Thomas P.M. Barnett

■"Driven From Iraq, Aid Groups Reflect on Work Half Begun," by Daniel B. Schneider, , 15 November 2004, p. A13.
■"Australian Says 'Stomachs and Pockets' Are Key in Iraq," by Nora Boustany, Washington Post, 5 November 2004, p. A15.

■"Since 9/11, Muslims Look Closer To Home," by Laurie Goodstein, New York Times, 15 November 2004, p. E1.

Here's the essential truth of the matter in Iraq:

As Baghdad fell to American troops in April 2003, a number of international relief agencies had already gathered near Iraq's borders, eager, even without on-the-ground assessments or local partners, to speed workers and supplies along.
A year and a half later, aid groups report that they have made progress in restoring basic social services and the rudiments of a civil society. But faced by an oppressive succession of assaults, kidnappings and bombings, they are withdrawing their remaining foreign staff, with only a handful of non-Iraqi relief workers left.

Those aid efforts that have not ended have taken on a vastly different shape: smaller, concentrated in areas that are safer, but less in need of immediate help, and overwhelmingly in the hands of Iraqis, directed outside the country.

Security concerns prevent most relief officials from discussing their Iraqi operations publicly.

The notion of a SysAdmin force doesn't seem so crazy after you read something like that, huh? Makes you think there needs to be a new nexus between the military and relief organizations if we're really going to secure lasting victories in this global war on terrorism. Also makes you realize that, in the end, the military only starts the show and cannot possibly end it on its own.

Another lesson we need to take away from Iraq is to keep our initial goals simple and direct. You want to win "hearts and minds?" Well, focus on "stomachs and pockets" first, according to Peter Khalil, an Australian who spent 9 months at Paul Bremer's side in the Green Zone.

As Khalil put it, "After security, the most important concerns of Iraqis are stomachs and pockets."

You just know an Australian would be so direct, right?

So we're all learning some new/old lessons on how to rehab a political bankrupt state (I say "old," because we learned most of these same lessons in Somalia and Haiti in the early/mid 1990s and then chose to forget them immediatelyóat least inside the Pentagon).

Probably the strangest news I've come across regarding charity work since 9/11 is that Muslims in America, wary of giving to overseas groups for fear of supporting terrorism, are now redirecting much of that money to Muslim charities that deal with issues right in their own neighborhoods and cities. They feel the same old religious obligation; they just chose now to do it closer to home.

That is a very good trend in terms of Muslims in America connecting to the country in which they now live, and yet, we need to make sure that good Islamic charities around the world don't go starving as a result. That outcome would do nothing positive for us in this Global War on Terrorism.