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In its last Maine Infrastructure report card in 2008, the Maine Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers found more than a third of Maine’s bridges subject to federal standards weren’t up to code.
The study gave Maine’s roadways an even worse grade, maintaining that levels of state Department of Transportation funds allocated to pavement preservation were so low that Maine drivers had to dig up an estimated average yearly repair cost of $285 per vehicle.
That same year, U.S. taxpayers funded the reopening of the Jadriyah Lake Water Park. It built originally in 2003 by the Iraqi Board of Tourism under Saddam Hussein, on the Tigris River. After it was damaged in war, we renovated it for the health of Iraq’s (apparently) booming tourism industry.
According to the Digital Journal, $1 million in funding for the Jadriyah Lake Water Park was allocated from the Commander’s Emergency Response Program (CERP), established in 2004 to provide troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan with money for small infrastructure projects such as fixing windows and dealing with humanitarian needs.
Today, the log flumes run silent on the Tigris. The water park lies in rubble.
While Maine’s bridges were crumbling and Mainers were joining the unemployment line, the U.S. was spending billions of dollars building new roads, bridges, power plants and more in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just as unsettling, according to a 2005 Joint Force Quarterly article on the fund, “Thousands in Baghdad received a daily wage to clean streets, alleys, buildings and public spaces, far exceeding what U.S. forces could alone do.”
You read that right: While Maine’s roads and bridges fell apart and unemployment soared, the United States wasn’t just making infrastructure investments in Iraq, it was creating jobs for Iraqi citizens funded by U.S. taxpayers.
Earlier this year, of course, Congressional Republicans prevented consideration of the president’s American Jobs Act, which would have invested $138 million into infrastructure improvements in Maine and provided work for a minimum of approximately 1,800 Mainers, according to Rep. Chellie Pingree’s office.
Last week, the Senate passed the FY2012 Defense Authorization Bill, setting aside $400 million for Afghanistan reconstruction. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduced an amendment that would cap CERP projects in Afghanistan at no more than $50,000 each, injecting an estimated $700 million back into U.S. infrastructure projects.
While the amendment was not included in the bill, McCaskill has fostered a critical discussion: At what expense comes our obligation to clean up the mess we made in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Unquestionably, certain investment operations have done much to win the U.S. allies in war-torn countries, with no better example than the Marshall Plan. CERP isn’t one of them.
In her floor speech on the amendment, McCaskill cited a recent study completed by the Department of Defense, which stated that “despite hundreds of millions in investments, there is no persuasive evidence that the Commander’s Emergency Response Program has fostered improved interdependent relationships between the host government and the population — arguably the key indicator of counterinsurgency success.”
The Defense Department’s effort to win “hearts and minds” by helping Iraqis build up their own country at the expense of ours has been a cataclysmic failure both at home and abroad.
On Aug. 1, 2007, the “structurally deficient” I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring 145. Four days later, while 140,000 commuters rerouted their commute and the Twin Cities began losing $40,000 in daily revenue, the House of Representatives passed the FY2008 appropriations bill authorizing $1.2 billion in CERP funds for Iraq and Afghanistan.
After years of pumping billions of dollars into rebuilding from the devastation of war, it’s time to clean up after the weapons of mass economic destruction at home. And Maine sure needs it.
“Many parts of Maine’s infrastructure are crumbling, from pothole-filled roads to worn-down schools,” said Mike Tipping, spokesman for the Maine People’s Alliance. “At the same time, tens of thousands of Mainers are out of work. Now’s the time to solve both problems and make the investments in our infrastructure that we need to make, and that will pay off big in the future.”
Tipping’s organization recently launched “Back to Work,” an effort to collect photos and stories online demonstrating necessary infrastructure repairs across the state. Every day, thousands of Mainers risk their lives driving on unsafe bridges and roads to the unemployment office. Washington has an easy fix, but a lack of political courage.
It’s time to renew America by rebuilding our nation and putting Americans to work in the process. Senator McCaskill has the right idea for lasting and meaningful job creation — by investing in both human and structural capital at home, America can get back on track.
And we can start by getting out of the water slide business.
Ben Goodman is a fourth-year political science student and the interim president of the Maine Young Democrats. His columns will appear every Monday.
