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| Iraq-Jordan |
| US Army Doing Public Works Projects to Win Over Iraqi Population |
| 2004-05-27 |
| From The Washington Post
. Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, an earnest tank officer who recalled that he once dreamed of commanding "large mechanized formations across vast open deserts," is instead knee-deep in a very different fight. The recently arrived commander of the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division pulled up Wednesday to a trash-strewn lot in Al-Rashid, a treacherous southern suburb of Baghdad. 
. A career tank officer who once taught political science at West Point, Chiarelli contends that public works projects may be more effective than guns in deciding the future of Iraq. He said he fears that time might be running out for the U.S. occupation after a year of enduring war and sluggish reconstruction that has left many Iraqis not knowing where to turn. 
. Chiarelli described the next five weeks as the equivalent of an election campaign, and he said he intends to win it by drawing on lessons he once imparted to students: Understand your constituency and deliver on promises. He is targeting Iraq’s "fence-sitters," his term for the mostly poor or barely middle-class Iraqis who he estimates account for 40 percent of the population. hey are deciding now, as the handover date approaches, whether to back the next government or an insurgency working in such neighborhoods as Al-Rashid to undermine it. 
Chiarelli kicked off two sewer projects that will cost $31 million, part of a $240 million pot of money he has to spend on public works construction and power generation. Instead of hiring private contractors, Chiarelli intends to turn senior military officers into project managers, saving the high security costs that have become a part of doing business in Iraq. To prepare for the rebuilding, Chiarelli sent his brigade commanders to four months of civil affairs training, including a three-day seminar with the city planning department of Austin. From headquarters on the Baghdad International Airport grounds, the division peppers Austin planners daily with questions over a direct Internet link. But those early perceptions of a nation-building operation vanished in the first days after the division’s arrival. Intense street fighting in the concrete mazes of Al-Rashid, Sadr City and the town of Abu Ghraib during the first weeks of April stunned Chiarelli and his senior officers at a time when they expected to be dealing with the conflicting interests of Iraqi civil society. 
. The people in the surrounding neighborhood, many of whom Chiarelli places among the fence-sitters, remain skeptical of the project. 
. Chiarelli said U.S. civilian officials have moved too slowly to free up public works money and failed to ask the Iraqis to draw up their own wish lists 
. He said he believes U.S. civilian officials focused too intently on satisfying the Iraqis who already support them -- a group he estimates at 55 percent of the population -- rather than reaching out to those who still might. 
. Chiarelli’s intelligence officers have shown him a map of Sadr City that reinforces his belief that public services are key to defeating the insurgency. The map transposes information on unemployment, sewer capacity and electrical service with the number of guerrilla cells and attacks on U.S. troops. The areas where unemployment is highest and public services most feeble are the same areas where the insurgents are most active recruiting in mosques and schools, and attacking his soldiers. ... |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #4 The faster we get our butts out of Iraq, the happier they will be with us. I just thought of something; go ahead with these public works projects anyway and then at some point in time after the improvements have been made, take a good long look at the situation. Is the frequency of attacks against coalition forces dwindling due to people turning in insurgents? Is there a general rising tide of goodwill and trust developing between the general Iraqi public and American soldiers and officials? If so, then we keep on going. If there is no improvement in the situation on the main fronts, we stop these projects dead in their tracks and go no further. No use wasting our money giving them something that they're not going to have any appreciation for. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-05-27 10:29:15 PM |
| #3 I agree with you, #2. Mispent kindness with a culture who will hate us when all is said and done. The faster we get our butts out of Iraq, the happier they will be with us. Forget about the warm and fuzzy-it's time consuming and costly. Get the elctions done, and move our kisters to Kurdistan. P.S. Kurdistan represents one third of Iraq territory. Since the beginning of Iraq "occupation" we have only needed 300 GI's to help the Kurds patrol Kurdistan. As I recall there's been ZERO GI deaths at the hands of Kurds. How much sewer repair and mosque building and air conditioning have our GI's and contractors been forced to putz with in Kurdistan? I'll bet anything Kurds are handling it themselves along with contractors they have hired. On Monday I almost gagged listening to President Bush talking about what he's planning for the "Iraqi people." His speech was like a eulogy to Iraqi people. "Iraqi people" got mentioned 10X to every time he mentioned America. I'm sick and tired of coddling these losers. It is no random accident of history that Iraqis have never known democracy in all the time they've been hanging out in the desert. You're right #2. It's time that President Bush gets his head out of the neocon clouds and starts tallying the bill to give the Iraqi new government re: all the perks we taxpayers have been giving "Iraqi people" since we generously kicked Saddam out of his palace. When is all this American taxpayer supported generosity to the Iraqi people going to end? Are we to believe that it will go on indefinitely? Does staying the course in Iraq mean bottomless US money bags for "Iraqi people" to use and enjoy? Go to the website www.stoppowtorture.org" put together by American Gulf War I vets. The US Justice Department is holding back $ these men won in a recent court case against the Iraqi government for abuse that Iraqis perpetuated against them in the first Gulf War. The Bush Administration has told our vets the "Iraqi people" need the court judgment $ more now than our vets. Say what? |
| Posted by: rex 2004-05-27 7:06:17 PM |
| #2 As such, it is the Right Thing To Do. Given our experiences in the Middle East, I'd be more inclined to leaning away from that and going more towards an attitude of What Do We Get In Return For Doing This? After all, it's largely going to be our money that would be financing these projects, and while the typical Westerner might understand what such a gesture might mean, the people we are dealing with are NOT typical Westerners. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-05-27 2:25:54 PM |
| #1 The areas where unemployment is highest and public services most feeble are the same areas where the insurgents are most active recruiting in mosques and schools, and attacking his soldiers. Clearly this is a warm fuzzy for the "root cause seekers" at places such as The Washing Post. I'll make no wagers as to whether it will work in terms of winning people over, but it is an act of kindness. As such, it is the Right Thing To Do. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-05-27 1:08:07 PM |