On the other hand, most U.S. citizens pride themselves on the fact that the U.S. is an open society, much more than other nations of the world. But, while talking of such freedoms, each day, the rights of U.S. citizens are being trampled in the halls of Congress or in the White House.

Let’s look at one aspect of the new security measures for the U.S. — the border fence between the U.S. and Mexico. So far, billions of dollars have been spent on this debacle. Before its construction, the quotes given for the construction of the fence were about one or two billion dollars. Nobody even checked reality. It is now anticipated that the project, if finished, will cost in excess of 50 billion dollars.

For decades, the U.S. citizenry had been told that fences and walls were despicable anywhere in the world. Then, the Soviet Union would be blasted for the presence of the Berlin Wall. Every American grew up with this image of walls being terrible things that keep people inside, not to protect against people trying to enter from the outside.

Today, walls and fences are in vogue. The Palestinians of the West Bank are being split apart daily by new walls being erected by Israel. Gaza is also being "walled in." But, the U.S. heralds this as an astute method for Israel to protect itself, despite many observers calling Gaza one huge prison.

A former B-grade actor who was elected president of the U.S. once exclaimed, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," while he stood in front of the Berlin Wall. Today, there is no Berlin wall, but the same government that gave Gorbachev the order is either assisting in the building of walls to keep people apart, or not admonishing those who are building walls.

In 2007, various sections of Baghdad were walled-in and checkpoints erected. To add salt to the wounds, the cement used to make the concrete for these walls was purchased from Israel. The only thing the walls did was to accelerate the ethnic cleansing of Sunnis from Baghdad.

Now, the Iraqi quislings who are running the show want to outdo the U.S. plan of placing various walls inside Iraq. They want to build a wall around the entire city.

According to a recent report in the Financial Channel:

Before March 2003, who could have envisaged Baghdad with a wall around it? Despite the city undergoing a deadly embargo, it was still the capital of the Arab world. Today, it is laden with destroyed buildings and lakes of sewage. The Iraqi stooges say they want to protect Baghdad from "terrorists," many of whom, in reality, are not terrorists, but resistance fighters. The illogic challenges one’s imagination.

Missing from this scenario are the voices of the people who used the Berlin Wall as a scapegoat of totalitarianism. They are either mute, or they advocate a wall around Baghdad. After all, some contractors from the West will surely have a part in grabbing some of the money allocated for the job. Baghdad has little electricity and hardly any drinking water, but a brand new huge concrete wall surrounding the city is deemed more important than water and electricity for the inhabitants.

At one time, the people on the Earth lived without walls. Then, humankind began to go to war with each other, so communities built walls to protect themselves from the outsiders, who had to climb the walls to get into the protected area. Many of the attacking soldiers were killed while trying to scale these walls.

Then, the military brains of the day figured out that if they could propel objects over the walls, the people inside would be helpless to stop the projectiles. Walls became higher and surrounding areas were made difficult to travel on, so the missiles weren’t powerful enough to create havoc. But, the instruments used to shoot the missiles were made stronger and the people inside the walls lost their false sense of security. This balance has been going on for millennia.

What will Baghdad’s wall become: an element of protection for the citizens of Baghdad, or a costly white elephant of a project that will enslave the people of Baghdad?

One thing I know for sure, I have yet to hear a U.S. administration official say, "Mr. Maliki, tear down this wall."