Came across a blog I haven't read before. I was drawn by the name, "Arms and the Man," which is both a traditional translation of the opening of the Iliad and also the name of a play by George B. Shaw about the Balkan wars. The blog turns out to be on corporate profiteering in the Iraq reconstruction. I have to give the lady (Major Barbara?) credit for the thoroughness of her inquiry. Conflicts of interest ought to be made public, and politicians who have them have to be held accountable.
On the other hand, I still think that profiteering off Iraq's reconstruction is a good thing. If conflicts of interest are not at stake, I stand by my Daddy Warbucks analogy:
Today we are not merely acting to defend our country, but to rebuild a shattered land and lift up a miserable people. There is--let us be frank--money to be made doing so. Thank goodness there is. This is how the market lifts our common boats: not, as Adam Smith said, through alutrism, but through the selfish pursual of our own interests. The number of people who would be willing to dedicate a substantial part of their lives to rebuilding Iraq if there were no money to be made is very small--most of them are in the Marines. If we're to draw down the kind of capital and talent it will require over the long term, we need profiteers.I think it's important to draw this distinction. Capitalistic profiteering off the rebuild in Iraq isn't merely acceptable, it's to be encouraged. That's how we'll get the talent we need to go into a difficult enviornment and risk life and fortune. Yeah, some of them will get rich--good. It's one of the strengths of capitalism that it can be harnessed to the good of the Iraqi people, a people who have suffered long and deeply.
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