It turns out that the U.S. military has been selling the wrong “brand” in Iraq. According to the report: “[S]ince the U.S. military invaded Iraq in 2003, its ‘show of force’ brand has proved to have limited appeal to Iraqi consumers…” The report suggested “a more attractive brand for the Iraqi people might have been "We will help you.”

      The report explains:

 ·        “[C]ivilians are less likely to help, the study says, when they become ‘collateral damage’ in U.S. attacks, have their doors broken down or are shot at checkpoints because they do not speak English.”

      The report recommends “expanding military training to include shaping and branding concepts such as cultural awareness” and stresses the importance of understanding the “target customer” (an interesting choice of words). 

*****

        According to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, the Iraqi government has refused to take possession of thousands of American-financed reconstruction projects (New York Times, 7/28/07). There are a couple of reasons for this: (1) The Iraqi government is afraid to come out of the Green Zone; and (2) The reconstruction projects are not worth taking over.

      Significant problems were found in ten of twelve projects inspected in the first two quarters of this year, and a number of projects have been found already “crumbling, abandoned or otherwise inoperative” just months after the Bush Administration had declared them to be successfully completed.

 ·        “The management of the reconstruction program for Iraq has been a near-total disaster from the beginning.”--William L. Nash, a retired general and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, The New York Times, 7/28/07

 *****

      A riddle for the troops:

      A majority of Americans believe that the Iraq War is a mistake and we should start bringing you home. …So Senate Democrats offered an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill which would establish a time-table to bring you home.

…But Senate Republicans filibustered the amendment and the Defense Authorization spending bill was held up.

…Then, President Bush said that, by holding up passage of the spending bill, the Democrats were denying you a 3.5 percent pay--even though he had previously threatened to veto the very same spending bill because his administration felt that 3.5 percent was too big of a pay raise for you.

 So, who is supporting the troops?

 *****

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