East and West Baghdad? Nice idea; not at all realistic

If it sounds like the Cold War, circa 1950s and later, at least one unnamed Iraqi official is talking up the division of Baghdad as part of solving, or at least putting a lid on, the growing Iraqi civil war.

“There is serious talk of Baghdad being divided into east and west,” said (a senior Iraqi government official), who has long been a proponent of the present government's objectives. “We are extremely worried.”

While it might seem a realistic solution, implementing it sounds highly unrealistic. Baghdad 2006 is NOT Berlin 1961. The Berlin Wall was built entirely inside East German territory; we made some fuss, but let it go when all basic transit rights to/from West Berlin/West Germany were left unchecked.

Building a wall in the midst of sectarian violence is another thing. The only way it could possibly be done is if U.S. troops patrolled the wall construction area, meter by meter, with massive force, while it was being built.

Plus, the analogy fails in another way. The U.S. and U.S.S.R. were relatively sane countries on both sides, with a vested interest in preserving civilization.

In Baghdad right now, there’s little civilization to be preserved, little interest in doing so, probably little agreement between the most fervent Shi’a and Sunni on what is most worthy of protecting — beyond basic security — and so forth.