(Photo:Sean Ransford)
Despite the negative publicity and protests the Adhamiyah Wall in Baghdad has been completed. From Stars and Stripes…
Construction of a controversial, three-mile blast wall in one of Baghdad’s
most troubled neighborhoods was completed recently, following three months of
grueling labor and heated protests from Iraqi residents and government
officials.The barrier, which consists of thousands of 12-foot-high concrete slabs, or
T-walls, rings much of Adhamiyah — an island of Sunni families in Baghdad’s
predominantly Shiite east side.Engineers with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team lowered
the final 7-ton slab into place in the early morning darkness of May 28,
according to a U.S. military statement issued Tuesday.SNIP
Troops worked at night to build the wall, enduring attacks from insurgents
and hauling concrete barriers and work equipment down roads heavily mined by
roadside bombs. In one incident, the brigade’s comamnder, Col. Billy Don Farris,
was shot and wounded by a sniper while inspecting the wall.