On Freedom...

I'm hesitant to say that Iraqis don't want "freedom" either collectively or individually.  It IS a fundamental, universal truth that human nature craves that state.  What we don't crave is the responsibility that comes with freedom.

Even under the Ba'athist regime of Saddam, Iraqi's saw many of their daily needs provided by the State rather than by their own efforts.  When the success of the US invasion in 2003 removed an entrenched government (which had existed for longer than 57% of the nation had been alive), the numbers of unemployed were staggering even here in the US.  600,000 military personnel out of work.  No one to deliver food and water, no repairs to infrastructure that had been devastated by the fighting.

I can't find the link, but I read an article about this very problem.  The jist was that it cost humanitarian aid from abroad millions of dollars to deliver food and medicine to Iraqi citizens and non-combatants, food that was never adequately spread out and much of it was never delivered at all.  Not because the people didn't need it, but because the means to get it to the people that needed it was not there.  The US Army had its hands full, the Iraqi government was in shambles, and the people themselves were not able to take on the tasks necessary without the government support that they'd had (good or bad) for the 25 years previously.

What the article was saying was that had we taken the money we (the humanitarian West) had wasted on the food and medicine that never got delivered... sums far in excess of $60,000,000... we could have put into place the means by which a city the size of Baghdad could feed itself long-term.  Fruit and nut trees, perennial shrubs, herbs, water catchment and aquifer replenishment, urban livestock habitats... the means by which cities can sustain themselves almost indefinitely with only the initial installation of earthworks and trees driving cost.

Now, I can hear F Ryan already... chomping his tongue off to keep from screaming "Tree-hugger!" or "What kind of hippie crap is this?"  I'm not wearing patchouli oil, Berkinstock sandals, or tie-died Jerr-Bear tees... I'm offering a possible solution to problems like this in the future.

If there is no "want" in regards to food or water... what happens to the unrest that brings about violence of the sorts we see in Iraq right now?  If there is no question about where the next meal is coming from, why take to the streets, throwing bricks or Molotov cocktails?  I know filet mignon doesn't grow on trees, and bread doesn't grow on bushes... but enough food can be grown, even in urban areas, to sustain a population through hard times if nothing else were available.

There are test farms in Palestine and Jordan right now that are producing tons (literally TONS) of food, all year around, with no additional water resources or chemical fertilizers being bought or used.  Saudi Arabia and Egypt are spending millions to research how they can do the same.  This is BIG BUSINESS that is profitable AND sustainable... and fixes the problems that cause the unrest in the area.

The more I think about this sort of effort, I am drawn to the fact that the reason there is so little violent unrest here in the West (and specifically in the US) is that there is so much food!  Say what you want, but we produce a lot of food here... the surplus alone is staggering.  Far more than our 350 million citizens need.  However, if that supply were cut off or eliminated, do you think we'd be as stable and peaceful as we are now?  Or would the US look like much of the Middle East or central Africa, where people fear for their lives with each passing season?  It wasn't that long ago (1932, in fact) that the second largest "peaceful" protest ever to occur  on US soil was a 70,000 man march on Washington DC from Pittsburgh PA led by Fr. James Cox... and a large part of the reason they marched was that they and their families were starving to death.

Can we deny that Victory Gardens, urban farms and container gardens helped feed millions during the war years?  Huey Long promised a chicken in every pot... but it was the war years that put a coop on every block in New York City, and a vegetable patch in every front yard of Los Angeles.  Why won't that work now?  Why can't THAT be the sort of effort we make to "aide" a foreign nation in need?

How is that not the path to actual independence?