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Originally Posted by Ray
JAD,
You must read this book.
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I've relented; I'll read it.
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One of the issues is that instead of big projects that has long gestation period and which cannot be felt by the common man, projects like sewage, electricity, farming improvements etc should be done first so that it shows result for the common man and hence he realises that the Americans are hands on people, who mean the best for their country.
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Well, we had the Peace Corp. That was supposed to deal with nitty gritty.
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Just see Iraq.
Bremer, possibly with good intentions to get rid of Baathist loyalists, dismantled the total governance and security infrastructure. It possibly is one of the major causes that led to terrorism in Iraq. Obviously, deprived for income, these people and their families were deprived of their living necessities and comfort.
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In retrospect, to the extent that it led to dissolving the army, it was probably a pretty dumb thing to do; I don't entirely blame Bremmer, but that's beside the point. The original impetus was to show common cause with the much-maligned Shiites by crippling their long-time nemesis and getting their support for reconstruction. I thought it was a dumb idea at the time because I tend to be practical. I mean here you had this huge force already organized. Why not use it to get things under control? But I take your point.
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Same thing is happening in Africa.
If you remember, there was a Chinese poster on this forum who worked in Africa. He said that he had been instructed to work shoulder to shoulder with the Africans and eat their food and have same living conditions.
Now compare the US personnel who come on Aid Projects with the Chinese in Africa and elsewhere.
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I think the UN sets the gold standard for cushy duty. But, once again, point taken.