Made in Iraq

I begin one of the sections in the Bangladesh chapter:

James Bond fought communism. So did my grandpa’s underwear.

Following WWII the US War and State Departments decided to rebuild the textile industry in Japan because it’s a good idea, if you drop 37,000 ton of atomic bombs on a country, to not help them rebuild industries that could easily be converted to the production of weapons, since the people of that country are still probably a bit peeved.

It was important that the USA established strong relations with Japan because if we didn’t it was likely that communist China would.

In the name of national security, the garment industry took its first great leap overseas to Japan. Today, the industry remains at the forefront of the politics and economics of globalization. I heard on the radio this morning that we can expect the Made in Iraq label to appear on shelves this Christmas, thanks to millions of dollars from the US Department of Defense. That’s right. The US Department of Defense is rebuilding Iraq’s garment/textile industry.

I’ll end with another excerpt from the Bangladesh Chapter:

Capitalism and garments spread peace and cheeseburgers around the world.