From: "Mark" 


"Geo"  wrote in message news:44481e02$1{at}w3....
> "Adam" <""4thwormcastfromthemolehill\"{at}the
field.near the bridge"> wrote
> in
> message news:4447ed1b$1{at}w3....
>
>> > Oh undoubtedly it should have been considered beforehand. But this BS
> with
>> > protect the museum and protect the ruins is just a huge distraction.
> What we
>> > need to be doing is protecting the money making businesses so these
> people
>> > can get their economy going again.
>
>>  what like tourism you mean...?
>
> Nobody is going to go there as tourists so no that's not what I mean.
> First
> things first, get the basics going then worry about less important stuff.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/federation/feature/?id=110008212
"...the U.S. Agency for International Development in Iraq, noted in
February that per capita income has increased from $500 at the time of the
invasion in 2003 to $1,500 today.
Despite the charge by Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and
International Studies that American efforts to improve the devastated Iraqi
economy "have largely been a wasteful, and highly ideological and
bureaucratic failure," more than 30,000 new businesses have been
registered with USAID in the past seven months alone..."
======

I do think a lot of that increase in per capita income is our money being
floated around, but the 30,000 new businesses in the past seven months
sounds good. From what I gather here and there, there is a booming business
in cell phones, satellite dishes, generators, stoves, etc. and many shops
opening up to meet that demand, as well as regular everyday shops,
restaurants and doctor offices etc..

I remain optimistic, I just wish people in the US and the world, were more
realistic in their expectations as far as a timeline goes -- it simply
isn't going to happen overnight, even without the insurgency slowing things
down at present.

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5