But the same cannot be said in the middle-class district of Harithiya, just beyond the western edge of the Green Zone, where the great concrete slabs arrived about two months ago.
Sometimes called blast walls because the steel reinforcing inside is designed to withstand explosions, the slabs are a looming, sinister presence facing a long line of family homes from across Al-Shawaf Street in Harithiya.
Haider al-Shawaf, a 35-year-old businessman who grew up here, first described the unpleasantness of the wall with a crude US expression. Then, as helicopters clattered to and fro overhead, Shawaf said nervously, "I am afraid of the Americans here -- afraid of this wall."
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