Monday, June 07, 2004

Active Reconstruction

It's really horrible when someone feeds C+ Bush a bit of history. Consider this statement:

Bush: “I think it's fair to say that, you know, that the enemy didn't lay down its arms like we had hoped.”

Brokaw: “And you were not greeted as liberators like Vice President Cheney said that you would be.”

Bush: “Well, I think we've been -- let me just -- I think we've been thanked by the people of Iraq. And I think you'll hear more of that from people like Prime Minister Alawi and the foreign minister, who both have repeatedly, ‘Thank you for what you've done, and by the way, help us.’

“It's not easy work to take a country from tyranny to a free society. And we'd been there a little over a year. And it's-- you might recall if you're looking for parallels in World War II, it took about four years to get an active reconstruction effort going.

"part of the war on terror is not only go after al-Qaida, to go after those who sponsor them, provide them safe haven, and as well as to spread freedom. That's the long-term hope for winning the war, this war that we're now in."

“And in my speech that you referred to, I make-- pointed out that in the immediate aftermath of World War II, there was a-- the Soviet Union exploded a bomb, that China went communist. It was a question of whether or not the Greek government would go communist.

“The reconstruction effort was halting at best. The marshal plan hadn't been started. And I-- my only point is, these are difficult assignments. It was a difficult assignment then. It's a difficult assignment now. And what America must do is understand the consequences of getting it right. And the consequences of getting right is that a free society in the Middle East is going to help change the country, change the countries in the Middle East and make us more secure and the world more peaceful.”


It's quite true. The Marshall Plan didn't start right away. In fact, it wasn't implemented until 3 years after WWII ended.

However, there's an important disction to be made. We've already spent the amount of money we spent on the Marshall plan (in real terms). So, if the Marshall Plan for Iraq hasn't even begun yet, then where the fuck has all the money gone?
[text corrected to say 3 years, not 4. Yes, Marshall had cooked it up earlier but it wasn't until 1948 that anything really started to happen.]