August 07, 2007

An idea for the next war

What if we combined Kiva's fundraising with the US military's CERP funds to create a mechanism where US citizens could support units by providing little work projects to create jobs and do the reconstruction work that is inevitable in any war? Unit commanders would have money at their disposal that did not rely on the budget process and control who got money and when so we wouldn't be funding our enemies. The local population would get faster reconstruction and help in giving idle young men something constructive to do. And patriotic civilians would get something concrete that they could do to help the war along and bring the military home faster with a victory.

Could it be done in Iraq? There's no reason why not if we're going to stick around long enough for the infrastructure to go through. The infrastructure would largely be Congressional permission to do this sort of thing. The software and aid infrastructure is already largely in place. The only thing beyond legislation is the logistics of giving the funders regular feedback that their donations meant something.

Posted by TMLutas at August 7, 2007 04:38 PM