Comments on: Defining victory down, part 2

By: roger

roger — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 16:04:16 +0000

Actually, the end of D.C. directed ‘reconstruction’ can only be good for Iraq. Reconstruction was about elaborately circulating American taxpayer money to American defense industry stockholders—a virtuous circle in which the Iraqis figured, if at all, as competitors with other “foreigners” for manual labor jobs.

If Iraq could do what it was doing for the last forty years, and borrowing money to pay for its infrastructure—like any U.S. state or locality does, via bonds—there would actually be Iraqi input into the structures, there would be Iraqi companies either building the structures or consulting on them, and there would be Iraqi management with the local knowledge to know how to embed the structures into the local landscape.

The astonishing view of the Americans that Iraqis are sorta like babies or teenagers that need to be taught how to do things is one of the wonders of the Bush vanity project. It is a great help to the insurgents, however. American newspapers regularly feature admiring stories about how the insurgents have learned how to make bigger and more armor piercing bombs—as if to say, wow, the monkeys can even use tools! Such underestimation of the people America is “liberating” says a lot about the mindset of the liberators: generally racist, and predictably clueless.

By: Walt Pohl

Walt Pohl — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 06:12:05 +0000

I think Gulf War II should be renamed the Historian Employment Act of 2003. Historians will be bickering for years about what it all meant.

By: Donald Johnson

Donald Johnson — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 00:39:19 +0000

It’s also true that the US deliberately targeted Iraq’s infrastructure in the Gulf War and intended to use sanctions to prevent repair.

http://www.scn.org/ccpi/WashPostWarDamage23Jun91.html

By: jet

jet — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 22:37:04 +0000

Luci,
This isn’t much of a point.

But from 1980-1988 Iraq spent every cent it had fighting Iran and went into incredible debt while doing it. Also, large tracks of Iraq were overran by Iran and were heavily damaged in the fighting. It would be hard to imagine that pre-1991 Iraq’s infastructure wasn’t run down and outdated.

By: Bro. Bartleby

Bro. Bartleby — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 19:02:22 +0000

“… that the administration did not care about the population.”

Well, I believe the administration, like all of us, revert to the tried and true: if all fails, play dumb.

By: MQ

MQ — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 18:49:59 +0000

So now it’s keep the military occupation, forget the reparations. If we had actually been concerned with the Iraqi people, the priority would be just the reverse. The whole key to this debate has been understanding that the administration did not care about the population.

By: luci

luci — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 18:14:11 +0000

“reconstructing Iraq’s infrastructure would require enormous resources [...] after 30 years of neglect, decay and corruption.”

I thought pre-1991 Iraq had fairly well-developed infrastructure. Did he mean to say, “after 15 years of US bombing and sanctions?”

By: abb1

abb1 — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 18:03:36 +0000

Do they have them in the WWF?

By: abb1

abb1 — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 18:01:17 +0000

Thanks Adam, I love stuff about vanguards ‘n stuff.

So, as a fellow spectator, do you think The Suicide Bomber will beat The Neoliberalism or The Neoliberalism will beat the The Suicide Bomber?

By: Adam Kotsko

Adam Kotsko — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 16:47:37 +0000

Has anyone read this article that basically argues that American foreign policy makes so little sense that it's presently impossible to develop a coherent theory that can account for it?

By: Bro. Bartleby

Bro. Bartleby — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 14:48:05 +0000

Isn’t this all part of the neocons master plan? Now the humbled Iraqis will go begging to … ahem … to World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz.

http://www.worldbank.org/wolfowitz

By: Ron F

Ron F — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 12:18:09 +0000

Beazley's call for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq is not entirely unrelated to his call for them to be sent to Afghanistan. Circumstances permitting, a simliar fate awaits British troops (or at least some of them) currently based in southern Iraq.

By: abb1

abb1 — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 10:30:44 +0000

You, defeatists you. Think about it: now it’s the Shia who feed the Sunni thru a meat grinder, not Sunni the Shia! If that’s not victory – I don’t know what is.

By: victor falk

victor falk — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 08:43:40 +0000

Now that the second of these goals has been abandoned, thereby undermining the first

If the Iraq War was an academic exercise, the US nation-building would pass STATE FAILURE 101 with honours.