Pamela,
I'm entering this subject with just some comments to you. The thread
has gone on too long on MUSEUM-L and is not likely to change it's
general tone of "blame the USA" regardless of any logic or facts.
While I agree with a lot of your posting, especially about looting,
there are several points that warrant a counter.
On Thu, 8 May 2003 23:23:23 EDT, you wrote:
>Rhonda,
>
>Dr. Stanley Tambiah, an anthropologist who is from and writes about Sri
>Lanka, who I believe is now at Harvard, wrote a book about looting and riots58., so it is a "been there, done that" experience for
>the Iraqis.
Big snip of your post. It is the following that I
want to comment on. But first, a note of my basis for them. I am a
retired after 30 plus years working for an oil company and for a major
Engineering and Construction company. I spent some 17 years working
overseas including years in the middle east, plus several years
overseas with the Marine Corps. My profession is Project Management,
the field of organizing and running projects. (In a takeoff of a
definition of an Engineer: " A Project Manager is someone who can run
a project for ten cents that any damn fool can run for a dollar.") The
US started the profession and leads the world in its application.
>
>You must remember that Iraq had one of the most educated and sophisticated,
>urban populations in the Near East until the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), when
>the economy started to have trouble, then came our embargo after Gulf War I
>(1991).
An embargo passed by the UN in order to control the Iraqi
government for having invaded Kuwait. It included payment for all the
damage it did to Kuwait (which it never paid).
>There are still many, well educated modern people in Iraq, especially in the
>large cities. They are certainly capable to rebuilding their country, but
>they did not destroy it. We in the United States did with our bombs. Why
>should their oil money pay for our destruction? It is like someone coming
>and trashing your house, then making you pay for the repairs.
Yes, there are educated people in Iraq, but having educated bodies
does not get urgent reconstruction projects done. Projects require
planning, qualified and experienced engineers, staff, construction
managers and staff, and all the tools, materials and know how to put
it all together from the "get go" (I hate that term but it is
appropriate here) American companies, like the one I worked for, are
fully qualified, have the know how, the tools and the contacts with
local subcontractors to be able to step in on a moments notice. I
spent months in Baghdad years ago and more time in Kuwait where we
built a major project, and years in Bahrain. Working there is not
like working in the US where you can get most anything by looking in
the Yellow pages. To say let them do it would take months if not
years to get started, while in the meantime we can get it done.
As to why they should pay for it with their oil money is because their
government caused all of the problems they have suffered for. Iraq
started the war against Iran and Iraq invaded Kuwait. Don't forget,
if the U.S. hadn't stepped in, Iraq would now own not only Kuwait but
also Saudi Arabia and we and the rest of the developed world would be
held hostages.
> I think
>that attitude is strong in Iraq, even among Iraqis who admire the United
>States. They are not stupid people and the majority wonder what the United
>States' real agenda is. I just hope we don't let them down. The educated,
>middle-class people expect the United States government to really deliver
>democracy, freedom, a fair legal system, and the true benefits of a
>parliamentary democracy -- not fat contracts for foreign companies.
>
Two points here: the first is the recognized truism that Iraq will
become a free and democratic country when and if its people join
together to make it so. Democracy cannot be imposed; it must be
wanted and grown from within.
secondly, Thank god there are foreign contractors to do what
they are eminently qualified to do. That reminds me, most of the
Iraqi oil industry is in very bad repair and needs a lot of repair and
rejuvenation before it can operate in a way to work for the benefit of
the country. The sooner, the better for all. To this end, please
don't suggest we get the government to go through its normal
contracting procedures. If it did, you might see the lowest bidder
(whether qualified or not) getting a go ahead in January 2004 or
later. All I am saying, and based on a lot of germane experiences, is
stop talking theory and idealism. Get the best qualified
person/company and charge ahead.
John Bing
Trustee, Laguna Art Museum / consultant but mostly retired
>pamela sezgin
>professor of anthropology / museum consultant
>
>
>
>
>
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