Military Has Cause for Both Hope and Concern in Iraq

By Alissa J. Rubin and Stephen Farrell Market by market, square by square, the walls are beginning to come down. The miles of hulking blast walls, ugly but effective, were installed as a central feature of the surge of U.S. troops to stop neighbors from killing one another. “They protected against car bombs and drive-by attacks,” said Adnan, 39, a vegetable seller in the once violent neighborhood of Dora, who argues that the walls now block the markets and the commerce that Baghdad needs to thrive. “Now it is safe.” The slow dismantling of the concrete walls is the most visible sign of a fundamental change here in the Iraqi capital. The U.S. surge strategy, which increased the number of U.S. troops and contributed to stability here, is drawing to a close. And a transition is under way to the almost inevitable U.S. drawdown in... [read full story]