to Sunni-led Arab countries that he did not want the 12-foot-high wall in Azamiyah to be seen as dividing the capital’s sects.\nHowever, confusion persisted about whether the plan would continue in some form: The chief Iraqi military spokesman said Monday the prime minister was responding to exaggerated reports about the barrier.\n“We will continue to construct the security barriers in the Azamiyah neighborhood. This is a technical issue,” Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said. “Setting up barriers is one thing and building barriers is another. These are moveable barriers that can be removed.”\nAl-Moussawi noted similar walls were in place elsewhere in the capital – including in other residential neighborhoods – and criticized the media for focusing on Azamiyah.\n“It’s exaggerated by the media. We expected this reaction by some weak-minded people,” he said.\nBut hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Azamiyah to oppose what they called “a big prison.”\n“The main aim of these barriers is to protect civilians and to guarantee that security forces are in control and prevent terrorists from moving between areas,” al-Moussawi said.\nThe U.S. military announced last week that it was building a three-mile long concrete wall in Azamiyah, a Sunni stronghold whose residents have often been the victims of retaliatory mortar attacks by Shiite militants following bombings usually blamed on Sunni insurgents.\nBut al-Maliki ordered construction halted on Sunday and U.S. officials said that the plans could change.\n“Obviously we will respect the wishes of the government and the prime minister,” U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said Monday.\nHe said the barrier was aimed at protecting Azamiyah, not segregating it. Sunni leaders and residents of the neighborhood, however, complain that it is a form of discrimination that would isolate the community.\n“There are other methods to protect neighborhoods,” al-Maliki said Sunday in his first public comments on the issue, “but I should point out that the goal was not to separate, but to protect.”\n“This wall reminds us of other walls that we reject, so I’ve ordered it to stop and to find other means of protection for the neighborhoods,” he added during a televised live news conference during a state visit to Cairo, Egypt.