The United States is defending a plan to construct a 12-foot-high concrete wall through parts of Baghdad to divide Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods. According to The Washington Post, the U.S. is walling off at least 10 neighborhoods despite opposition from Iraqi leaders. On Sunday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the construction of the controversial walls to be halted, but the U.S. military has given no indication it plans to change course. U.S. forces are also planning to use biometric technology to track residents in Baghdad. Troops are compiling a neighborhood census by recording the fingerprints and eye patterns of residents. The deputy commander of American forces in Baghdad, Brigadier Gen. John Campbell, defended the measures. He said, “This is an area where we need to monitor people coming in and people coming out … and it is the only way we could do it.”