How long would the US administration be able to present a facade to the world that the Iraqi affairs are being run by the democratically-elected government?
The “democratically-elected” members of the Iraqi government have many a times indicated that the present mess in Iraq is largely owing to the continued presence of the US troops and their excesses.
To add to the continued embarrassment of the US administration, the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Sunday he had urged the U.S. military to halt work on a wall separating a Baghdad Sunni enclave from nearby Shi’ite areas after sharp criticism from some residents, reports Reuters.
So what’s going on in Iraq? It seems the Iraqi government is not even being consulted while taking a major decision such as turning the capital city of Baghdad into a virtual fortress dotted by walls.
Well, one can understand the building of the wall if the US wishes to stay on for another 10 or 20 years to safeguard its oil interests.
But if the argument is that it would bring peace and end violence, then the Prime Minister’s opposition to the wall should prove a dampener.
Speaking in Cairo at the start of an Arab tour to drum up support for Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi’ite Islamist, said he objected to the 5-km (3-mile) wall, which residents said would isolate them from other communities and sharpen sectarian tensions.
Some may argue that President Bush should be spending the tax-payers money strengthening the internal security in his own country rather than building walls in foreign capitals.
The Times reports: “The US military had started to build concrete walls around five Baghdad neighbourhoods, most of them Sunni, in an attempt to stop car bombers leaving them and death squads infiltrating them.
“Mr al-Maliki, who has often been at odds with his US backers over security policy in the capital, said that ‘this wall reminds us of other walls’, in an apparent reference to the Israeli wall running through the Palestinian West Bank.
“The wall-building has confirmed fears among Iraqis that their country is being carved up along sectarian lines. Ali Naim, an Adhamiya engineer, said: ‘The Government had a hand in the sectarian conflict from the start. I used to think the US was stupid, but now I see that it was a plan to divide first Baghdad, then Iraq’.”
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(For my earlier post “Iraq Civilian Killings: Who Is Responsible?” please click here…)
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.