Baghdad locking belt
The Baghdad Blocking Belt was a plan to erect a monumental structure to halt the ongoing violence in Baghdad .
For this purpose, a barrier belt in the form of a ring was planned around the capital Baghdad with its more than 5.7 million inhabitants. Depending on the local conditions, this would have mainly consisted of a water-filled ditch secured with barbed wire, as well as barriers, fences and reinforced control posts. A part of the Tigris River should possibly be diverted for this. Agriculture in the surrounding area should not be affected.
According to the US Army, the cordoning off of the metropolis was the most ambitious security and construction project since the beginning of the Iraq war. This should prevent the smuggling of weapons and explosives as well as the entry and escape of terrorists, militias, death squads and insurgents in and out of the city in the future.
The aim was to get the security situation in Baghdad under control with the help of a system of 28 checkpoints that can only be passed with ID cards. Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Karim Chalaf said the plan was inspired by the Battle of Chandak in 627 . Back then, the Muslims dug deep trenches to protect the city of Medina from the enemy.
Critics emphasized that a structure of this size would inevitably change the landscape permanently and thus survive the centuries. In addition, it is similar to the Berlin Wall with its checkpoints. The structure has not been completed since 2007 after the violence in Baghdad fell.