Iraqi PM Calls Off Wall

Prime Minister al-Maliki ordered a stop to a wall between a Sunni and Shiite neighborhood
By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 23, 2007 6:07 AM CDT
Iraqi PM Calls Off Wall
In this photo released by U.S. Army, an Iraqi contractor attaches chains to a concrete barrier so that a crane can lift it into place alongside a road in the Sunni Muslim quarter of Azamiyah, Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, April 10, 2007. Criticism mounted Saturday over a wall U.S. troops are building around...   (Associated Press)

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki halted construction of a wall between a Sunni neighborhood and surrounding Shiite areas in Baghdad yesterday, after outraged protests by both Sunnis and Shiites. Al-Maliki said he did not want Iraqis to be reminded of "other walls"—a reference to the barrier being built by Israel in the West Bank.

The wall was intended to stem frequent attacks from the Shiites on the Sunnis in the Adhamiya region, as well as controlling Sunni militias. But both factions attacked it as a step towards partitioning the country. “Today it happens in Adhamiya," a Sadr spokesman noted. "Tomorrow it will happen in Sadr City,” (More Iraq stories.)

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