Blast wall removal provides tangible proof of progress in Baghdad

Photo By Maj. David Olson | A local vendor at the Doura Market Complex sells artificial flowers to passersby Oct....... read more read more

Photo By Maj. David Olson | A local vendor at the Doura Market Complex sells artificial flowers to passersby Oct. 5, 2008 in the Doura community, which is located in the Rashid district of southern Baghdad.  see less | View Image Page

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

10.17.2008

Story by Capt. Brett Walker 

1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division

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By Capt. Brett Walker
1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division-Baghdad

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq — The command did not garner the same international sensation as former President Ronald Reagan's famous 1987 speech, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," but when Lt. Col. Timothy Watson, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, ordered his battalion engineer to remove the cement walls that encase Baghdad's community of Doura, it signaled a momentous shift in paradigms.

Currently attached to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, and deployed to the Rashid district in support of Multi-National Division – Baghdad and Operation Iraqi Freedom, the "Warriors," Bn. of the 4th Inf. Regt., provided tangible proof of progress by reducing the number of cement barriers in Al Doura.

"This is a step towards normalcy for the residents of Doura," said Watson. "They have earned it by contributing to local security through tips and intolerance of insurgent or criminal activity."

The daunting 12-foot-tall, six-ton cement barriers surrounding and subdividing the muhallahs, or neighborhoods, inside Doura have become a staple of the hardships faced by the people of Iraq during OIF.

Their presence provides a poignant reminder to the people of Doura that the threat of car bombs, drive-by shootings and other forms of terrorist activity were once prevalent in their everyday lives, and the concrete walls that line the main thoroughfares, have transformed the predominately Sunni community into a demilitarized zone.

"Inside the neighborhood, the cement walls make it difficult to move around," complained Ziyad Mahmood Ahmed, who owns a pharmacy in Doura.

"[Coalition forces] need to remove the cement barriers that block road paving and sewer access," suggested Mohammed Anoon Rahim, a member of the Sons of Iraq program in Doura.

However dreary and inconvenient they may be, the cement walls inundating Doura proved extremely effective in reducing terrorist activity. As recently as the Spring 2007, Doura was dubbed by many respected media agencies as the most dangerous place in Baghdad.

Doura was also the first neighborhood in Baghdad, outside of the International Zone, to employ the use of cement barriers to taper insurgent activity.

Mark Urban, of the BBC, who produced a mini-documentary about Doura in April 2007, commentated, "... some people called it 'the worst place in Iraq' – and having been here at the time, I would certainly not like to have gone anywhere more violent than Doura."

The Washington Post's Ernesto Londono wrote, "Doura ... was one of the most tattered and dangerous places in the capital in early 2007 .... People stopped going to work, fearing kidnapping or an explosion or sectarian killing."

Jim Maceda of NBC wrote, "The once bustling 'gateway to the South' was a ghost town. It smelled of cordite, an explosive powder ... . The insurgent town had become an al Qaida stronghold."

The introduction of the cement barriers to Doura brought about a nearly immediate reprieve from violent attacks in the neighborhood, prompting Maceda to write June 10, "It was a very different Doura that I saw this past week ... Life had returned. Doura's famous Friday open market was bubbling with people, produce and color. No one looked afraid."

Meanwhile, in his most recent mini-documentary about Doura, the BBC's Urban calmly narrated, "... the feel is quite different. Trade is thriving, locals meet and shop at a relaxed pace ... watching the way things have gone on in the 16 to 17 months since our first pretty shocking introduction to Doura; it's a big transformation."

According to excerpts from "Death of a Revolutionary," by Richard L. Harris, Ernesto "Che" Guevara once wrote, the two things a guerilla fighter fears most is being forced into terrain with which he is unfamiliar and having his ability limited.

By emplacing interconnected cement barriers throughout the Doura neighborhood, coalition forces were able to severely stifle the ability of guerrilla terrorists to maneuver. Moving about the neighborhood involved passing through a series of guarded check points and risking capture by the Iraqi forces guarding them.

