Prometheus 6

I was joking, man...

Where the 'Angry Young Men' Are
By Colbert I. King
Saturday, December 16, 2006; A19

"Now listen to this," he continued: " 'As Iraq descends further into violence and disarray, the Pentagon is turning to a weapon some believe should have been used years ago: jobs.' "

Mr. Carl reminded the barbers that the Bush administration prefers to let unemployed Americans fend for themselves, relying on the free market. Not so in Iraq, he said. Mr. Carl stated that Pentagon planners intend to -- reading again -- "bring life to nearly 200 state-owned factories." Continuing, he read: "Their goal is to employ tens of thousands of Iraqis in coming months, part of a plan to reduce soaring unemployment and lessen the violence that has crippled progress."

Citing another paragraph, Mr. Carl said the Pentagon also plans to divert 25 percent of the Defense Department's $4 billion of spending orders from firms in neighboring countries such as Jordan and Kuwait to Iraqi companies. That's a $1 billion noncompetitive set-aside program for Iraq, he observed.

With a wistful smile, Mr. Carl read aloud a quote from Army Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the top U.S. field commander in Iraq: "We need to put the angry young men to work."

That, Anderson Carl told the assembled in Darrell's barbershop, is why our own jobless and angry young brothers are trying their best to get to Iraq.

Grabbing his hat and rushing out the door, Jerome exclaimed: "Baghdad, here I come!"