I am rereading 'The Ugly American'

which originally came out in about 1958 during the Cold War.

I believe it is still in print. If it's not it is readily available in new condition on Amazon.

The book actually helped shape some of JFK's foreign policy and should be required reading for practically everyone in office and especially for field grade and above military officers. Everyone that draws a paycheck from the state department should read it including the janitor

The book was actually written before we wandered into Vietnam and I do believe JFK was using a few of the ideas expressed in it. Kennedy had shipped a few Peace Corps members there along with a few teams of the newly energized Special Forces. Many of there people were fluent in the local language and respected the local customs unlike a lot of people from the State Department.

Years later in the service a couple of old soldiers told me that this approach was actually making progress. I met a couple of old soldiers that had been there in the very early 60s and they commented that the results, while not dramatic were successful. 

It was about this time the Vietnam M1 Garand rebuild plan started. M1 rifles were being rebuilt to be shipped to Vietnam as foreign aid to various villages. All in all it was pretty much a low budget operation of small Special Forces teams and surplus small arms. Surprisingly it was actually working, although slowly.

I would imagine that as usual the State Department people were waxing pretty fat, though. As usual the State Department types lived in excellent housing, had access to the PX where they could buy anything American including good liquor at cut-rate prices, American food of all types and were pretty much insulated from the people they were supposed to be helping. Even the janitor was living a lot better than most of the locals.

Of course the State Department types in their arrogance more often than not alienate their hosts. They act like everyone wants to be converted into being an American and drinking Coca Cola. Surprise! A lot of people would simply rather live their lives as simple people.

Anyway, it's water under the bridge now. JFK was murdered and that arrogant insensitive bully LBJ took the helm and promptly poured on the coal. He threw billions of dollars and 58,000 lives into the fray and when it was over we were sent lacking.

Of course it wasn't HIS money or any of HIS kids that got killed so no skin off of his nose.

Of course not only did it cost us lives, the financial cost was appalling. Johnson plundered the sacred Social Security fund and it has never really recovered. The money had to come from somewhere and Social Security was there just waiting to be plundered.

Of course, the lessons learned were simply forgotten and as usual we plowed and still plow into foreign aid with an open check book and very few brains. 

A while ago I believe it was the MIT boys that developed a computer that would enable African villagers to have internet access for under $100 per unit. They were pretty proud of themselves until it was pointed out that a lot of small villages didn't have electricity.

Back to the drawing board. Next they came out with some kind of toilet that would keep the village a little more sanitary and prevent disease. That was a little more practical until someone pointed out that in order to use a toilet one has to eat first.

Some genetically altered to resist drought condition seeds and maybe maybe a few chickens to breed with the chickens on hand would have been far more useful and a damned sight more inexpensive in improving the lives of the villagers. They certainly would have done more towards getting American support from the villagers that a dam or superhighway to nowhere would have.

Yet the politicians seem to think that big roads, huge dams and other costly and quite often useless things are the answer. A village in the middle of nowhere doesn't need a dam. A couple of simple wells would be a lot more practical and convenient. Basic clean water goes a long way in a mud hut dweller's way of life.  

Besides dams have to be built and maintained and the majority of these people probably don't have the skills. If a dam is built for them it will likely not last very long without the proper maintenance. 

One of the things I have heard that actually makes sense is setting up a loan program for farmers at a local bank of some sort. We're not talking about giving a poor village farmer a $250,000 loan or some such stupid thing. We're talking about micro loans in the $100 area. It's something he cold actually use and realistically repay.

A huge highway is also a pretty much useless commodity in a place where transportation consists of feet and maybe bicycles. A couple of finger roads and footpaths would make more sense and be easier to maintain. After a couple years in a jungle terrain a superhighway gets awfully overgrown. In a desert it covers over with the constantly shifting sands and in a moderate clime with a real winter the frost heaves buckle it.

Of course the embassy people don't venture out to where the help is needed outside of city limits so they have no clue.

I guess it starts at the top where Ambassadorships are actually political gifts handed out to whichever party members belong to the party in power. That means that a person is qualified entirely on his ability to kiss the ass of his higher-ups. In many cases this is nothing more than another rung on the political ladder of success.

We keep throwing more and more money at failure.

You can bet your ass the Russians send qualified people out to serve in embassy type positions and you can bet they know the language and customs before they get sent abroad.Most other countries do this. Foreign embassy employees generally speak American English fluently before they arrive here and not just the top dogs. The secretaries and clerical types further down the chain speak American English, too. Bet on it. I bet even the janitor does!

Hell, the sign in front of the Russian embassy is in Russian AND one or more of languages used in the host country. The US Embassy's sign is only in English. That's pretty arrogant. Most people in the host country have no clue what it says.

A lot of American foreign policy should change as far as who and what we send overseas.

   


















To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY