BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 15 — The Iraqi government plans to seal off Baghdad next month by ringing it with a series of trenches and setting up dozens of traffic checkpoints to control movement in and out of the city of seven million people, an Interior Ministry spokesman said today.
The effort is one of the most ambitious security projects in recent memory, with cars expected to be funneled through 28 checkpoints along the main arteries snaking out from the capital. Smaller roads would be closed off. The trenches would run across farmland or other open areas to prevent cars from evading the checkpoints, said the ministry spokesman, Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf.
“We’re going to build a trench around Baghdad so we can control the exits and entrances so people will be searched properly,” he said in a telephone interview. “The idea is to get the cars to go through the 28 checkpoints that we set up.”
Ah yes, spreading democracy, one prison city at a time.
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28 checkpoints … let's see… 7 suicide bombers/week wouldn't be too hard to come by. And there's always mortar attacks and RPGs.
Shouldn't be difficult to reply to the Shia government's latest effort to win their citizens' hearts and minds. Produce trucks, sufficient for 7 million people, coming in at dawn every day … how easy to hide arms and amo among the veggies?
Permanent checkpoints would be easier to attack than temporary ones. "Permanent" means easier to get the range on, to target, that is.
Does this make sense to you? if I, with no military training can see some holes in this plan, how come those generals can't?
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