Iraqis get cement factory running ("Iraqi way" vs. "American way")

[Barrett808]

Iraqis get cement factory running
Success story illustrates U.S., Iraqi approaches to rebuilding
By Ariana Eunjung Cha
THE WASHINGTON POST

SINJAR, Iraq, Nov. 10 — The rumbling, rust-colored cement factory tucked into a valley in the northwest corner of the country here stands as a monument to the success of the reconstruction effort. Burned and looted in the aftermath of the war, it was up and running again by mid-September.

BUT IT WAS not put back together by the U.S.-led interim government and the fleets of contractors being paid billions of dollars to fix the country. In fact, had the plant managers gone the “American way,” the factory might still be in pieces.

U.S. Army engineers who came to survey the damage proposed rebuilding the plant into a shining showcase for the best in modern technology. They suggested buying a fleet of earth-moving equipment and importing machinery from Europe, estimating it would take $23 million and up to a year to complete the job.

The Iraqis had more modest ambitions — they just wanted to get the factory running again, even at minimal capacity. With the help of $10,000 from the U.S. military, and $240,000 left over in factory bank accounts, they used scrap electronics, tore up one production line to get parts for the other, and fixed the plant in three months. It was not the state-of-the-art facility that the Americans envisioned, but it got the job done.

(more)

http://www.msnbc.com/news/991428.asp

[LuminousX]

1. Gee

Isn't that exactly what we should be doing over there? We shouldn't be trying to build 'Soviet style showcase factories' but just factories that produce something to help the rebuilding of infrastructure. A factory that has minimal production will be making money which can then be used to bring other parts of it online. All of this take a minimal investment on our part and thus saves us billions of dollars.

I can't believe how inept this administration is.

[realFedUp]

2. But hey, Internet cafes are cropping up....

:eyes:

[bvar22]

3. Lets see.....

Iraqi method: $250,000 of Iraqi money

Chimpy Invasionmaster method: $23,000,000 of US Taxpayer Money.

Boy, some CEO of an American crony Corporation is gonna be really pissed... Lost a $23Million no bid open ended long term contract. Some Regional Commander's head will roll.

[Tansy_Gold]

4. This is a good companion to the blog piece. . . .

. . . was it Riverbend's blog that had it? about how the Iraqi engineers could have rebuilt one of the main bridges for a couple hundred thousand $$$, but the U.S. said it would take a billion.

Of course, most of that billion would come from U.S. taxpayers and go directly into the pockets of Halliburton, Bechtel, etc., without stopping for coffee.

[Barrett808]

6. Yes,that wasRiverbend -- this enterprise is corporate welfare

On a huge scale.

[Don_G]

5. The American Way

Is to spend millions in research and development to make a pen that writes in a zero-g environment. The Soviet way was to use a pencil.

[wabeewoman]

7. One of the stupidest comments

I heard about rebuilding Iraq was the need to import cement because Iraqi cement was 'inferior'. To any thinking person it would seem to be the LEAST likely thing they would want to haul for thousands of miles and the recipe isn't exactly rocket science. I'm sure the Iraqi's could make acceptable cement. This whole thing is a joke and the jokes on us.

[Brian Sweat]

9. In all fairness, the quality of Iraqi cement might be hampered by

the quality of the lime available in Iraq and not the recipe that they are using.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. Ingenuity is no longer an Amercian domain.

Actually, it never was uniquely American. Anyone who has lived in a developing country knows that ingenuity comes from someone who can make something from nothing. On the other hand, spend, spend, spend may have started with the Democrats, but the Republicans have taken that idea and pumped it up like an over-evaluated stock.

[louis-t]

10. This reminds me of...

....a story my Dad told me about a U.S company sending an exhibit to Japan for a trade show. It was purported to be the world's smallest drill bit. The Japanese drilled a hole in it and sent it back. :spank: