A Surge in Public Works Jobs Too?
From a Wash Post piece outlining the generally negative reception about a potential troop surge in Iraq comes this tidbit about plans to restart the moribund– (update based on comments below) or is that booming, or maybe both at the same time? —Iraqi economy:
A fourth option would add major funds to a short-term work program to hire Iraqis to clean up trash or do repairs after U.S. and Iraqi troops secure neighborhoods. This Pentagon-run program is a way to lure unemployed men who had joined militias back into the mainstream economy, at least briefly, with the U.S. intention that Iraq would eventually spend its own money to create permanent jobs.