GOOD LUCK WITH THAT
Good luck with that. We're on our own, apparently, to try to figure it out.
/open fn(sarcasm)
If the security situation has improved markedly, one might expect to see a sharp rebound in economic activity, including job creation. All we read is that people are going to the markets, again. And ... ? (Am I the first blogger to turn an ellipsis into a hypelink?) Yeah, there is an oil boom and oil production is up a bit, but not racing ahead.
Turns out that 2008 is a year of fighting corruption (even GOI reconstructions funds --> bonanza) ... What a mission, eh? Helping what is left of Iraq, brain-drained Iraq, to occupy itself.
I haven't been keeping track, but the effort to get "electricity fixed" must have been reorganized one a year for the past five years, yes? Now, the hope is that the provinces will be better at getting organized and doing it for themselves. Is it any wonder that almost infinite patience is required, as voiced by John McCain?
"WE CAN BE HEROS"
How is train & equip of the ISF going?
It must be going a little better, because the charts the Army is releasing weekly show a little more detail, which means they are getting more comfortable with people asking them how they are doing ...
"Currently, there are 481 MNC-I transition teams and 121 MNSTC-I Advisory and Training Teams," reports the State Department. Well, the effort is staffed, at least. Can you say, honestly, what changes they have made in the past quarter, specifically, or are they just "putting out fires"?Acting primarily as goodwill Ambassadors? propping up the Iraqi economy with local spending? Who knows ...
Last, you know that something is seriously wrong with the GOP-style war management effort when the best information, the most 'in context' and systematic assessments, still come (I think) from the ... wait for it .. Inspector General. What a world.
Oh, and that's before you get to the Bush Administration's, er, "creative accounting" ...
/end
