Lessons From New York City

Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich (what's up with that combination?) have an op-ed in today's Opinion Journal. Just as Giuliani managed to turn around an ailing city by addressing fundamental quality of life issues, they recommend addressing the core aspects of civil society to stabilize Iraq.

The American mission in Iraq must succeed. Our goal–promoting a stable, accountable democracy in the heart of the Middle East–cannot be achieved by purely military means.

Iraqis need to establish a civil society. Without the support of mediating civic and social associations–the informal ties that bind us together–no government can long remain stable, and no cohesive nation can be maintained. To establish a civil society, Iraqis must rebuild their basic infrastructure. Iraqis must take control of their destiny by rebuilding houses, stores, schools, roads, highways, mosques and churches.

But the constant threat of violence, combined with a high unemployment rate estimated between 30% and 50%, fundamentally undermines that effort. This not only sustains the fertile breeding ground for terrorist recruiters but has the same corrosive effect as it would in any city–raising the likelihood of further violence, civic decay and a crippling sense of powerlessness.

A massive effort must be made to engage in a well organized plan to rebuild Iraq. The goal: an infrastructure to support and encourage a strong, stable civil society.

When Giuliani took the reins in New York City, there was a lot of doubt that he could actually fix things there as I recall. But he did so. This whole op-ed is worth reading. There are some things that can be done rapidly that will help get more Iraqis working. Things like this need to occur just as much as fighting a counterinsurgency. A great deal has been done already with little public notice, of course. Our media does not report a lot of those activities. But Giuliani and Gingrich are recommending getting the Iraqis themselves into the efforts and getting the idle unemployed working to improve the infrastructure. They also recommend that the efforts be under US military control.