(Updated) Surreal Iraq Policies Accompany Deadly Escalation

(Albuquerque Tribune)

Well it's one, two, three, what are we fightin' for? From McClatchy Newspapers:

WASHINGTON - Military planners have abandoned the idea that standing up Iraqi troops will enable American soldiers to start coming home soon and now believe that U.S. troops will have to defeat the insurgents and secure control of troubled provinces. Training Iraqi troops, which had been the cornerstone of the Bush administration's Iraq policy since 2005, has dropped in priority, officials in Baghdad and Washington said.

And then there's this:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The United States military has begun sealing off Baghdad neighborhoods with concrete walls in a controversial new strategy intended to calm Baghdad's sectarian flashpoints, but residents fear the barriers could deepen divisions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.  Seven so-called "gated communities" have been or are being built, according to military officials, and more may be coming under the wide-ranging Baghdad security crackdown launched nine weeks ago.

... residents say the barriers actually increase their feelings of isolation and make them feel like targets.

"Don't they realize that when the Baghdad neighborhoods become either Sunni or Shiite, they will become even more vulnerable?" said Yassir Ismail, a 34-year-old Sunni resident of Adhamiyah, one of the areas where the U.S. is putting up barriers. "Extremists from both sides - or mercenaries - will have no more qualms. . . . They will bomb each other to kingdom come."

UPDATE 4.23.07: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has put a stop to construction of the wall:

"I oppose the building of the wall and its construction will stop," al-Maliki said during a joint news conference with the secretary-general of the Arab League. "There are other methods to protect neighborhoods, but I should point out that the goal was not to separate, but to protect."

He did not elaborate but added "this wall reminds us of other walls that we reject, so I've ordered it to stop and to find other means of protection for the neighborhoods." He wasn't more specific but apparently was referring to the Berlin Wall during the Cold War and Israel's construction of a barrier in the West Bank to keep out suicide bombers.

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Meanwhile:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - At least 173 people died in Baghdad on Wednesday in a series of major explosions, making the day the capital's deadliest since the onset nine weeks ago of a much-touted U.S.-Iraqi security plan. The violence capped a dreadful seven days that began with a stunning suicide attack in the Iraqi parliament building in the heavily fortified Green Zone, which killed a lawmaker. At least 363 people died in Baghdad in the past week, including 118 whose bodies were found dumped in various parts of the city.

... Pentagon planners privately expressed concern. One official sighed at news of the bombings. "We don't have enough troops. It would take another 100,000" to properly protect Baghdad. Another said: "We are just trying the same things over and over again."

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." --Albert Einstein

From Iraq Coalition Casualty Count:

Total U.S. troop deaths: 3,317, including 70 so far this month
Total U.S. Wounded: 24,764

Is it any wonder that Sen. Harry Reid has this to say?

"... As long as we follow the President’s path in Iraq, the war is lost."