thedrifter
01-04-09, 06:51 AM
50 cows are given to 50 widows in Iraq
By Tony Perry
Los Angeles Times
AL-ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq — As U.S. forces work to revive Iraq's tattered farming economy, they seem to have found an effective new weapon.
Cows.
At the suggestion of an Iraqi women's group, the Marine Corps recently bought 50 cows for 50 Iraqi widows in the farm belt around Fallujah, once the insurgent capital of war-torn al-Anbar province.
The cow purchase is seen as a small step toward re-establishing Iraq's once-thriving dairy industry, as well as a way to help women and children hurt by the frequent failure of the Iraqi government to provide the pensions that Iraqi law promises to widows.
The early sign is that the program is working. Widows, many with no other income, have a marketable item to sell, as well as milk for their children. Although Iraqis, particularly women, are often reluctant to participate in an American effort, the cows were immediately popular.
"It was an easy sell," said Maj. Meredith Brown, assigned to the Marines' outreach program for Iraqi women.
The idea, proposed by members of the Women's Cultural Center in Fallujah, at first was met with resistance from U.S. military officers and civilian officials involved in aid programs for al-Anbar. Nothing in their training provided guidance in haggling for livestock.
But those objections evaporated when Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the top Marine in Iraq, signaled his support, Brown said. The Iraqis now refer to their animals as Kelly's Cows.
Although Kelly's support might have been based on gut instinct, the need to beef up Iraq's dairy industry was argued in a Nov. 25 report by Land O'Lakes Inc.
The Minnesota cheese-and-butter company was hired by the Marine Corps to examine the Iraqi dairy industry. Its 38-page report, based on field research in the fall by two Land O'Lakes dairy specialists, concluded that there was enormous growth potential for the industry in a milk-drinking, cheese-eating nation that can locally produce enough milk to satisfy only 5 percent of the demand.
The study also pointed out that, even in Iraqi farm families with able-bodied men, much of the work is left to women: "Women milk the cows, bring feed and fodder to the animals and are supported by their children."
Land O'Lakes has been involved in 150 development projects in 70 countries in recent decades. Among them was a dairy project in Afghanistan after the Taliban was toppled in the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. As a first phase, Marines and Land O'Lakes specialists are discussing a milk-collection facility run by the women to help them learn accounting, marketing and other skills.
The cows-for-widows program is the latest of several initiatives by the U.S. to help Iraq's dairy and beef industries. Some efforts have been individual, such as buying a replacement cow in 2004 for a farmer near Ramadi who complained that his animal was killed in the crossfire between Marines and insurgents. Other initiatives have been larger in scale, such as inspections of herds by Army veterinarians.
Also, the U.S. is taking the lead in the rehabilitation of a milk-collection center in Fallujah. And Army personnel and advisers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture met last year with farmers at a dairy in the Wehida region south of Baghdad that once had 8,000 cows but now can barely handle a fraction.
To qualify for a free cow, each widow had to sign an agreement not to slaughter or sell the animal and instead to use the milk as a marketable item or for the family.
The project is not entirely altruistic. The Marines believe that widows with at least some economic resources are less likely to join al-Qaida to carry out suicide attacks in exchange for a promise that their children will be cared for after the women are gone.
Ellie
By Tony Perry
Los Angeles Times
AL-ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq — As U.S. forces work to revive Iraq's tattered farming economy, they seem to have found an effective new weapon.
Cows.
At the suggestion of an Iraqi women's group, the Marine Corps recently bought 50 cows for 50 Iraqi widows in the farm belt around Fallujah, once the insurgent capital of war-torn al-Anbar province.
The cow purchase is seen as a small step toward re-establishing Iraq's once-thriving dairy industry, as well as a way to help women and children hurt by the frequent failure of the Iraqi government to provide the pensions that Iraqi law promises to widows.
The early sign is that the program is working. Widows, many with no other income, have a marketable item to sell, as well as milk for their children. Although Iraqis, particularly women, are often reluctant to participate in an American effort, the cows were immediately popular.
"It was an easy sell," said Maj. Meredith Brown, assigned to the Marines' outreach program for Iraqi women.
The idea, proposed by members of the Women's Cultural Center in Fallujah, at first was met with resistance from U.S. military officers and civilian officials involved in aid programs for al-Anbar. Nothing in their training provided guidance in haggling for livestock.
But those objections evaporated when Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the top Marine in Iraq, signaled his support, Brown said. The Iraqis now refer to their animals as Kelly's Cows.
Although Kelly's support might have been based on gut instinct, the need to beef up Iraq's dairy industry was argued in a Nov. 25 report by Land O'Lakes Inc.
The Minnesota cheese-and-butter company was hired by the Marine Corps to examine the Iraqi dairy industry. Its 38-page report, based on field research in the fall by two Land O'Lakes dairy specialists, concluded that there was enormous growth potential for the industry in a milk-drinking, cheese-eating nation that can locally produce enough milk to satisfy only 5 percent of the demand.
The study also pointed out that, even in Iraqi farm families with able-bodied men, much of the work is left to women: "Women milk the cows, bring feed and fodder to the animals and are supported by their children."
Land O'Lakes has been involved in 150 development projects in 70 countries in recent decades. Among them was a dairy project in Afghanistan after the Taliban was toppled in the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. As a first phase, Marines and Land O'Lakes specialists are discussing a milk-collection facility run by the women to help them learn accounting, marketing and other skills.
The cows-for-widows program is the latest of several initiatives by the U.S. to help Iraq's dairy and beef industries. Some efforts have been individual, such as buying a replacement cow in 2004 for a farmer near Ramadi who complained that his animal was killed in the crossfire between Marines and insurgents. Other initiatives have been larger in scale, such as inspections of herds by Army veterinarians.
Also, the U.S. is taking the lead in the rehabilitation of a milk-collection center in Fallujah. And Army personnel and advisers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture met last year with farmers at a dairy in the Wehida region south of Baghdad that once had 8,000 cows but now can barely handle a fraction.
To qualify for a free cow, each widow had to sign an agreement not to slaughter or sell the animal and instead to use the milk as a marketable item or for the family.
The project is not entirely altruistic. The Marines believe that widows with at least some economic resources are less likely to join al-Qaida to carry out suicide attacks in exchange for a promise that their children will be cared for after the women are gone.
Ellie