Sunday, November 02, 2003
 
It Takes An NGO

Buried in this Washington Post story about the now-canceled program by which Army units could disburse seized Iraqi funds to solve immediate problems, we have this nugget of wisdom from some flack who's never worked an honest day in his life:
    "Soldiers are not development workers. There is industry skill, a body of knowledge that goes with it. You can't just say 'There's a pothole over there and get it filled' and fix a country," said Dominic Nutt, a spokesman for Christian Aid, a British humanitarian group.
Oh, indeed, I am sure there's some spreadsheet-writing, wining-and-dining-bureaucrats, and tooling-around-in-dark-SUVs one must do before directing someone to fill the potholes.

Perhaps the appropriately named Nutt is a fan of such Top-From-The-Outside solutions that have been so effective in, well, in NGO theory. But those who fix the potholes do more for the people of the country than those who Fix The Country.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:35 AM
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To say Noggle, one first must be able to say the "Nah."