Savvy Austin Bay says Uncle Sam needs to spread around some cash in Iraq to win hearts and minds. Makes a lot of sense.
Money is ammo in Iraq, and right now our troops on the ground are short-changed.Pay attention, Bush administration and Congress: The specific program with the most effective bang-for-bucks is CERP, Commander's Emergency Response Program funds. The military needs a plus-up in CERP funds in Iraq and needs it now.
It always takes cash (or, more elegantly, economic power) to create, reinforce and sustain military power. In the final analysis, bricks — not bombs — win wars the way America wants to win and, frankly, needs to win in the 21st century. The brickwork of new infrastructure, the human cornerstone of an educated and entrepreneurial population — these foundations sustain victory in the War on Terror.
Secretary of State Colin Powell and Ambassador John Negroponte asked for more CERP funds earlier this summer, but now it's September. On Monday, the administration "reprogrammed" $3.46 billion out of $18 billion budgeted for Iraqi reconstruction. Some of that must increase CERP funds. Here's a guess: $200 million channeled through CERP will have positive effects by December. The big infrastructure projects bankrolled by the $18 billion are necessary, but their payoff is three to five years away.
CERP fills that gap, and even small amounts can buy good will.
Our guys were doing that last year; why were they cut back? Answer: the inscrutable minds of Paul Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority.
The project started with found money, the bundles of $50 and $100 bills that advance units found in Saddam Hussein's palaces as they rumbled into the country last spring, but was quickly expanded when front-line soldiers began reporting back that it looked like their best weapon in combating the insurgency. Between May and the end of October, about $80 million was spent.But then the money ran out in the middle of October, and the casualties began to mount. There were both funding problems, and also concerns within the centralized Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Baghdad that it didn't have enough oversight of the program.
If the choice is "oversight" versus RESULTS, the choice would seem to be clear. Plus-up now.
Posted by Alan at September 17, 2004 09:57 PM