Friday's Washington Post carries the story of the latest US initiative in Lebanon--$500 million to re-equip and re-train (via private contractors!) the Lebanese army. Given the dodgy experience of US military training in Afghanistan and Iraq, this would seem to be a case of making the same mistake for the third time--especially in the light of this BBC report that Hezbollah and the nation of Qatar have already established working operations on the ground in Lebanon for civilian reconstruction relief, cutting checks and getting them into the hands of grateful recipients less than six months after the war devastated parts of southern Lebanon. Maybe helping people rebuild their homes is a surer way to win hearts and minds than buying their army more ammo?
Useful comparison re: rebuilding: the Louisiana "Road Home" program, run by a private contractor under the supervision of the State of Louisiana, has disbursed so little money to so few recipients some 15 months after that disaster, that both houses of the state legislature during the recent special session have demanded either wholesale changes or the outright firing of the contractor, and this week the President's "disaster czar", Donald Powell, weighed in with his public criticism of the contractor.