Correction, plus Rambling

Yesterday I wrote that Bush had suspended the minimum wage requirements in an effort to rebuild the Gulf Coast. This was incorrect. Bush has suspended a regulation requiring the US government to pay the "prevailing wage", which in New Orleans works out to $9/hour. That's still pitifully small, and it's kind of symbolic of the entire Bush administration. Basic act of charity and kindness? Fuck you! Obscene corruption and graft? Right on!

It also reminds me of one of the simplest solutions to the Iraq war, early on - simply pay all the Iraqi Army to stay in their barracks. (This isn't just my idea, by the way. This was proposed by a number of serious security people.) The US could easily afford to double the IA's pay, and take over command of the Army. This would have a) kept the men with military experience more-or-less under control, and b) vastly increase the US's available manpower.

The first protests to break out in Baghdad after the war? Soldiers demanding paychecks from the US government. From Lexis-Nexis:

Copyright 2003 Deutsche Presse-Agentur
June 18, 2003, Wednesday
09:07 Central European Time

HEADLINE: Iraqi shot during demonstration in Baghdad, two killed in al Qa'im

DATELINE: Baghdad

U.S. soldiers opened fire on demonstrators in the Iraqi capital Wednesday, killing one man during a protest by former Iraqi soldiers outside the U.S. civil administration offices, eyewitnesses said.

U.S.-owned CNN news television reported no deaths, saying one demonstrator was seriously injured and another suffered less serious wounds.

The demonstrators had gathered outside the building to demand back pay and protest against the U.S. ordered dissolution of the Iraqi army shouting, "The Iraqi army's boots will kick America when they march."

In a separate incident, U.S. forces killed two Iraqis in the city of al Qa'im, near the Syrian border, the Qatar-based al-Jazeera news television reported.

So it would have been relatively cheap (cheaper than fighting the insurgency, at least) and it was what the Iraqis wanted anyway. Keeping the Army could have incidentally given the occupation a veneer of legitimacy that it has never had. The occupation of Japan was notable for it's calmness, in part because the Americans essentially took over the old Japanese government while keeping the structure more-or-less intact. That is, the Japanese people could see that the occupation was at least somewhat legitimate, because it was connected to their previous rulers.

But of course, if something has a record of success, it has no place in the Bush Administration.