It sends a great message to the locals about our ability to provide them with security that we cannot even secure our own forces . . . . While there might be certain unique, tactical situations where a new road is the most appropriate solution I'd say that the driving concern should be the welfare of the local people and not the security of our (heavily armed, by comparison) truck drivers. While US public opinion is important in this war, Iraqi public opinion is more so.

Also note the somewhat schizophrenic nature of this action - all the scuttlebutt in the news says that we'll be drawing our forces down sharply in 2006 and yet they want to spend millions of dollars on a project that probably won't even be started this year . . . .