Another brick in the wall

Sept. 27, 2006

Who doesn‘t love the idea of a wall to solve a problem? Last week, President Bush announced that he‘ll sign pending legislation for a new 700-mile wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.
It‘s a double-layer steel fence with five segments running along the sensitive
areas of our 2,000-mile border where illegal migrants are most likely to sneak through. The $2.5 billion wall will include all the bells & whistles such as 1,800 surveillance towers, extra patrols, unmanned aerial drones, motion detectors, satellites, radar, night vision cameras, etc.
Republican legislators are anxious to get the fence voted through before Congress goes on break so they can say they‘ve done something besides backing President Bush‘s dismal administration through all its massive blunders. This on the heels of a new survey stating that only 25% of Americans approve of their performance -- the worst since the Democrats were escorted out of office in 1994.
But before President Bush digs that first post hole for his photo-op, it might be wise to consider the history of other great walls.
Most turned out to be expensive affairs that were undermined in ways their builders couldn‘t foresee.
-- Hadrian‘s Wall was built in northern England in 122 A.D. by the Romans to keep out the “barbarians” of Scotland. The Romans had forts all along the route stationed by troops from as far away as Hungary and North Africa. But by 367 A.D., the Roman Empire was such a wreck that the wall was overcome by Picts and Scots hitting it from both sides.
-- The 4,500-mile Great Wall of China began construction 2,000 years ago to keep out Mongolian raiders. The 15-to-25-foot-high wall is bordered by a mountain range and the Gobi Desert. The wall got an upgrade by the Ming Dynasty over a 300-year-period starting in 1368. You‘d think all that would keep those invaders at bay.
Yet somehow, folks kept sneaking in and beating the pants off the Chinese, who were apparently better wall-builders than soldiers. Treachery finally undermined the Great Wall when a Chinese general was paid off to open one of its gates. The conquering Manchu army was so vast, it took three days to march through the breach.
Same deal with the 40-mile-long Anastasian Wall in Turkey and a score of others you might care to dig up. Although these seemed like good ideas at the time, the barbarians they were intended to keep out (ie. migrant workers) always managed to get through one way or another.
There are a lot of walls out there, even in modern times. Did you know that a seven-foot-high 1,600-mile Moroccan Wall was built in the Western Sahara in the 1980s to wrest control of that sandy land and its resources of flies and heat?
-- Or that India is building a 3,034-mile wall along its border with dirt-poor Bangladesh to be patrolled by 50,000 troops? India has already built more than 1,300 miles of this $1 billion double fence, which will be electrified along some sections.
-- Then there‘s the 170-mile “Apartheid Wall“ that Israel has constructed to keep out the Palestinians. Another 140 miles of wall is planned for what the Palestinians say is a naked land grab of their farms and water rights.
Closer to home, San
Diego hasn‘t had much luck finishing its 14-mile wall along the border of Tijuana which started in 1996. Environmental concerns have stalled construction of the 15-foot-high, steel-mesh fence. Some say those same concerns will apply to migrating animals hampered by the 700-mile fence we‘re currently considering.
Speaking of walls, the president of Mexico predicts that America‘s project will fall as surely as the 75-mile Berlin Wall did in 1989. Perhaps it will fall from forces on this side of the border, rather than from Mexico, as more and more illegal immigrants arrive here and secure political power.
In the meantime, it makes for a nice illusion that the new wall will solve our illegal immigration problem. Maybe we should just pay the Mexicans to stay home.


Correction
Last week‘s column, “Rough Road for the Guardian of the Springs” had some errors. Thanks to Mike Dillenbeck of the Grand Traverse County Road Commission for pointing out that it‘s actually Whitewater Township that levies assessments and not the road commission.
He also noted that the Gilmores could have limited their assessment for the paving of Deal Road by signing an agreement to preserve their property from development, as did many of their neighbors in
the township.