Money Well Spent?
Is this a fair cop? Read:
The Marshall Plan’s hallmark was the requirement that European countries work together to devise a plan for postwar reconstruction. Remember George C. Marshall’s words in 1947: “It would be neither fitting nor efficacious for this government to undertake to draw up unilaterally a program designed to place Europe on its feet economically. This is the business of the Europeans. The initiative, I think, must come from Europe.”
The goal was not only to rebuild Europe but also to encourage former adversaries to form partnerships that could endure after United States assistance ended. The plan succeeded so well that Europe has followed the road of cooperation all the way to the European Union.
But Marshall’s central insight is missing in the proposal before Congress. Under the Bremer plan, Iraqis need not do much of anything except sit back and watch American occupiers and contractors decide how to rebuild their country. There is no requirement that Iraqis
He has a point to a point.
However, Europe and Iraq are centuries apart in ability. If you want to get a better understanding of the differences and why Iraq is a much harder challenge, this is required reading. It is doubtful the middle east will have the success Europe enjoys for at least a century.
Yeah, I mean, Europe wasn’t living under a doctatorship for 30 years. That’s a long time. I think these guys need a little more help just to figure out how to have an opinion…
Well, to imply that the Iraqi reconstruction plan is simply a rehash of US cold war policy of dumping billions into corrupt dictators coffers positions this piece on the wrong side of historical accuracy, along with the strained channelling of Rodney King’s “Can’t we all just get along” as the modus operandi of the Marshall Plan. Pullleez. It’s been six freaking months, people. I guess the French and Germans were best buds after six months and sang happy songs while digging new sewer ditches together because they knew that night they’d be down at the roadhouse slamming rounds (bought by good US dollars) and throwing darts every night like it was a bachelor party.
Rice’s piece and criticism is just too strained and too soon to take seriously.
The Marshall Plan as an example is useful only to the extent that it speaks to needing a huge junk of change up front to jump start what will be a years long rebuilding effort. That’s the end of the analogy, folks. It’s a rhetorical tool. It merely references the historical ability of this country to marshall (sorry, love puns) its economic and national strength to build something from nothing.
Now let me jump around a bit: just what Iraqi companies would Rice have us give money to? The same ones that existed solely because Saddam let them. The cronies? Seems she is the one who wants to dump billions ino the coffers of the corrupt. Go to bechtels website and you’ll see the names of the Iraqi firms getting a slice of the pie. They’ve awarded 102 contracts to 90 Iraqi companies. And, no, I don’t work for Bechtel. No doubt some of these are leftovers from Saddam’s Crony Conglomeration, but hey, even Bayer is still making aspirin today.
Now, just what is the Iraqi Governing Counsel if not a big happy love in of the different stakeholders in Iraq? It’s just plain silly to say that until the Shiites and Sunnis and Kurds “resolve their differences,” they can’t have the money.
And the Millenium Challenge Account? Come off it. Once Iraq is a stable functioning democracy, talk to me about making it apply for money through this new AID bureaucratic hell hole.
Rice laments that we cannot afford to fail in Iraq and then puts forth one hoop after another that mut be cleared before the money flows. The place is a wreck. We did some of it, Saddam did most of it. And it needs to be fixed and fast. We’ve got the know how and the expertise, and its being unleashed. We also have the know how and expertise to build legal systems and governing structures (look at all the consultants that have traipsed through Eastern Europe and Russia over the last ten years). But time is a wasting here and let’s not forget we’re in the middle of a war. I’ll say it again: we’re still at war. The Marshall Plan was a post-war effort. Iraq has to be turned around and it can’t be turned over until the glue has set.
check out usaid.gov/iraq to get it straight from the horse’s mouth, not some critic’s butt. there’s an excellent exchange between andrew natsios and the press on the same subject on windsofchange.net
If I remember correctly, we asked France for help for Germany, at a time when Germans were near starvation, and the French told us to piss up a rope. (Some things never change.) Now – again if I remember correctly – Britain contributed what it could, but nonetheless it wasn’t a big love fest where “Europeans” lavishly subsidized reconstruction.