MUHLIS off
11-24-2003, 07:36 PM
from: http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/Stories/0,1413,91~3089~1788395,00.html
Article have said some good things about but...in comparision to Iraq and Afganistan!!! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
CFBF President Pauli returns from Middle East trip
By MARK HEDGES/The Daily Journal
California Farm Bureau Federation President Bill Pauli recently returned to the country after a five-and-a-half-day trip through Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Pauli traveled with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman to meet with government officials, military commanders, U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service personnel and the ministers of agriculture in all three countries.
The trip entailed momentarily setting aside Pauli's work as a member of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's transition team, but he said the "opportunity to go to Central Asia with Secretary Veneman was just something I wasn't going to pass up.
"It was a real opportunity to see those three countries up close and what their situation is, to better understand what's going on over there," Pauli said.
Pauli said the group -- which included USDA Secretary J.B. Penn, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service administrator Ellen Terpstra, USDA Press Secretary Alisa Harrison and three members of the media left Andrews Air Force Base on Sunday, Nov. 9.
From there, the plane went to Shannon, Ireland, for refueling and then traveled to Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to meet with the deputy prime minister and the minister of agriculture to tour area sites and various USDA program locations.
"Then on Tuesday we left at the crack of dawn in a C-130 and went up over the 15-17,000-foot high elevation and dropped down into Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan," Pauli said, adding that the plane had to fly low to the ground to avoid being shot down by missiles.
In Kabul the delegation met with U.S. officials at the U.S. Embassy and with President Hamid Karzai and his agriculture minister to view and analyze various USDA and United Nations programs.
Of Karzai, Pauli said that he faces a situation of "incredibly difficult security he literally has to live in a vault to avoid getting shot."
Once it got dark again, Pauli said they took off and returned to Uzbekistan to an old Russian base that is now the debarkation point for all the U.S. sorties and attacks against the Taliban in areas of the Pakistani and Afghan border.
From there the tour continued on to Kuwait City, Kuwait, and "then up the Euphrates River to land in Baghdad," Pauli continued. There they met with U.S. Ambassador Kennedy, Interim Iraqi President Palabani, the minister of agriculture and various military leaders and Foreign Agricultural Service personnel.
After a day in Baghdad, the tour made its way to Mosul by C-130 and Blackhawk helicopter to visit the Kurds, observe some projects and dine with members of the 101st Airborne.
This last event Pauli said was particularly touching considering the fact that two 101st helicopters collided last Saturday.
After Mosul, the tour made its way to Amman, Jordan, and thence back to Ireland and onward to Washington, D.C.
It was only after they arrived in Jordan that Pauli could call his wife to let her know he was okay.
"She was very happy to hear from me," he joked.
Although the areas they visited were among the most dangerous in the world, Pauli said he never felt like he was in an unsecure situation.
"We were always with our military," he said.
As to what he learned on the tour, Pauli said that Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Iraq all have "very different circumstances."
Uzbekistan, Pauli said, is in the midst of transitioning from being a part of the U.S.S.R.
"It has a very controlled economy, yet a very strong agricultural presence and good agriculture and water," he said. "They also have a lot of minerals and particularly gold, gold and cotton. In fact, they are the second largest exporter of cotton in the world, so they have something to export.
"Uzbekistan's economy is moving along, the people are stable, though that doesn't mean things couldn't be better, but there's a real opportunity ahead for them," Pauli said.
"On the other hand," he continued, "Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. There is very little water and no minerals, and, after 30-plus years of continuous war, it is hard to find buildings that are not shot up and damaged.
"The people are very, very poor and the infrastructure is really shot up," Pauli added. "And it's difficult to ship anything out even if there was something to ship, because of the mountains. They have no working relationship with their eastern neighbor, Turkey, and that's not good. So they remain dependent on the poppy crop and the opium trade. There's a lot of work that needs to be done there, a lot of people with a lot of needs."
Taken in the perspective of Afghanistan, Pauli said that Iraq actually has quite a few good things going for it.
"Because of oil money, they do have roads, power plants, infrastructure, and some pretty sophisticated water systems," Pauli explained. "And they are able to export oil because of their location."
Pauli said that Iraq is "much more developed than either of the other two countries" they visited.
"They have agricultural products and minerals, and with the right government they'll do just fine," he said. "All three countries are very different, yet all are similar to California in size."
As for the success of the trip, Pauli said that Secretary Veneman was "able to report back on what we learned and what her observations were at this critical time of putting together a strategic plan to make those countries better-off and get us out of Iraq -- we need to make progress there and they need to stand up for their country and establish their government so we can move on, because we can only do so much."
Pauli said that the Iraqis, in particular, "have to want to help themselves."
"Clearly one of our messages was: You have an opportunity here with what's occurred in the elimination of the Hussein dictatorship and you need to stand up and get involved and make the decisions as to what kind of government you want, how it's run and how you want it to look.'"
As for being on the Schwarzenegger transition team, Pauli said it was a "terrific, worthwhile experience and it was good getting to know the other members of the committee and to see their interaction with Arnold and his staff."
