(no subject)

[netmouse]

Sometimes the response of oh blast it and similar swearing is just completely insufficent commentary on things like legalizing rape done to a woman by her husband. I have to admit, Afghanistan, I didn't expect better of you. Yet I'm still disappointed.

I call on the moderate politicians in Iran and Afghanistan to take a leadership role in protecting womens rights. I'm sure they can't hear me. But I do it anyway.

I have also written to the white house. They might not care to hear me either.


I sigh.

Comments

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

Why do you think you're in the minority in supporting reconstruction? Have you written to your congressional representative about it?

I most certainly support reconstruction. I know we've done a lot of reconstruction in Iraq. The MERLN (Military Education Research Library Network) page on Afghanistan (http://merln.ndu.edu/index.cfm?type=section&secid=102&pageid=3) indicates the US has an Afghanistan Investment and Reconstruction Task Force, and links like this (http://www.wileyrein.com/practice.cfm?parentID=19&practice_id=151) indicate there are definitely reconstruction efforts under way or anticipated, both by the military and by subcontractors, despite the fact that violence in those areas is disruptive and makes working there dangerous.

What I'm not sure about is that we're taking a useful approach to reconstruction, one that would engage the locals in deciding what to do and how to do it, & hire them to participate and take leadership roles instead of just forking out money to US contractors to go over there and apply foreign processes and objects that the locals may or may not maintain and appreciate after we've left.

[apostle-of-eris.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'm just older and more cynical. Many billions of dollars, nominally for Iraqi reconstruction, have gone away. Unfortunately, there isn't much construction, re- or otherwise, and at least several tons of money are completely unaccounted for. (The rough rule of thumb is that one million dollars in hundred dollar bills weighs 24 pounds. Two or three military cargo-plane loads of palletized, freshly-printed hundred dollar bills went to Iraq. No one admits to knowing what happened after that. "Tons" of money disappeared is not a figure of speech, it's a matter of record.)
And between getting the email notice of your reply and my having time to reply back, I ran into this news clip.

Real reconstruction would involve money going slowly out into the countryside, in a monitored way, for a long time. It has nothing to do with great contracts for foreign consultants or local gang leaders (the U.S. military replaced one of Karzai's original choices of provincial governor with a gangster), or fleets of new Jeeps and Land Rovers in Kabul.