abstract
| - by user 60.227.176.68 In the popular media the success or failure of the current war in Iraq is measured by the number of body bags bringing home US troops and the near constant stream of video footage of attacks by Iraqis on those troops or each other. Not surprisingly these measures invoke a knee-jerk reaction to pull out all troops as soon as possible and leave the Iraqis to their own, albeit explosive, devices. Image:Iraq.jpg But where is the rest of the data to tell myself and the rest of the public what is going on? In order to spread democracy then not only must the peace be enforced with minimal loss of life but the infrastructure of democracy must be built. How can one judge success or failure without knowing how many judges and policemen have been trained to enforce rule of law, how many courts established, how many schools built, how many doctors and teachers employed, how robust the constitution is, what political and public service institutions have been establised, how many new businesses have been established and how long did it take, how free were elections or even how many roads have been built? Numerous lucrative contracts were awarded to friends of the Bush Presidency to re-build Iraq but the general public has not been told how this money has been spent and what the results have been. Perhaps when we know the full balance of accounts then an informed decision can be made as to the value of the non-Iraqi and Iraqi lives lost. Were these lives squandered for nought but chaos or were genuine gains for the Iraqi people, the people of the Middle East and democratic progress the fruits of these effots. Show us the metrics. __NOEDITSECTION__ From The Opinion Wiki, a Wikia wiki. From The Opinion Wiki, a Wikia wiki.
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