If Cheney wants to cite Nicaragua as the kind of success Iraq has to look forward to, then we need to look at the economic situation there. From the World Bank website:
World Bank
Managua, June 2, 2004 - In spite of drought, the onset of a coffee crisis, and the devastation of Hurricane Mitch, overall poverty in Nicaragua fell from 50.3 percent in 1993 to 45.8 percent in 2001. According to the World Bank's Nicaragua Poverty Assessment, however, extreme poverty in Nicaragua continues to be overwhelmingly rural, where more than 25 percent of the population struggle to survive on less than one dollar per day.
"Nicaragua's advances in poverty reduction over the last ten years are encouraging, but we also realize there is much to be done, particularly in improving the conditions of the poor in rural areas," said Amparo Ballivián, World Bank Country Manager for Nicaragua. said Amparo Ballivián, World Bank Country Manager for Nicaragua.
The study, which is based on long-term poverty levels in Nicaragua, was released yesterday at the Center for Information on Development (CID) at the Roberto Incer Barquero Library at the Central Bank of Nicaragua. The report finds significant progress in poverty reduction while revealing a stark contrast in the livelihoods of urban and rural societies. Some of the major findings of the report include:
* Poverty changes between 1998 and 2001 varied substantially by region. Poverty fell by over 10 percent in the Pacific Rural area, but more modest reductions took place in the Atlantic Rural, Pacific Urban, and Central Urban areas.
From WorldIQ: Economy of Nicaragua
...Nicaragua remains the second-poorest nation in the hemisphere with a per capita GDP of less than $500--below where it stood before the Sandinista takeover in 1979. Unemployment is officially around 11%, and another 36% are underemployed. Nicaragua suffers from persistent trade and budget deficits and a high debt-service burden, leaving it highly dependent on foreign assistance--as much as 25% of GDP in 2001.
And this: Heavily Indebted Poor Countries
The 41 nations the World Bank defines as "Heavily Indebted Poor Countries" (HlPCs) -- 33 of them in Africa -- owe 50-100 billion dollars in multilateral debts, says the Jubilee Movement for debt relief. That means each child in Nicaragua is born owing more than 2,000 dollars, in a country where average yearly income is only 390 dollars.
How long do we want to be tied to an Iraqi economy that looks like this?