Article have said some good things about but...in comparision to Iraq and Afganistan!!! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
CFBF President Pauli returns from Middle East trip
By MARK HEDGES/The Daily Journal
California Farm Bureau Federation President Bill Pauli recently returned to the country after a five-and-a-half-day trip through Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Pauli traveled with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman to meet with government officials, military commanders, U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service personnel and the ministers of agriculture in all three countries.
The trip entailed momentarily setting aside Pauli's work as a member of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's transition team, but he said the "opportunity to go to Central Asia with Secretary Veneman was just something I wasn't going to pass up.
"It was a real opportunity to see those three countries up close and what their situation is, to better understand what's going on over there," Pauli said.
Pauli said the group -- which included USDA Secretary J.B. Penn, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service administrator Ellen Terpstra, USDA Press Secretary Alisa Harrison and three members of the media left Andrews Air Force Base on Sunday, Nov. 9.
From there, the plane went to Shannon, Ireland, for refueling and then traveled to Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to meet with the deputy prime minister and the minister of agriculture to tour area sites and various USDA program locations.
"Then on Tuesday we left at the crack of dawn in a C-130 and went up over the 15-17,000-foot high elevation and dropped down into Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan," Pauli said, adding that the plane had to fly low to the ground to avoid being shot down by missiles.
In Kabul the delegation met with U.S. officials at the U.S. Embassy and with President Hamid Karzai and his agriculture minister to view and analyze various USDA and United Nations programs.
Of Karzai, Pauli said that he faces a situation of "incredibly difficult security he literally has to live in a vault to avoid getting shot."
Once it got dark again, Pauli said they took off and returned to Uzbekistan to an old Russian base that is now the debarkation point for all the U.S. sorties and attacks against the Taliban in areas of the Pakistani and Afghan border.
From there the tour continued on to Kuwait City, Kuwait, and "then up the Euphrates River to land in Baghdad," Pauli continued. There they met with U.S. Ambassador Kennedy, Interim Iraqi President Palabani, the minister of agriculture and various military leaders and Foreign Agricultural Service personnel.
After a day in Baghdad, the tour made its way to Mosul by C-130 and Blackhawk helicopter to visit the Kurds, observe some projects and dine with members of the 101st Airborne.
This last event Pauli said was particularly touching considering the fact that two 101st helicopters collided last Saturday.
After Mosul, the tour made its way to Amman, Jordan, and thence back to Ireland and onward to Washington, D.C.
It was only after they arrived in Jordan that Pauli could call his wife to let her know he was okay.
"She was very happy to hear from me," he joked.
Although the areas they visited were among the most dangerous in the world, Pauli said he never felt like he was in an unsecure situation.
"We were always with our military," he said.
As to what he learned on the tour, Pauli said that Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Iraq all have "very different circumstances."
Uzbekistan, Pauli said, is in the midst of transitioning from being a part of the U.S.S.R.
"It has a very controlled economy, yet a very strong agricultural presence and good agriculture and water," he said. "They also have a lot of minerals and particularly gold, gold and cotton. In fact, they are the second largest exporter of cotton in the world, so they have something to export.
"Uzbekistan's economy is moving along, the people are stable, though that doesn't mean things couldn't be better, but there's a real opportunity ahead for them," Pauli said.
"On the other hand," he continued, "Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. There is very little water and no minerals, and, after 30-plus years of continuous war, it is hard to find buildings that are not shot up and damaged.
"The people are very, very poor and the infrastructure is really shot up," Pauli added. "And it's difficult to ship anything out even if there was something to ship, because of the mountains. They have no working relationship with their eastern neighbor, Turkey, and that's not good. So they remain dependent on the poppy crop and the opium trade. There's a lot of work that needs to be done there, a lot of people with a lot of needs."
Taken in the perspective of Afghanistan, Pauli said that Iraq actually has quite a few good things going for it.
"Because of oil money, they do have roads, power plants, infrastructure, and some pretty sophisticated water systems," Pauli explained. "And they are able to export oil because of their location."
Pauli said that Iraq is "much more developed than either of the other two countries" they visited.
"They have agricultural products and minerals, and with the right government they'll do just fine," he said. "All three countries are very different, yet all are similar to California in size."
As for the success of the trip, Pauli said that Secretary Veneman was "able to report back on what we learned and what her observations were at this critical time of putting together a strategic plan to make those countries better-off and get us out of Iraq -- we need to make progress there and they need to stand up for their country and establish their government so we can move on, because we can only do so much."
Pauli said that the Iraqis, in particular, "have to want to help themselves."
"Clearly one of our messages was: You have an opportunity here with what's occurred in the elimination of the Hussein dictatorship and you need to stand up and get involved and make the decisions as to what kind of government you want, how it's run and how you want it to look.'"
As for being on the Schwarzenegger transition team, Pauli said it was a "terrific, worthwhile experience and it was good getting to know the other members of the committee and to see their interaction with Arnold and his staff."