Some good news out of Iraq (isn’t Obama blessed that the conversation is on the economy, not how badly he miscalculated the surge and it’s effectiveness), the walls that were put up to stop the Iraqis from killing each other are now being taken down:

Market by market, square by square, the walls are beginning to come down. The miles of hulking blast walls, ugly but effective, were installed as a central feature of the surge of American troops to stop neighbors from killing one another.

“They protected against car bombs and drive-by attacks,” said Adnan, 39, a vegetable seller in the once violent neighborhood of Dora, who argues that the walls now block the markets and the commerce that Baghdad needs to thrive. “Now it is safe.”

(via)