No End in Sight Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

No End in Sight - Essay Example Bodine’s view of the reconstruction was to reach out to the Iraqis and identify government technocrats, as well as civil leaders who can effectively run the state (Shaikh 1). For a short period of time, she achieved a lot. What fascinated me about her was that, in such a demanding atmosphere, she managed to identify the best steps to be taken and how they would go about evaluating the steps. Richard Lee Armitage was an ex-deputy secretary of State Department. According to Armitage, the Iraq reconstruction was all about promoting world peace. He considered Iraq to be a threat to world peace (Shaikh 1). Armitage was also quite congenial during the interview, and that is fascinated me about him. The film covered the Iraq occupation mainly through interviews. The interviewees were mainly significant figures who were charged with managing the restriction. It dwelled on the mistakes that the Bush Administration during its occupation of Iraq (Shaikh 1). What shocked me was that the lack of security, rise of insurgency, lack of basic services and also, at one instance, the risk of a civil war, was caused by the mistakes made by Americans. If an outside power occupied my country and allowed widespread looting to take place and did not protect my country’s historical monuments, then I would consider them as taking us for granted. I would also think that their purpose for occupying our nation was for their own benefit. This will make me think of ways to remove them from my country. I will also make me despise the outside power. As depicted in the film, the daily lives of Iraqis were looting, fighting each other, killing each other and widespread demonstrations. Homes were burnt down, so people became homeless. Also, the country came to a standstill (Shaikh 1). In fact, during this period, Iraq could not be considered a country because even its leaders had exiled the nation and some killed. If I was in

Assess Friedman's assertion that business does not have social Essay

Assess Friedman's assertion that business does not have social responsibilities other than to maximise profit - Essay Example world on whether sustainable business and corporate social responsibility are a distraction to the sole purpose of which is to act in the best interest of the shareholders (Cosans, 2009:392). In other words, when companies act responsibly, they risk foregoing revenue and minimising profits at the expense of a positive reputation in society. Milton’s assertion is supported by the diagram below that states a company’s profitability is achieved where Total Costs = Total Revenues. In his article, Friedman sought to understand the statement that ‘corporate executives have a social responsibility as businesspersons’ (Makower, 2006). This statement meant that corporate executives were not to act in the best interest of their employers or stakeholders. He gave several examples that supported his argument. He questioned whether it is right for companies to avoid increasing the prices of goods to contribute to the social good of curbing inflation or that they employ the unemployed in a move to reduce poverty or that they set aside a huge amount of their profits to minimise pollution contrary to the business objectives. He argued that such measures would turn companies’ executives into civil servants. Corporate Social Responsibility and ethical business practices are considered strategic business moves in the contemporary world. This is because they contribute positively to the company’s reputation and the public is willing to buy goods from a company that considers their needs. Ignoring social and environmental issues can be damaging to companies in the current times. Companies that pollute the environment risk poisoning the public who are discouraged from buying goods from them. Furthermore, companies that raise the prices of goods to increase their profits may end up losing their customers to their competitors. Finally, companies that exploit their workers experience high employee turnover rates and increased training costs. However, the current globalised