Kevin Begos: "Good Intentions, Harsh Reality".

• Position: Monthly Journalism Award - Brief Article

Winston-Salem Journal January 24, 2005

Begos documents the promise and failures of the Research Triangle Institute, the North Carolina contractor assigned by the U.S. Agency for International Development to promote democracy in Iraq, after the fall of Baghdad. The contractors struggled with hostile Iraqi radicals, suspicious citizens, and a "monstrous bureaucracy that was literally unable to procure sand for defensive sandbags." Begos precisely captures the promise and difficulty of building democracy in an occupied land. Last year, the U.S. Agency for International Development cut the contract for democracy-building in Iraq from its operations, and the well-meaning," in over their heads" workers from RTI are going home.

The Monthly Journalism Award is presented each month to one or more newspaper...