Nation-building in New Jersey
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Some cadets at the U.S. Military Academy are getting a taste of what Iraq will be like by taking a field trip to New Jersey.
Army Maj. Rebecca Patterson says cadets taking her "Winning the Peace" class will spend this weekend in Jersey City, 45 miles south of West Point and across the Hudson River from Manhattan.
Patterson's class provides lessons on opening schools, fixing infrastructure, running elections and training police. She says the course shows cadets that the military is only one factor involved in bringing peace to Iraq.
Jersey City was chosen for its urban setting and diverse population that includes a large Muslim community. Cadets will shadow politicians, police and religious leaders to learn how the city works.
How cute.
Posted by: mudkitty | April 03, 2008 at 08:47 PM
This is puzzling. With attacks at an all-time high we're gonna finally get around to spending those billion dollar pallets of cash on something for the people ?
Part of me finds this .... and don't take this the wrong way .... comical.
I just saw stop loss twice. Killing people in their living rooms is a long way from building schools.
Maybe it's just the mood I'm in.
Shadowing folks in New Jersey to figure out Iraq.
Posted by: voxy | April 03, 2008 at 08:52 PM
Iraqis had a functioning society before the US invasion.
They could fix their own infrastructure if the US left.
Posted by: Eric Jaffa | April 03, 2008 at 09:20 PM
I'll take issue with what Eric said, they didn't have a functional society, but they had a stable society, held together by a fear of Saddam.
Now, we've removed that, and put something in there that could either inspire or threaten. Rebuilding infrastructure won't happen on their own. They don't have the ability to secure their country anymore, and I doubt that even if peace were to break out immediately that they'd have the ability to rebuild their infrastructure from their current state.
I think we destroyed Iraq, period.
Posted by: Jason | April 04, 2008 at 06:11 AM
Seems like you could learn pretty much anything you need to know about anything by spending a weekend in New Jersey. I must try it sometime. Maybe I can improve my chess game by shadowing the Camden Chess Club? Now, the knight does what again?
Posted by: eleventhwheel | April 04, 2008 at 09:53 AM
I hope the cadets bring lots of purple ink for the Andrews /Lautenburg Senate primary.
Posted by: Lindsay Beyerstein | April 04, 2008 at 10:41 AM
Out here on the opposite coast of the country, near the military base of Ft. Lewis, they have been doing something related. The MPs in training for going to Iraq and going on runs with local community police, trying to get the feel of working with civilians of different races and religions instead of their usual more homogeneously military experience.
Posted by: Labrys | April 04, 2008 at 11:42 AM
Looks like importing all those 3rd world folks has finally paid off!
Theyve created the perfect 3rd world training environment right at home.
Posted by: Lurker | April 05, 2008 at 03:55 PM
Looks like importing all those 3rd world folks has finally paid off!
Theyve created the perfect 3rd world training environment right at home.
Posted by: Lurker | April 05, 2008 at 03:56 PM
Given the reality of the situation, this sort of thing is necessary, and woefully underutilized earlier. You know before we went in there in the first place.
Posted by: Joe | April 06, 2008 at 12:43 PM