Bush's Iraq cut & run begins - democracy funding scrapped
Submitted by Tim Russo on Wed, 04/05/2006 - 5:17am.
If you read my blog, you know I used to work for NDI. Which is why this really bothers me.
One of my former NDI colleagues still works in Iraq. The amount of NDI's Iraq budget that goes for security is at least 50%, and is probably growing every day. Leave aside the cost...I can't imagine how you could conduct democracy programming in a country where you cannot move without a motorcade of armed guards, are in periodic lockdown, and where participants can't travel to take part because they too are at risk. Still, they try, and do good work.
The problem for Bush is that these programs need to continue for years, or Iraq will not make this magical transformation to democracy he claims to take credit for. The war in Bosnia ended in 1995. NDI, IRI, & NED are still there, still needed, still welcome, and there is no indication they will be going anytime soon. The notion that Iraq has progressed so wonderfully that these programs can be wound down faster than in Bosnia is patently absurd.
Ted Kennedy, who has worked with key Republican senators to keep the funding there through earmarks, in spite of the administration, says this.
The first step is to get those pesky democracy promoters out before the troops leave chaos behind, by drying up their funding, so they aren't at risk of showing up on TV screens on their knees with hooded captors pointing guns at them. Which is, of course, exactly backwards, as every single implementation of Bush's Iraq policy has been since the outset.
The one silver lining is that at least NDI, IRI, & NED are working to stay. These are brave people doing great work, when they can, in the face of incredible odds. And while they may be working to stay there now, they're smarter than Bush. They won't wait for Bush to dry up their funding. They'll be gone the millisecond it becomes untenable to remain. The day they decide to pull out, whether or not the troops go with them, will tell us all we need to know about how well Iraq is going. I just hope my former colleagues make it out safely.
NDI and its sister, the International Republican Institute (IRI), will see their grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development dry up at the end of this month, according to a government document, leaving them only special funds earmarked by Congress last year. Similarly, the U.S. Institute of Peace has had its funding for Iraq democracy promotion cut by 60 percent. And the National Endowment for Democracy expects to run out of money for Iraqi programs by September.I have worked in many countries for NDI. When NDI, IRI, and NED money dry up, that means one of two things. Either the country has "graduated" from assistance programs and the work is no longer needed (NDI programming in most of Eastern Europe ended years ago), or the country has become so politically unstable or dangerous that further programming is simply impossible. Take a guess which applies in Iraq.
One of my former NDI colleagues still works in Iraq. The amount of NDI's Iraq budget that goes for security is at least 50%, and is probably growing every day. Leave aside the cost...I can't imagine how you could conduct democracy programming in a country where you cannot move without a motorcade of armed guards, are in periodic lockdown, and where participants can't travel to take part because they too are at risk. Still, they try, and do good work.
The problem for Bush is that these programs need to continue for years, or Iraq will not make this magical transformation to democracy he claims to take credit for. The war in Bosnia ended in 1995. NDI, IRI, & NED are still there, still needed, still welcome, and there is no indication they will be going anytime soon. The notion that Iraq has progressed so wonderfully that these programs can be wound down faster than in Bosnia is patently absurd.
Ted Kennedy, who has worked with key Republican senators to keep the funding there through earmarks, in spite of the administration, says this.
"The solution to Iraq lies in the political process, and it's reckless for the White House to cut funds to strengthen democracy in Iraq at this time," Kennedy said yesterday.I don't think it's reckless, I think it's by design. Bush plans to leave Iraq, consequences be damned. When the troops leave, as they surely will, either by conveninence for Bush, or by fighting their way out of a civil war, these programs will have to go with them, because it will simply be impossible to conduct them safely.
The first step is to get those pesky democracy promoters out before the troops leave chaos behind, by drying up their funding, so they aren't at risk of showing up on TV screens on their knees with hooded captors pointing guns at them. Which is, of course, exactly backwards, as every single implementation of Bush's Iraq policy has been since the outset.
The one silver lining is that at least NDI, IRI, & NED are working to stay. These are brave people doing great work, when they can, in the face of incredible odds. And while they may be working to stay there now, they're smarter than Bush. They won't wait for Bush to dry up their funding. They'll be gone the millisecond it becomes untenable to remain. The day they decide to pull out, whether or not the troops go with them, will tell us all we need to know about how well Iraq is going. I just hope my former colleagues make it out safely.
i'm sure that
Submitted by Tim Russo on Wed, 04/05/2006 - 2:29pm.
a lot of NDI folks will be writing books about their experiences someday. until then, i just hope they keep their heads down.
so what's the priority?
isn't this more of the same ala using "support our troops" as a political mantra, but then not providing them with the tools to do their job and cutting their benefits once they get home. this really isn't all that hard to get if you pay .05% attention.
i hope we can hear some of their stories about what is going on there.
"You better get politics or politics will get you" - my grandmother