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The american army in Iraq has difficulties protecting supply convoys. The american army should eliminate the supply convoys and hire Iraqis to transport supplies.

The supply convoys use large army trucks which look very different from the other cars and trucks in Iraq. This makes it easy for the antiamerican fighters to know which vehicles to attack. But Iraqis could use small civilian cars and trucks to move supplies, and then the antiamerican fighters would not know which vehicles to attack.

If the american army replaces supply convoys with Iraqi truckers, then the american army in Iraq can be reduced, because the american army will require fewer trucks, fewer truck drivers, fewer truck mechanics, and fewer soldiers to guard the supply convoys.

Replacing supply convoys with Iraqi truckers will save the american government money, and will stimulate the Iraqi economy.

The american occupation government should announce that anyone who has a truck or car and wants work should go to the supply base and offer to transport something. They should be given a load and a destination.

The truckers may steal the supplies instead of delivering the supplies. To prevent this, the american army should not pay the truckers until after a successful delivery. Also, the american army should record the vehicle and driver for each load, and whether or not the load was delivered successfully. New, unknown truckers should be given low value cargos, perhaps boxes of rocks. Valueable cargos should be entrusted only to truckers who have already successfully delivered several loads.

Antiamerican fighters may pose as truckers. Truckers should not be allowed to enter the supply or destination bases. Truckers should be required to load and unload at the edges of bases.

To prevent sabotage, supplies should be transported in sealed containers. When the supplies are delivered, the container should be examined for signs of tampering. Any container which might have been tampered with should be handled very carefully, in case the contents have been replaced with a bomb.

If there are not enough cars and trucks in Iraq, then the shortage of cars and trucks will cause the price of cars and trucks to rise, and people will import cars and trucks from neighboring countries. Some people may start trucking with a car, and then use the profits to buy a bigger truck. Other people may use their profits to buy another truck or car for a friend. If there is a shortage of cars and trucks, capitalism will end the shortage.

Wherever possible, the american army should buy supplies locally. This eliminates the supply problem, and stimulates the local economy.

The George W. Bush administration is biased toward big business. If the George W. Bush administration tried to privatize trucking in Iraq, they would probably contract one large company to do all the trucking. This would be a mistake. If trucking company was american, it would offend the people of Iraq. If the trucking company was Iraqi, it would become a target of the antiamerican fighters.

Many individual truckers would provide no targets for the antiamerican fighters. Many individual truckers would stimulate the economy of Iraq better than one large trucking company, because the profits would be divided among many truckers, not concentrated in one trucking company. Iraq needs small business more than big business.

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