Hit-and-run tactics, which had proven successful prior to the introduction of the cement walls, became exceedingly difficult because the attacker could not run more than three blocks without encountering a wall or check point with armed guards.

A recently captured terrorist, who admitted to participating in insurgent activity in Doura during the past two years while operating under the nom de guerre Abu Ali, attested to the effectiveness of the barriers.

Abu Ali verified that the barriers proved detrimental to his ability to maneuver on a potential target or escape after completing an attack.

"Before the barriers were there, it was very easy to move where we wanted and do what we wanted," explained Abu Ahmed in his confessions to security forces. "The barriers made us stuck in one place."

When questioned about the plan to remove barriers, Abu Ali predicted that attacks would increase in Doura at least 65 percent.

Abu Ali's interrogator, Maj. Durayd, a military intelligence officer, assigned to the 7th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi National Police Division, fostered a more optimistic projection for Doura.

"Removal of the barriers will not cause a significant increase in enemy activity," he stated. "We must still maintain certain strategic barriers, but we will remove some to improve the life of the people in Doura."

According to the assessments of the appointed Doura government representatives, the barriers that constitute those walls have performed their function diligently and must be removed.

Watson, the commander of the 2nd Bn., 4th Inf. Regt., echoed that sentiment.

"Walls will be replaced by more permanent security infrastructure that helps protect the fragile security we have achieved with the Iraqi security forces."

"At first the cement walls were vital for security, but now they should be reduced – particularly inside the muhallahs," said Salman Abdul Hadi, a retired water plant worker residing in Doura.

Recently tasked to plan and resource the removal of the barriers, Staff Sgt. Jason Cox, the 2nd Bn., 4th Inf. Regt.'s Combat Engineer, said the footprint of T-Wall Barriers continues to change throughout Doura.

"The priorities for barrier removal changes very frequently," said Cox, who hails from Columbus, Ohio.

The barrier missions, which began in August, will focus on removing the concrete blocks from major streets, bridges and neighborhoods throughout Doura, he explained.

T-Walls are 12-foot-tall, six-ton walls, whereas Colorado Barriers are slightly smaller – standing only six-feet-tall and weighing 3.5 tons.

Cox said that the purpose of removing the barriers on major bridges is to increase convenience for drivers, while the barrier removal on major avenues in Doura is intended to stimulate economic growth.

Feras Obad Salam, a tea maker living in Doura, said that he is pleased.

"The walls are good for security but not for the markets," he explained. "We need to make the shops visible."

Cox noted that the 2nd Bn., 4th Inf. Regt., has limited assets that can be devoted to barrier removal missions.

"On a good night, with one turn, our support company can usually move 40 to 50 Colorado Barriers or 30 T-Walls."

He said he felt it would take eight months to a year to remove all of the barriers from Doura, but that is only half of the complication of the daunting task.

The seemingly trivial but nonetheless important issue of where to put the retired barriers is the second half of the problem.

Coalition forces tentatively plan to place them at the Victory Base Complex, located near the Baghdad International Airport, explained Cox.

In the interest of a mutually profitable solution, Watson struck a deal with a contractor to both remove and dispose of some of the barriers independent of U.S. involvement.

In exchange for the service of removing the T-Wall from the Doura Market Complex, Doura's commercial focal point consisting of more than 700 independent shops, Watson is allowing a private Iraqi contractor to keep the barriers and use them to construct a large outdoor market elsewhere in Baghdad.

The absence of the security walls imposed on the citizens of Baghdad does not constitute victory in and of itself; rather, it is a formidable achievement in the pursuit of a greater goal.

Like the piercing of the Maginot Line or the Union victory at Gettysburg, it does not induce immediate capitulation by the enemy, but it does create a shift of paradigms, bolstering momentum towards stability and self-rule. Just like Reagan's demand that Gorbachev tear down the Berlin Wall foreshadowed the collapse of the Communist Empire a mere two years later, Watson's order to begin barrier removal may be the harbinger of military successes to come.