Success in Iraq?

Today's inspiration comes from an article in the NY Times entitled, "Military Wants More Civilians to Help in Iraq". It addresses something that has been stated here on several occasions and seems to have been missed by the press and government overall. The problem with the Iraqi strategy is not military but political. Men and women who are not able to feed, clothe, or house there family will look for reasons and people to blame. Who better to blame than the conquering Multi-National Forces led by the US?

To combat this, infrastructure and normalcy needs to be restored immediately. We needed to have a Marshall Plan ready to go the minute the statue of Saddam hit the ground. We needed to be able to provide more jobs than applicants helping to rebuild things destroyed by the attack. We needed to put every available Iraqi to work building roads, schools, houses, whatever it took. It worked in Europe and it even worked when FDR did it with the New Deal here in the US.

Why is it so difficult for us to understand? Why have we allowed the money to sit idle or to go to corrupt Iraqi bureaucrats and US contractors? Why isn't there an outcry in Congress over that? If we paid more attention to this, we wouldn't need a "surge". People who are working and making a contribution to society have no time for insurgency.

The thing that we must remember is that we are not talking about a country that is uneducated or incapable of being self-sufficient. Iraq has a well-educated, albeit underutilized, middle-class that is more than capable of "stepping up" and taking care of business. What they need are the resources to lead. The resources to counter the insurgency by offering a viable positive alternative. Yes, security is key, even moreso since we didn't start this effort when it should have been, but it's not the only focus we should have.

It's important for us to remember that we are talking about the people who gave the world the first code of law, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and are possibly the keepers of what was once considered the Garden of Eden. We are not talking about a secluded tribe of Pacific Islanders who have never seen a skyscraper, understood democracy, or run a country. We need to partner and encourage the civilian side as much, if not more, than the "military solution." That's where Congress should be focussed. That's what they should be passing resolutions on, not trying to embarrass our President on the world stage.

Thoughts anyone?