From Gated Communities to Streets

Several commentators such as John Robb have noted that the war in Iraq is in many ways similar to the Spanish Civil War, foretelling future developments in warfare. So far, we’ve seen new tactics and strategies there being exported around the world. However, perhaps more interesting than the insurgents is concentrating on the normal residents and how they and the US military are coping with security problems and what types of solutions they are coming up with. Thus it was of great interest for me to read this:

Even as the Iraqis are removing some of the concrete blast walls that divide Baghdad, authorities have quietly installed about 100 metal gates near a major Shiite shrine—a clear sign of ongoing security concerns as bombings continue. Perforated gates have been put up in the past three weeks in the heavily policed Kazimiyah district along streets and alleyways leading to the shrine of Imam Mousa al-Kazim, a much revered eighth-century Shiite saint. Security cameras are also being installed at the gates of the double-domed complex.

While it is easy to dismiss Iraq as an exception, it is important to note that such gates exist in Israel too (as this author has seen and passed through) and when Hurricane Katrina hit, residents of New Orleans quickly erected makeshift ‘gates’ of furniture and trash to protect their blocks. In fact, such gates are nothing new and are simple, basic security measures that have been taken in the past. The question is when they will come to the United States. Walls and gates are nothing new in South Africa. Will cities with bad neighborhoods opt for such measures one day in the near future? Lord knows, the US doesn’t typically deal with the root of such social problems making the use of barriers a far more likely.

As the financial crisis continues and people worry more about crime, unrest and general social order while buying record numbers of guns, we may one day be manning gates outside small towns or within cities.