CENTCOM reports
In an effort to revive the local economy, the Baghdad-7 ePRT worked in conjunction with 2nd BCT Civil Affairs, using money as their main tool. Armed with U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development funds, Soldiers and civilians on the Baghdad-7 ePRT looked for projects which would benefit the community as a whole. Civil affairs Soldiers used their battalion’s bulk funds to stimulate individual small businesses through a series of $2,500 microgrants. Though most of the projects focused on agriculture, which dominates the local economy and employs the largest percentage of people, other avenues were explored as well. Major Douglas Betts, commander of Company A, 415th Civil Affairs Battalion, said Soldiers on the ground identified who could best use the grants. “The troop commanders and company commanders are all very smart guys,” Betts said. “They know what they’re doing, and they know what’s best for their areas.” Microgrants were given to businesses ranging from chicken farms to internet cafes. Most recently, a women’s beauty parlor opened up in Arab Jabour, something that would have been impossible in that area until recently.
Soft power beat back communist influence during the European post-war reconstruction and it’s knocking the hell out of al-Qaeda’s radical ideology in Iraq today. And while we’re brushing over the Marshall Plan, it’s worth noting that many of the arguments used to fight the European Recovery Act are being rehashed today by the “Bring Them Home Now” crowd. Europe’s economic well-being has nothing to do with American security. Europe’s reception of US dollars is nothing more than thinly disguised economic imperialism. American foreign aid to Europe stifles the free market and creates conditions favorable for US corporate explotation. Replace “Europe” with “Iraq” and you’ve got doppleganger arguments. They were wrong in the post-war recovery period and they’re wrong now. Soft power killed the robust communist movements in Germany, Italy, Greece, and France back in the day, just as it’s killing al-Qaeda’s Islamic extremism in Iraq and Afghanistan. Any way you cut it, that’s a worthy investment. Aside: “Chicken Farms and Internet Cafes” would be a great name for a book on the Iraqi reconstruction effort, no?
