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- we are very the US
- military is very very very good at
- anything and everything the US
- government the president itíd States
- tells us to do we we can do anything we
- have a we are our culture is one of of a
- bias for action of not being not being
- tied down by who's really in charge of
- the thing I give you a thousand examples
- of my time in Iraq
- where you know economic development the
- SUNY tried this the SUNY part of Iraq
- was a place when I went back as a
- commander they said look you can't win
- down there it's a hotbed of Sunni
- radicalism just don't get too many
- people killed on bought province we won
- and I bought province and when I say we
- won we beat we made common cause with
- the sheiks we beat down al Qaeda and we
- developed the place in a way that no one
- could believe in terms of agricultural
- production in terms of industry and all
- those kind of so I'm a marine and I'm
- going up the normal way to get this kind
- of assistance to Baghdad you know people
- in Baghdad that never traveled outside
- of the Green Zone and didn't understand
- what was going on on the ground in a
- couple of examples I would give you I
- grew up in Boston city kid people came
- up to me and said we said you know I'm
- Bob Provence used to produce more
- chickens for obviously all the things
- you use chickens for but more chickens
- than anywhere else in the in the Middle
- East but because of the oil-for-food
- program all of that kind of thing went
- away because they pumped oil and they
- were given food so the chicken that
- employed really large numbers of people
- and so the chickens and the in the end
- of and the sheep and all of this kind of
- thing and so I said to Baghdad I really
- need people that know agriculture
- because there's things here that with
- tremendous potential but I want to
- kick-start it and you don't have to
- waiting two months I get four or five
- people from the Department of
- Agriculture that didn't know anything
- about agriculture they there were
- bureaucrats from Washington but there
- were no better at chickens than I am and
- and chickens to me you get in in a
- grocery store so what we did was I just
- bypassed it and I went to the best
- agricultural school in the world Texas
- A&M; University and I said I need someone
- that knows again I'm a city kid I need
- someone that knows how to bring back
- what was once a very vibrant to
- agricultural economy
- and they sent nine of ten people cost me
- $400,000 they came for three and a half
- months and I remember the day they
- reported out to me there was a woman
- that said we had five million sheep in
- the in Anbar province and she said every
- one of them's got to be replaced and I
- went okay I'm thinking five where do I
- buy five million sheep and she she said
- you must be from Boston in the city
- because no no you don't have to buy five
- million sheep
- what we need is 15,000 Rams and what you
- do is you go around and we did this we
- went around and when we start a flock of
- sheep people that know what Rams look
- like I have a general idea how to
- identify a ram but say okay you got
- three Rams
- cut their throats right now and eat him
- obviously and we'll give you three new
- ramps we bought these Rams from all over
- the Middle East and North Africa what we
- were doing is was was replacing the the
- DNA stock because they're all inbred and
- very sickly and all that so my point is
- anyways four hundred grand they come in
- a guy that knows soil irrigation better
- irrigation techniques a million chicks
- we bought in started the a million
- chicks to start the the chicken
- production program I was criticized
- repeatedly over getting outside my lane
- but the agricultural industry and Amba
- province came back and many many
- thousands of young men were were
- employed gave him something to do and in
- life goes on same kind of comments
- economic development I had a lot of
- reservists work for me accorded all of
- my marine reservist and said does anyone
- know anything about business development
- you know I had 10 to 12 people who were
- very very skilled at it so we sent them
- down to Kuwait to a today's man bought
- them a couple of cheap suits and sent
- them down the cutter Amman Jordan
- few other places in that part of the
- world and the next thing you know I'm
- flying businessmen from other parts of
- the Persian Gulf Arab businessmen in in
- marine aircraft up to unbar province to
- have meetings with with Sunni sheiks and
- sue in on bar businessmen the kick
- started overnight not overnight very
- quickly
- the economy started to pick up all of
- this outside of my lane all of this
- outside of the a ID process and I can't
- say enough good things about a ID but
- all of it because they're bound by this
- this kind of you know they have baggage
- a book and I'll end with this a really
- really good book that you that I'd
- recommend to you if you if you're
- interested in economic development that
- kind of thing
- Paul Brinkley was the name of the book
- is war front to storefront Paul was a
- very very successful businessman hired
- by Rumsfeld he's still a good guy
- Brinkley I mean and he came out and for
- five years was the DoD business
- development guy in what he touched got
- better severely criticized by the
- establishment because what's DoD doing a
- nation-building and economic development
- and the answer is because you are not
- doing it so we we are very very good at
- what we do and I would offer that the
- idea that the US military if the mission
- is business development like it wasn't
- on ball province there was more business
- development than killing people we hunt
- we're not to do that really well but it
- was more business development and
- sitting down with sheiks and human
- rights issues and all of that we're very
- very good at that we're not tied by by
- the baggage that the federal bureaucracy
- are the other bureaucracies are and at
- the end of the day we have this bias for
- action we want to put points on the
- board and we want to we want to win the
- game
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