From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Sat Nov 10 2001 - 07:23:36 MST
>From: "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" <sentience@pobox.com>
>George W. Bush says he isn't interested in "nation-building". I
>read this to mean that after the war, Afghanistan will be left to
>become a rotting hellhole that will shortly fall prey to yet
>another religious warlord.
Dr Condoleeza Rice was on the telly this morning and said that the
aftermath in Afghanistan cannot be a U.S. only solution, that the
U.N. will have to be involved heavily.
Damn good sense.
>Nation-building is the only strategy that ever worked for America.
>It is only natural to suppose that America will never use it
>again. The only hope for the Afghans is that the war drags on
>until 2005 and we get a better President.
Nation building could incite the rest of the Muslim world,
especially if the Afghans's are doing better than they are. A
"mouse-that-roared" situation.
>If it were up to me, I'd say go in with the troops and rebuild
>Afghanistan. Lay down roads. Cart in modular housing and erect
>it as fast as possible. Build factories. Build farms full of
>easy-to-operate modernized farming equipment. I don't think we
>could transform it into a First World country overnight, that
>takes an educated populace, but - if only we were interested in
>nation-building - we could just build a new nation where
>Afghanistan used to be, and the Afghan military forces
>certainly couldn't stop us. It would at least be worth trying.
As a long time Bucky Fuller fan this sounds like a great idea, but
I think future aid ought to be directly tied to what they're going
to build. No democracy? Less money. No universal suffrage? Less
money, etc.
>Sigh. Don't you wish McCain was in office right now?
Heck no! Have you been reading what's been coming out of that guy?
He ought to switch parties. He's been off my A-list for awhile...
Brian
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