Huge Force Readying Crackdown in Baghdad

The emphasis is mine in this story because it seems the most important.

U.S. Army engineers have torn down houses and surrounded the newly cleared space with razor wire atop concrete blast walls for neighborhood bases, the first outward signs of the coming Baghdad security crackdown.

American and Iraqi commanders are pulling together a force that numbers - on paper at least - about 90,000 troops for what many see as a last-chance drive to curb the debilitating violence that has turned Baghdad into a battleground and killed - according to the United Nations - more than 34,000 civilians last year alone.

Is that a good way to win over the hearts and minds of Iraqis? By leveling their homes? And how do blast walls and razor wire stop a mortar such as was lobbed into the green zone last month? Just asking.

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