Sectarian walls

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Having run out of ideas in Iraq, the US is seeking inspiration from its closest ally in the region, Israel. A separation wall has just been built around a neighbourhood of Baghdad, immediately dubbed the "Great Wall of Adhamiyah". The new Iraq, the promised land of freedom and democracy the Americans loved to boast of, is a land of walls and catastrophe. Today it's Adhamiyah; tomorrow we'll see other walls rising up in Basra, Mosul and Kirkuk. Iraq will be cut up into cantons and ghettos, dismembered by hatred and fear brought in with the occupation.

Iraq has near lost its national identity, having traded it for sectarian loyalties and tribal allegiances. Iraq is falling apart as the region watches in horror, wondering who will be next on the US chopping block. The new Iraq of Bush is not exporting democracy; it is sending refugees scurrying across the region, running for dear life. The new Iraq of Maliki is exporting sectarianism and civil war, moral and administrative decay, financial corruption, brutality and madness.

The US security plan for Iraq didn't work out in Baghdad, or in any other part of Iraq. Since the plan went into effect, more bombings and deaths have been recorded. Far from being destroyed, Al-Qaeda has set up a semi-state in Al-Anbar. The US has 170,000 troops in Iraq, and yet it is unable to protect the parliament and the supposedly terror-free Green Zone. No wonder most Iraqi officials seem to be constantly abroad, holding talks or consultations -- anything just to be outside the country.

Israel's high walls haven't protected it from retribution or international condemnation. True, the number of suicide attacks has declined, but only because Hamas has honoured a unilateral truce for over two years. The Palestinians have succeeded in overcoming the wall of segregation. They invented missiles that can fly over the wall to hit Israeli settlements and cities. Only two days ago, the Islamic Jihad fired a rocket at Siderot, wounding 10 Israelis.

The Iraqis now get walls instead of law and order. They get ethnic strife instead of democracy and equality. Without doubt they know that the US invaded their country not to bring about justice, but to take everything away, oil and dignity included. Now the US wants to do the same thing again, this time with Iran. The Americans are digging themselves a grave. Remorselessly, incomprehensibly, President Bush is still sending more troops, spending more money, refusing to pull out, hoping for an impossible victory.

Having surrounded himself by the likes of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, President Bush went into a neocon crusade to reshape Iraq along sectarian lines. Even things that once looked fine -- like the eradication of the Baath Party -- are no longer acceptable. Iraq needs to re-institute the majority of those who have been sacked, army officers and government experts included. Baath links are the least of Iraq's worries right now.

Over four million Iraqis have been forced out of their homes. Half of those, at least, have left the country. The irony is that the US and other Western countries that used to deplore Saddam's human rights record are refusing to give the Iraqis sanctuary. The EU has refused to let in any Iraqi refugees. The US, quite reluctantly, said that it would take in 25,000 Iraqis over the next five years.

Iraq is a story of hypocrisy and deception. Its only happy ending could be the departure of the invaders and the trial of those who have raped and pillaged the country over the past four years. The Jews were compensated for Nazi crimes. The Kuwaitis are still compensated for the Iraqi invasion. Now it's the turn of Iraqis. Who will pay the compensations? Let's start with the US, the UK, and all Arab countries that were used as a linchpin for the invasion. Iraq has one million dead, four million wounded, five million displaced, and unspeakable wealth lost. Someone must pay.