cuchulainn
Member
I bet Daley hid his WMD out in Buffalo Grove
from the Chicago Sun-Times
http://www.suntimes.com/output/jesse/cst-edt-jesse06.html
from the Chicago Sun-Times
http://www.suntimes.com/output/jesse/cst-edt-jesse06.html
Baghdad plan can work here, too
May 6, 2003
BY JESSE JACKSON
'We lost more lives to guns in Oakland last year than we did in Iraq. What do you make of that?'' The question was striking, and revealing. Let's contrast our relief at victory in Iraq with our reality here at home.
Consider how the United States is dealing with security in Iraq. For over a decade, we sustained an arms embargo on Saddam Hussein. We worked to limit his ability to arm his troops. The Pentagon had no illusions. It knew that Saddam could get arms from smugglers. But the embargo would make getting arms more difficult and more expensive.
Once we invaded, the immediate demand was for military presence to enforce security. The Pentagon rounded up as many guns as it could find. Not surprisingly, the military is rushing in reinforcements trained in police and riot control, increasing its presence on the streets to enforce security and redoubling its efforts to pick up the guns.
But the Bush administration knows that disarming the Iraqis and putting troops on the ground are not enough. It plans to rebuild not just the oil wells, but schools, hospitals, roads and water systems, electric grids and housing.
The transition in Iraq won't be easy. A civil war is already brewing, and resentment of the U.S. presence is rising rapidly. But the administration understands that if there is any hope to establish a peaceful, democratic Iraq, we have to enforce order, dry up the supply of guns, and rebuild the economy.
The Iraq plan would make good sense in Oakland or in Chicago or in many of our cities. Guns are not manufactured in our cities. Many won't even allow gun dealers to operate. But, as one example, Chicago is surrounded by 13 large gun dealers right outside the city's borders. They provide easy access to guns. If we followed the Iraq plan, we'd shut down those dealers, enforce an embargo and redouble efforts to soak up the guns.
Second, we'd increase the presence of security in the toughest neighborhoods in the city. President Bill Clinton pushed for a program that would put 100,000 more police on the streets and that would encourage police departments to move back to walking the beat rather than cruising in police cars. The Bush administration, allergic to anything related to the former president, zeroed out the program. And now the state and local fiscal crisis is forcing cities to lay off police or pare down their forces through retirement. Fewer police on the streets means less order and less security.
Finally, under the Iraq model, we'd invest in hope--rebuild collapsing sewer and water systems, clean up brownfields, give incentives to urban entrepreneurs who create jobs, and build new schools and affordable housing, day care centers and public clinics. We'd provide hope and opportunity--and a real stake in the future. As in Iraq, we'd do so knowing that this is central to building a secure, thriving civil society that is the foundation of democracy.
In fact, we're headed the other way. The administration prefers tax cuts for the few over investments in housing, hospitals and schools. Money for affordable housing is slashed. The administration is prepared to build schools in Baghdad but not in Boston.
Nations do well what they do most--what they invest their attention, their genius and their resources in. We have the most powerful military in the world because we invest almost as much as the rest of the world combined. Our soldiers have the best training and the best weaponry, and they fight with pride. We lose more people to gunfire on the streets of Chicago than in the sands of Iraq because we don't invest attention, energy and resources in our cities. The president's budget makes this clear. He's adding money to the Pentagon and subtracting it from cities, schools and housing. Our soldiers will go into battle with the best weaponry that there is. Our urban citizens, on the other hand, walk home at risk, in cities that won't even get the attention or the resources that Baghdad is about to receive.
