One member of the congress is focusing on a postwar Iraq in a way that will be beneficial to American-owned companies. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) has sent letters to the rest of congress, the Pentagon, and the U.S. Agency for International Development urging them to use a wireless cell phone technology (CDMA) that was developed by American-owned Qualcomm, Inc. of San Diego. Qualcomm is not in Rep. Issa's district.

The congressman warned against using the GSM wireless technology, which was originally developed by the French, for an Iraqi cellular phone system.

If GSM is used as the Iraqi standard, the "U.S. government will soon hand over U.S. taxpayer dollars to French, German and other European cellphone companies to build the new Iraqi cellphone system. This is not acceptable," wrote Mr. Issa.

Most of the Middle East and Europe as well as over half the world use the European-based GSM technology. Let's start turning the tide the other way now! This is the perfect opportunity to start a trend in favor of American companies in a postwar Iraq. And why not? After all, the tax dollars from American workers and American companies are largely being used to fund this war. Contact your representative in congress and tell them to support Rep. Darrell Issa's vision of postwar cellular technology for Iraq in favor of U.S. companies.

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