World's Help Is Needed to Rebuild Iraq (Moscow Times) Good Read!

Moscow Times ^ | Friday, Oct. 17, 2003 | Hisham A.R. Ibrahim

[mmandahl]

Iraqis look forward with great hope to the upcoming donor conference on Iraqi reconstruction to be held in Madrid next week. Whether driven into exile or forced into lives of fear and deprivation during the long reign of Saddam Hussein, all Iraqis watched in pain and dismay as our nation was stripped of its wealth and isolated from the rest of the world by Hussein's terror and madness. Madrid presents us with an opportunity to re-engage the world -- to declare our long-held wish to be reintegrated into the family of nations and to reclaim our true Iraqi heritage.

Decades of brutal misrule and tyranny have left Iraq and Iraqi society in tatters. We will need to rebuild not only the physical infrastructure of the country, but the entire social fabric. Iraqis must learn again to live in harmony and to do away with the false divisions imposed upon us by the Baathist regime. We cannot do this alone. We welcome the world's help, its experience and its involvement.

There is much we can learn from the world. We can learn from Japan and Germany, from their successful experience of rebuilding after decades of tyranny and war; we can learn from Russia and the many nations of Eastern Europe from their experience after Communism and state control of the economy; and we can learn from many others.

Our country was once known as the cradle of civilization -- a fertile land with a rich cultural heritage. Hussein defiled that legacy in the systematic pursuit of total power and wealth. He built a massive, opulent palace amid the ruins of ancient Babylon, even while his regime poured the bodies of thousands of murdered Iraqis into mass graves at Hilla and other locations. He attempted to eradicate a noble and ancient way of life in a savage campaign to eliminate resistance among the Shiites. He waged war on the Kurdish people of Iraq, gassing whole villages and killing tens of thousands.

Now we are free of such madness and working to build the new Iraq we have dreamed of for so long. The new Iraq will be a nation of tolerance where ethnic and religious diversity is valued. The new Iraq will ask the private sector to play a central role in its future, and will be a place where international investment is welcome and protected.

Some donors have asked if it wouldn't be better to wait until the security situation improves further before helping to fund reconstruction activities in Iraq. The answer is no. Iraq needs the world now, not later. Funding for reconstruction is critical to improving the security situation. Funding means new jobs for Iraqis who are out of work, progress on critical infrastructure improvements and other projects that give Iraqis hope and a stake in the future.

The transition to a new Iraq will be difficult. A legacy of neglect left much of our country in disrepair. But Iraqis are free again, and ready to build our country and re-engage the world.

Hisham A.R. Ibrahim, charge d'affaires of the Iraqi Embassy in Moscow, contributed this comment to The Moscow Times.

[RightWhale]

Iraq can not only rebuild, but they can modernize to the point where Baghdad is once more one of the great cities. Furthermore, they have the resources to fund any construction program they might want including moving the whole country to Mars.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Very good read! Thanks

Bump to RagTime and MeeknMing!

[dead]

Bump! Nice article.

[mmandahl]

The media here in the states have done a really good at stifling the voices of Iraqis.

So many Iraqis support the US, Bush and the new Iraq.

Leftists believe that the voices of Iraqis in exile do not count. They believe that its not possible for an Iraqi to approve of what the US is doing.

The only thing we can do is to send articles like these to as many newspapers as we possibly can.

[samtheman]

The rebuilding of Iraq, with US help (I don't care about the others), is extremely important.

Look, all of us here are aware of Islamic block of nations, how they work together against Israel, how they work together to foment anti-Western hatred.

A free and prosperous Iraq offers us a huge opportunity to break one of the countries out of that block, and begin the break-up of the monolith of Islam.

We Americans all pulled together (minus our leftists) and ended up (with Reagan) tearing down the Communist Monolith.

Americans must now all stand together (minus our leftists), shoulder to shoulder with Bush, to begin the long process of tearing apart the Islamic Monolith.

Iraq is the beginning. Let's not be weak about. Let's not be cheap about it. This is WW4. We won the first 3, we can win this one too. Our soldiers in Iraq know this fact. And we owe it to them at home to know it too.

[mmandahl]

A free and prosperous Iraq offers us a huge opportunity to break one of the countries out of that block, and begin the break-up of the monolith of Islam. Which will take some time. Iraq alone does not have enough power to tip the scales in our favor.

[MeekOneGOP]

I am told this is an AUTHENTIC Iraqi pic ... not modified or PhotoShopped ...

[Not gonna take it anymore]

W has threatened a veto on the 87 billion dollar Iraq bill if the reconstruction money is a loan not a grant.

Wohooo, my favorite pres.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

mmandahl, thank you for another great post. VHW, Meekie - thanks for the pings. Great pic. (^;

Iraqis look forward with great hope to the upcoming donor conference on Iraqi reconstruction to be held in Madrid next week. Whether driven into exile or forced into lives of fear and deprivation during the long reign of Saddam Hussein, all Iraqis watched in pain and dismay as our nation was stripped of its wealth and isolated from the rest of the world by Hussein's terror and madness. Madrid presents us with an opportunity to re-engage the world -- to declare our long-held wish to be reintegrated into the family of nations and to reclaim our true Iraqi heritage.

~~~
The Iraqi people helping us fight for their country, believing in us enough to ignore the threats from their very real enemies, to rejoin the world, speak out against Saddam, and ask for what they need.

(imho).

Freedom, ping!
~~~

If you want on or off my Pro-Coalition ping list, please Freepmail me. Warning: it is a high volume ping list on good days. (Most days are good days).

[EternalVigilance]

BUMP!!

[Grampa Dave]

Your words of wisdom below are what scares the lunatic left in America and around the world. Only God knows how much money the Opecker Princes/Thugs have donated to the leftwingers to push their PR.

You posted:

"We Americans all pulled together (minus our leftists) and ended up (with Reagan) tearing down the Communist Monolith.

"Americans must now all stand together (minus our leftists), shoulder to shoulder with Bush, to begin the long process of tearing apart the Islamic Monolith.

"Iraq is the beginning. Let's not be weak about. Let's not be cheap about it. This is WW4. We won the first 3, we can win this one too. Our soldiers in Iraq know this fact. And we owe it to them at home to know it too.

[WhiteGuy]

Iraq can not only rebuild, but they can modernize to the point where Baghdad is once more one of the great cities. Furthermore, they have the resources to fund any construction program they might want including moving the whole country to Mars.

Yeah, the pisser is, the resources are OUR tax dollars !!!

[prairiebreeze]

believing in us enough to ignore the threats from their very real enemies

Oh, the French. Yes, of course.

:^)

Prairie

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

And isn't it just awful what happened to us after we invested in Japan and Germany and Italy? The Marshall plan was such a dismall failure! </sarcasm

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

dismall = dismal

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Whoa!!!

[WhiteGuy]

Good use of sarcasm, and I thought dismal was ok with the first spelling.

As it applies to welfare.........

Foreign, domestic, or corporate, I'm aganist it.

[speekinout]

I hope most Iraqis feel this way. Everything the US has done would be worth it if we really have given the Iraqis the chance for the peace and freedom that we take for granted.
The UN could mess it all up, of course, but if the Bush Admin. stands firm that won't happen.

[RightWhale]

Thinking more of the $7 trillion of proven oil reserves they own.