Obama visits Muslims

I tried watching President Obama's remarks in Egypt. I was in my IA Brigade XO's office, but unfortunately, his channels are all in Arabic, so I was not that successful. He asked me what I thought about Obama; I said sometimes things require a dramatic shift to get things going. I told him so far I was mostly pleased with the direction of the country, but wasn't happy about the Government having as big of a stake in business. I followed up with a question back at him: what did the Arabic world (ok, Iraq) think of Obama? He replied with the observation that many here think Obama is muslim, and that he is welcomed (as he has not done any lasting damage to Iraq--yet). I told him I didn't think Obama was muslim; he replied "with a middle name of Hussein, how can he not be?" I let it go.

Maybe Obama, by virtue of having a muslim name, and by just being a different administration than the one who has been (some would argue unsuccessfully) involved in Iraq for almost seven years can be the change agent that causes a tipping point. Maybe. What we have to be careful of is running out on this science project oo soon, in which case President Obama will be seen as a failure to the muslim world for allowing Iraq to fail, even though conditions have been set for success. You can't ride with training wheels forever, and it's time to let go of the seat.

I am virutally convinced, though, that the US military has done all it is going to be able to do here. The skeptical optimist in me sees the US military now primarily engaged in stability operations, a good chunk of which could/should be handled by a capable and resourced State Department, which we don't have. Ironic that today our current Secretary of State requires the same military to do the State's job that her husband eviscerated in the 90s. Her hubby took us from 18 Divisions to 10 in five years. It would be nice to have those eight divisions now...

The XO is skeptical about the future of Iraq. He's pretty much skeptical of everything. He claims there are too many political parties, too much corruption, too much self interest. He said at least when Saddam was in power, things got done. He told a story of a bridge we bombed in 1991, and that within two months it was rebuilt because Saddam ordered it. There are currently bridges in Iraq that are still unbuilt, mostly because of corruption in the contract awarding process. I told him greed is a by-product of Capitalism (see AIG and Madhoff scandals for US version). I often wonder about the founding fathers, and if they really had a plan and deep vision, or were they truly winging it. What were the colonial versions of what Iraq is going through now, and is there a way to learn and pass on lessons. The problem is the audience, and their willingness to accept the responsibilites of Freedom.

Take care.
Ron