The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2008

A New State? In his March article titled “After the Surge,” Keith Mines reviewed the four alternatives for dealing with the future of Iraq. But he overlooked what is probably the easiest and, in- deed, most productive one: making Iraq the 51st state. This would certainly be the solu- tion to our oil problems, providing us with a permanent base in the Middle East, pleasing the neocons and giving both the Shiites and the Sunnis our “freedom of religion” umbrella. Max Fallek Minneapolis, Minn. Donor-Funded Programs Recently there have been several statements in the Journal and other media questioning the ability of cer- tain countries to administer donor- funded programs. Countries typically cited with management deficits include such post-conflict entities such as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Iraq and West Bank/Gaza. These doubts puzzle me, because any country may retain private-sector specialists to meet these deficiencies. Contractors already administer such programs throughout the world, for example, in Dubai, Mexico, Singapore and South Africa. The key to success- fully administering programs is to apply leadership and political will along with the funds. When qualified personnel are not available locally, bringing in outside program managers is a reasonable, proven solution where resources exist. Otherwise, either donors need to build up in-country capacity, or recipi- ent countries need to find other sources of funding to bring in outside program managers until they have the capacity to manage the programs themselves. Barney P. Popkin Environmental Protection Specialist, USAID Washington, D.C. n J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 9 L E T T E R S u CORRECTION In the June issue, Belgrade should not have been listed in the box titled “Unaccompanied Posts as of March 2008” on p. 32. In addi- tion, it is the capital of Serbia, not Yugoslavia as indicated there.