Reconstruction, security go hand-in-hand

The title is an oldie, but a goodie: 'Reconstruction, security go hand-in-hand'.

From the official website of Operation Iraqi Freedom, another example that attempts to connect war-fighting and re-building as intrinsically linked acts. Curiously, this link doesn't really work in the text itself, where the military spokespeople admit, 'Although there has been some initial progress, the enemy continues to disrupt the efforts of Coalition forces and improving security in Iraq will take some time.' Despite these disruptions, there are apparently, 'There have also been great strides made in the reconstruction effort in Iraq.'

At the end of such upbeat announcements, the article closes on a note of participatory development: “Ultimately, it is up to the Iraqi people to rebuild and secure their country.”

The following day, the same site publishes a further article entitled: 'Reconstruction projects provide Iraqis with improvements to essential services'. The article gives some dimensions to the reconstruction projects the Department of Defense has planned and implemented as of 28 February, 2007:

• Planned 3,832 projects, at a program cost of $12.05 billion.
• Completed 3,183 projects, at a program cost of $8.67 billion.

So much for the military not managing humanitarian, development and reconstruction projects?