GROUND ZER0, New York, N.Y.--Dec. 6, 2003--The war in Iraq can be swiftly and smoothly ended by bringing in one of the greatest TerrorHunters of modern times--Wal-Mart.

        The war in Iraq is about changing the landscape of a country from poverty, tyranny and oppression to prosperity, liberty and justice.  And no single force on earth has proven its ability to turn the tides of underdeveloped nations than Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer.
       Huh?
       A retail store can do more than all the James Baker's, the President Bush's, the Tony Blairs?
       Terrorists want one thing in life--to rule with Fear, Intimidation and Complacency.   They seek to drive people into emotional, mental, spiritual and financial poverty by disrupting the order of society and making chaos rule.
       Only order can usurp Terrorism, and such order comes from within a society rather than from without.   You must force the citizens of a nation to stand up to the Terrorists within to defeat their plan of fracturing society, and that can only be achieved by the Mothers, Fathers, Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts, Cousins and Loved Ones of Vigilance--the people who are most concerned with the future of their children's safety and security, the guardians of generations to come.
       Wal-Mart is the company that has proven its ability to take a society of people living at or near the poverty line and shift the balance of power away from Terrorism to Vigilance.
        Take Mexico as one small but vital example.
         In today's New York Times, reporter Tim Weiner provides readers with a fascinating example of how over the past dozen years since Wal-Mart entered the market in Mexico it has virtually changed the nation's economics and ushered the country into the 21st Century of serving the average consumer with high quality low-priced consumer goods that benefit the mothers, fathers, children, grandparents and relatives of a nation struggling to escape a "third-world" history of poverty and instability.

       For example, according to Weiner's article, Wal-Mart is closing in on $11 billion in sales, topping the entire revenue from Mexico's tourism industry.  He says Wal-Mart sells more than $6 billion worth of food, and because of its ability to cut prices and still profit, that economists credit Wal-Mart with helping reduce Mexico's rate of inflation, bolstering the economy that often rocks and rolls with the tides.

      Currently, Wal-Mart sports 633 outlets and is credited with serving more than 585 million people at its checkout counters--that's about six times the population of the country.  It accounts for about 30 percent of all food sales in Mexico, says Weiner, and a staggering 6 percent of all retail sales.
       Wal-Mart's 12 years in Mexico has produced sales that represent 2 percent of the domestic gross product for the country, about the same Wal-Mart represents in contribution to the U.S. economy.|
       If you step back and look at what Wal-Mart is all about, you see not just a retail store--for there are countless numbers of those that have come and gone over the years--but instead, a Sentinel of Commercial Vigilance.

            The goal at Wal-Mart is to serve the Families of Vigilance throughout the world--not just sell things to people.
             The "family" is the key to Wal-Mart's magical marketing.   Greeters stand at the door and welcome everyone who enters as though they were kin, buddies, pals, relatives enjoying a reunion.
        The company, which produced $245 billion last year making it the world's largest company in terms of revenues, started in the United States in 1961 by Sam Walton.   He used his southern manners of friendly service, plus the ability to stock low-priced high quality merchandise, to burrow his way onto the doorsteps of a nation hungry to have people exchange smiles and warmth for money and products.    

      Today, the $245 billion Wal-Mart generates from its global operations is more than all but 30 of the 193 nations produce worldwide--a tribute to not just commercialism, but to the idea of "serving families."
        Wal-Mart is a new player to global operations.  It launched its first international expansion in 1991 and has operations in addition to Mexico, in Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, South Korea, Puerto Rico and Britain.
        Iraq may appear on television to be a war-torn land, pockmarked with violence and disunity.  But, casual observers might not see the true heartbeat of that nation's true desires--to evolve beyond the tyranny and oppression of its own poverty.
       Nations are nothing more than the compilations of its citizens dreams for the future, and the mothers and fathers, the grandparents, uncles and aunts of Iraq want a nation that provides the children--and more than 40 percent of Iraq's 23 million population are under the age of 15--to have a better life.
       Part of that better life is better food, better clothes, better education, better opportunity.  Wal-Mart offers all of these elements.
       For example, in Mexico Wal-Mart employs 100,164 people according to the Times article.   Last year, the Times reports, Wal-Mart created 8,000 new jobs, half the permanent employment positions in all of Mexico.
       Listening to the news coming from Iraq, the big issue facing the redevelopment of the country is getting people back to work--finding them jobs so they can earn the money to put food on the table, clothe their children, and fund their education and life styles.
       Wal-Mart has an extensive training program that teaches people how to work with others, how to "serve" them and to profit from such service.    Retail training is a "work-in-progress" educational system, similar to what McDonald's University is here in the United States.

        Young people working in structured, proven retail operations learn discipline and communication.  They are given incentives and goals to achieve, plus rewards of a wide variety from slaps on the back to employee of the month.  Self-imagining is a vital element of such training, reminding employees that it is their "attitude" that causes a customer to return.
      Currently, Iraq is struggling to put its footings back as a nation.  A major department store just opened in the embattled capital, its entrances guarded by armed greeters and video surveillance cameras scanning all who enter.
       There can be little doubt that a major part of the population wants order to be restored, and not the same that Saddam Hussein offered that made Iraq a military state, ruled by the barrel of a rifle and managed by torture chambers.
       James Baker III, former Secretary of State, was just appointed as President Bush's envoy to restructure the $100 billion in Iraq's foreign debt, a move designed to oil the economic rails so Iraq can engine itself back into a commercial society, dependent upon its relations with other nations.
        Mr. Baker would be well advised to invite Wal-Mart to help in the restructuring of that debt.    If Mexico is any example of how a giant retailer who focuses on family values can change the face of a nation's ability to grow from within, then Wal-Mart should be the "secret anti-Terrorism" weapon he employs.

         Terrorism is about stunting the growth of people, families, nations.   It seeks to hammer everyone like nails, and can only be fought when people want more than they have and are willing to fight for it.
          Wal-Mart brings to nations a plethora of "goodies" at prices they can afford, and, with something much more valuable than simple discounting.  It brings a "Vigilant Culture," a sense of family serving family.
         Mexico is a "family" nation.   There is a great bond between the Mexican people and their children and relatives.   The same exists in Iraq.    People band together in tough times and rely on themselves.
        Wal-Mart has a history of making its operations "family friends."   If Wal-Mart were to launch operations in Iraq, the warmth and care of its internal structuring would do more to embrace the people of that country into the fold of the modern world than any rules, regulations or constitutions that government planners might imagine.      

         "Hi, welcome to Wal-Mart," would do far more to frighten the Beast of Terror from Iraq than all the military forces.
         Why?
         Perhaps the greatest enemy of Terrorism is the idea of a family--whether it be a commercial family or a national family.   Wal-Mart has proven its ability to be a "global Family of Vigilance."
         Open Wal-Marts in Iraq.
         Chase the Beast of Terror away with a handshake and a greeting.
        

Dec. 5--The Snows of Vigilance

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