Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Our money going to Iraq

Thursday, Nov. 6, 2003 | 8:21 a.m.

REPORTS TELL US that two of the biggest problems for coalition forces in Iraq are lack of security and unemployment. There is good reason to believe that one problem feeds off of the other problem. Coalition forces don't have the luxury of neatly solving one problem and then turning their attention to the other problem. Both problems must be attacked with equal energy.

In the city of Mosul and farther north the situation appears to be less explosive. A recent issue of The Wall Street Journal tells readers of the success of Gen. David H. Petraeus, who commands the 101st Airborne Division in the north. In addition to promoting a local electoral college and listening to the needs of the people, "Gen. Petraeus was one of the most intensive users of money seized from the former regime, a program in which his officers paid more than $26 million directly to Iraqis for myriad projects to get the region going. Beneficiaries included not just the university, but hospitals, irrigation systems and even an asphalt factory. 'Money is ammunition,' the general says."

Now that Congress has given President George W. Bush authority to spend an additional $87.5 billion for operations in Iraq, the spending will begin. Of this large appropriation, $18.6 billion is for building that country's economy and new government. Let's hope that this sum isn't depleted by large American corporations developing programs they believe are necessary and also most profitable for their bottom line.

Now is the time for the Iraqis to designate the infrastructure projects to be funded and have them built by their own now unemployed citizens. That country has a large labor pool and also some skilled builders who can soon learn modern American construction methods. Also, a combination of grants and no-interest loans for small businesses and eager entrepreneurs should be available. Open shops, restaurants, bakeries, bookstores and services are an important part of life in the Middle East.

When in Iraq 11 years ago, I asked the Kurdish leaders what they needed to rebuild their economy, which Saddam Hussein had destroyed. Without hesitation, they gave me the manifesto of one Kurdish political party, which, among other ideas, included:

"Starting production in existing factories and mines, exporting any surpluses;

"Providing seeds, fertilizers, tools, instruments and loans to stimulate agricultural production in the approaching summer season;

"Revitalizing the countryside according to feasible programs and by building modern villages supplied with running water, electricity, schools, health and social centers, roads, etc;

"Encouraging the return to the rural areas by supplying those who wish to return with seeds, fertilizers, tools, instruments, loans, livestock, sheep and poultry; this process requires foreign help and loans but leads to the revival of the agricultural sector in Kurdistan and reduces dependence on humanitarian aid and imports;

"Building small water dams, regulating water distribution and gradually modernizing agricultural production ..."

This is the kind of thinking that Petraeus is asking the Iraqis to share with him and then he responds with the tools needed to perform the tasks. The 101st Airborne is a distinguished fighting outfit that is providing security and helping build a nation.

Some of our better thinkers suggest a new Marshall program such as the one we used to rebuild Europe following World War II. I'm not sure that the problem in Iraq is that big nor is their society geared to respond in the same manner as an industrialized Europe.

Iraq's explosive unemployment problem and deteriorated infrastructure can probably be better healed with an FDR-type program designed for our country during the Great Depression. Some more Americans like Petraeus would also help.

Any reconstruction program will have difficulty if terrorism becomes a way of life as it has among large numbers of Palestinians. The sooner the Iraqis get to work and learn that terrorism doesn't pay, the sooner they will have a free and productive society.