" The object of nation-building is to return power to a competent, responsible and representative local government as soon as possible.

In a country like Iraq where the governmental structure has collapsed, the first priority is to establish public security. Second is to begin rebuilding the local structures for governance. Third is to create an environment in which basic commerce can occur - where people can buy and sell goods and services and get paid in a stable currency. Fourth is to promote political reforms, stimulate the growth of civil society, build political parties and a free press, prepare for elections and organize representative government. Fifth, and last, is improving roads, bridges, electricity, water, telephones and the rest.

This last category of spending normally comes last because such projects take a long time to complete and the payoff on investment is very slow. These projects are also very expensive, far more than other objectives. "

James Dobbins ably and briefly explains why the priorities set by the US in Iraq were exactly backwards.

If I have one quibble it is that framing reconstruction through the five categories above might promote a tendency to seperate reconstruction into distict phases, each to be completed before the next is approached. Work in each can in fact be going on simultaneously, though timing and location need to be carefully thought through. However, the underlying process as embodied in those categories is perfectly true. This is the way development agencies and practitioners think. (And of course the quibble only arises because Dobbins has only the space of an op-ed.)

A basic aphorism of development work is: No development can take place without security.

That Iraq continues to be an insecure environment means that none of the ballyhooed projects (schools, clinics, bridges, electrification, etc and whatever), none of the "success stories", can be taken seriously.

Overheard this morning in a coffee shop:

Emphatically, "I'd rather live in the US than Norway."

Incredulous, "You would? Why?"

Very, very serious, "For one, the food."

Scoring a touch, "Norway has great fish and cheese."

The riposte, "OK, good fish and cheese. But what am I supposed to do when I want Indian? Call England for some take-out?"

Massachusetts celebrates another holiday of democracy today when we go to the polls for our state primaries. In my district, ward, and precinct there is only one contested race as to who will be on November's ballot. Still, I voted this crisp fall morning.

I can't possibly be the only person who would like to see this - and I'm not.

But Kerry doesn't go far enough. When John Kerry is President he should establish a precedent by holding an honest to god press conference every two weeks, at least two per month. It would set the bar very high for all subsequent holders of the office.

The Head Heeb has the lowdown on Arrival Day, which

" commemorat[es] the arrival of the first Jews in New Amsterdam on September 7, 1654. ... Arrival Day is a holiday of the American Jewish people rather than the Jewish religion - a celebration of the Jewish community and its contributions to the United States. As such, non-Jews as well as Jews are welcome to join in the celebration. In the wise words of Ikram Saeed, everyone is Jewish today, just as everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day.

There's a blogburst. Mazel tov!

The New York Times hopes against hope that President Bush will speak "the Truth About Terror" tonight. I'm not holding my breath.

Well, I am actually, but my turning blue doesn't seem to be working. I'm still not getting what I want.

I'm sure all six of my readers already read Michael Bérubé. He's attending - more or less - the Republican Convention because, well, someone has to blog from there - more or less - and they certainly don't want your unwashed, traitorous ass there.