That seems like a pretty good plan, Mary. There's really only one problem: the Bush administration isn't going to set up a MacArthur to manage Iraq, they're going to give Shell, Exxon, etc. a free hand in their economy. And DougR, Germany and Japan are both a lot better off than they would have been without U.S. aid. Come to think of it, Japan has the highest per capita income in the world, and is the cutting edge in almost all electronics works. While you have to give the Japanese a lot of credit for their ability to incorporate Western technologies and ideas without losing their own culture, the American aid did hel a whole lot.