Checkpoints

Now where is this taking place?

By Friday evening, the checkpoints were gone from ________________, leaving residents to ponder...after nearly a week of intense police attention.

...______________ was on lockdown for six days, until Thursday, as __________ tried to end a spate of shootings by setting up checkpoints where all occupants of vehicles were required to prove that they had a legitimate reason to enter the area. The police said they had stopped vehicles because most of the killings were drive-by shootings...

...“Why don’t they check some of these guys standing on the corners, run them out of our neighborhood?” Ms. _______ asked, gesturing toward a cluster of young men nearby.

Police checkpoints are not uncommon, but the Police Department’s demand for people’s names and the telephone numbers of their destinations brought national attention.

...the Police Department declared the initiative a success. The police said they made one arrest, turned away 46 vehicles and stopped more than 700 vehicles at 10 checkpoints. And, most important, there were no killings over the six days.

Officials have left open the possibility of additional checkpoints...

...Another resident...known as Winky...“It’s only dangerous to outsiders,” [he] said

So, are we in Israel?

Shiloh? (Despite that Winky there, I'm Winkie)

Nope.

It's Washington, D.C.

(see this article: After Checkpoints, Gratitude and Deep Skepticism )

Now, with Condi Rice going ballistic over checkpoints

Rice, who at a news conference with Abbas on Sunday demanded that Israel do more to ease life for Palestinians in the West Bank by removing roadblocks.

Facing Palestinian frustration at the pace of the negotiations, Rice made unusually direct remarks Sunday about the consequences of Israeli construction and roadblocks in the West Bank...

...Israel maintains hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints throughout the West Bank, saying they are needed to protect settlements and prevent would-be attackers from crossing into Israel. The Palestinians claim the travel restrictions have stifled their economy and made free movement in an area they claim for their state extremely difficult.

Rice said she had discussed the lifting of Israeli roadblocks, but did not say Israel made her any new promises. When Rice visited in March, Israel promised to remove 61 roadblocks. The United Nations reported that only 44 have been dismantled, and most of them had no or little significance.

"It was the first time that I had raised this issue, and so it will be now a discussion as to how to carry out that concern, or how to address that concern," Rice said.

At the same time, she acknowledged there is a "real security dimension" for the Israelis.

There was one suicide bombing last year and two so far this year. That's down from a high of 59 in 2002, the year Israel began building a separation barrier along the West Bank and multiplying its military checkpoints and roadblocks.

Source

you might have thought that.

But no, those checkpoints were in the Trinidad neighborhood of Washington - Condi's stomping ground.

How blind can some people be?