"Treason" and Iraq

n/a | 7/15/2003 | Eala

[Eala]

(Defense in advance: I'm an engineer, not a poli sci or other liberal arts graduate. Interest in things political, and historical, came late in life.)

Reading Ann Coulter's book "Treason" this evening I came across the following (p.85) about the Marshall plan (which Marshall, it appears, did not support!): "The United States poured billions of dollars into Western Europe to jump-start their war-torn economies. By allowing non-Communist European nations to flourish, the Marshall Plan strengthened Western Europe, and immunized it from the allures of Soviet Communism."

Once stated it's obvious. Even to me.

But the question I have is (and I realize it's early in the game): Is the US following this model in Iraq? (Seems like a good thing to do.) Or are we trying to do a "Marshall Plan lite"? I don't have enough information to judge one way or the other.

[Eala]

(Admin Moderator -- please relocate this thread to "chat" or elsewhere if you deem it appropriate. When posting I didn't see a "chat" option...)

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[elbucko]

I don't have enough information to judge one way or the other.

I don't think any of us do, even the President and that's not a criticism. The Marshall Plan was an obvious huge success in Europe, esp. Germany, Scandinavia and Italy. Iraq is a bit different. It has the potential for an enormous income from its oil resources, therefore the US doesn't need to finance its rebuilding. The problems are that the infrastructure of Iraq is more more obsolete and ill-maintained than we thought and there still Hussein's thugs willing to cause death and destruction.