10 years ago: Half a bridge

October 31, 2013, here on slacktivist: Half a bridge

This was a “good news” story, although I paid it no special note then, since it came before the Bush administration began its whiny campaign bemoaning the supposed absence of such reporting.

The soldiers’ actions were commendable, but what struck me was this: Why on earth were U.S. soldiers repainting classrooms in a country with massive unemployment? Wouldn’t it be both more efficient and wiser to involve the Iraqi people themselves in this effort? The goal, after all, is not to show the Iraqis all the good things we Americans can do on their behalf, but to show them all the good things we can enable them to do for themselves.