The only MOE for military invasions that matters
Last post for today involves great USA Today story on economic situation in Iraq post-Saddam. Most of the press on the occupation sees only the security angle, committing the sin of viewing war solely within the context of war and not in the context of everything else. The “everything else” in Iraq is going like gang-busters, seeding connectivity that will ultimately link the Iraqi people with the outside world in a way that precludes the return of Saddam II.
That is the only Measure of Effectiveness that matters when we militarily intervene overseas: Did we leave the place more connected with the outside world than we found it?
Story in 29 March issue is on page 1 and is entitled, “Iraq economy shakes off the shackles of Saddam: Money flowing again, but corruption lingers.”
Key quotes from the text:
“’The regime is gone,’ says Osama al-Quraishi, an Iraqi entrepreneur who retured to Baghdad to search for business opportunities after decades in exile in Europe and the Middle East. ‘There are no restrictions. There are no rules.’ He predicts Baghdad will soon replace Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, as the Middle East’s commercial center.
…
‘It was a lawless economy governed by one principle: Saddam and the Baathist party took whatever they wanted,’ says Bill Block, an economist with the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority.
…
‘Each day today is worth 10 years under Saddam,’ says Abdul Reza Ougla, 48, a truck driver who cruises south Baghdad’s Karada commercial district looking for merchants who need him to haul something somewhere.”
The World Bank says Iraq’s economy shrank by roughly one-third last year, but that it will grow somewhere around 50% this year (the range is 30 to 70%). What are people buying like crazy? Cell phones and satellite TV dishes, both banned by Saddam’s government.
Again, it’s all about fostering connectivity. Democracy is not the holy grail, nor is secularism. Connectivity is the only MOE that matters. Everything else that is good starts with that fundamental truth.
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