Since we have a bunch of guys who never heard of the Abbasids now practically prostrate with grief over the fate of their old household trinkets, perhaps these same fellows could spare a smidgeon of their outrage for the ecological disaster which Saddam wrought in the marshes (another thing they knew nothing about). Yeah, right. Fortunately, there's now an opportunity to restore them. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/04/07/MN293104.DTL&type=science Likewise, there's wonderful idea floating around the blogosphere and beginning to get mainstream attention: an Iraqi Oil Trust Fund. Glenn Reynolds in particular has a grasp of the concept: http://www.msnbc.com/news/856672.asp Here's hoping some of this positive, forward-looking stuff gets some play. I think this sort of thing is how we can win the peace, restore the Iraqi people to their rightful place and chill out the rest of the Arab world. It can be done. And I'm optimistic we can do it.
i think it should be better for everyone to focus on running free elections the soon as possible meanwhile giving humanitarian aid and doing some temporary police work. Once an elected iraqi government is in power it will decide how to rebuild its country, whom to sign contracts etc. (showing gratitude or not). I guess that the ideas for the new iraq should come from iraqis. A weird liberation is this...
I actually saw something about the marshes and the people who call that place their home a month or so prior to the war, I believe on National Geographic Explorer, maybe on MSNBC. Certainly the plight of the people there and the ecological effects will be something that needs to be dealt with in the new Iraq. Here's hoping the Iraqi people are better stewards of this resource than Hussein was...
I started a thread about this weeks ago. It's called something like, "If Bush does this, I'll vote for him." Check it out. Obviously, nothing has happened since this idea first surfaced to indicate Bush is leaning in this direction. That's not a good sign, but I haven't seen anything that would rule it out, either. Still, as a PR move, you can't beat it.