US troops build wall around a town

This will really win those 'hearts and minds' (not).

A bulldozer pushes sand to form a wall surrounding the city of Siniyah, Saturday, Jan. 7, 2006, 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq. Army units operating in the area believe the village had become a staging point for insurgents to attack coalition forces. (AP Photo/Ryan Lenz)


Reuters has this to say:

U.S. soldiers fed up with almost daily bomb attacks on their patrols near Iraq's main oil refinery are taking drastic measures to fight their shadowy enemy -- they're walling in an entire town.
Army bulldozers have begun building giant sand embankments around Siniya, a town of 50,000 close to the northern oil refining city of Baiji. When finished it will be 10 km (6 miles) long and more than 2 metres (nearly 8 feet) high. The U.S. army says it is to keep insurgents out and that it is being built with the agreement of local police, town council members and religious leaders, who complain that Siniya is being used as a safe haven by insurgents.

But some angry residents, including the head of the city council, complain it appears designed to keep residents in. "We oppose the building of this wall because it makes the city looks like a detention centre," said Nima al-Kawaz, the head of the city council.


It looks like an attempt at a giant prison to me too. And you can bet the locals are quite angry, with the recent bombing of the wrong house and all.