Sunday, September 28, 2003

My head is spinning from my last appointment, which lasted about 5 hours and took everything out of me. I am sure glad I am finished with meetings for the day, not sure if I would be very effective if I had to go through another debriefing right now. Some times I feel totally spent after a day of grueling debriefings, running around from place to place, and trying to do things that make a difference in this crazy mixed up place.

We are constantly being bombarded with a steady string of overwhelming problems, the weight of which seems unbearable at times. We feel like we are swimming in a sea of honey, hardly able to make any progress as we pull and push with every stroke, with every intention of moving forward along this journey but not sure if we have even moved an inch.

We are still very positive about our efforts in the overall scheme of things, knowing deep down inside that each person we touch gets us that much closer to our goal of winning the hearts and minds of these people. Fortunately, we are able to sustain a good positive attitude regardless of the roadblocks and obstacles in our way.

Actually yesterday, during one of my meetings with my favorite source, a light went on in my head, finally giving me a clear understanding of what is needed.  What these people need more than anything else is jobs, incomes, and industries that create all of this. We need the people of Iraq to start thinking about opportunities that have can now become a reality with the removal of Saddam.

Creating new industries for this country will give them the chance to opt out of the weapons business and get into something with more of a future, that is legal and provides more of a steady income, with perhaps benefits. Think of that.

With the control that has been placed upon them by their illustrious leader, most of these people have closed down their minds and left their blinders on for the last 30 years.  The first thing that needs to be opened is their minds, allowing for free flowing thoughts and ideas of ways to make improvements in their own country.

One of the main problems here is that the bad guys are all involved in doing illegal acts that are reaping them great sums of money to finance their operations and recruiting efforts. It is estimated that on the pipeline alone we are losing millions of dollars through theft that is going into the funding of anti-coalition operations. The bad guys have always been well organized and well funded, offering your every day citizen, who is struggling to feed his family, a way to make additional money by firing a shot or planting a bomb.
Our problem has been that we don¡¯t have money to pay the good guys to run operations against the bad guys, or ways of providing resources for teams to go out and take down an opposing group, or to turn in a weapons cache, or to identify who the terrorists are. We have a rewards program but it is cumbersome and time consuming, not offering immediate compensation for good actions that save lives.

Almost all of our sources have been in need of something, a job, a reward, a phone, or a variety of other resources, which we have none to give them. They want to do good things for their country but have not been able to sustain themselves with out some form of compensation. They all have to take care of their families first, making sure their children have food to eat and clothes to wear.

So the best possible thing I could do is to help my sources start up their own businesses that will create jobs and incomes for their team members. We have the ministries and other resources available to assist and teach them how to do it. We can even provide small business loans and other financial aid to help them start up new industries, now opportunities and an escape from the temptation to get involved in illegal activities.

This approach actually helps kill several birds with one stone. First it helps provide jobs and income for their team members. Secondly it helps them fund their operations against the bad guys. Thirdly, it creates economies in this country, alternatives to the industries that we are presently dealing with. Fourthly, it begins to strengthen the Iraqi economy providing goods and services that can be exported to other countries, becoming part of the international community.

I have already started trying to make this work with two of my sources that I feel have the capabilities, the skills and the knowledge to make it happen. I am invigorated by the vision of what this could do for this country, full of ideas of ways to make this come about.  The possibilities are endless and the upside so great, if we can just get over the hurdles that I am sure will come up in the course of guiding them along this way.

And of course I will be able to gather more and more intelligence, as they are able to fund their efforts to gather it.

I am so excited about this. This is just awesome giving us just one more idea for a way to provide a solution to these people.

Wiggles