Max Boot writes this thought provoking article that indicates we should look to have a corp of variously talented civilian administrators and even police to call to duty much like the National Guard in order to deploy their talents in post-conflict rebuilding zones.  While this is a bit far fetched, particularly in this environment of anti-war feelings, I do think it useful to utilize different types of people with different backgrounds.  The military, with the exception of special forces, are not trained to deal with administrative and law enforcement issues likely to be faced in post-conflict zones of operation. 

There are many hurdles to jump through before a plan envisaged by Boot could be actualized (providing adequate security to civilians deployed is a big one in the wake of the Blackwater controversies), however, if we are going to be engaged in the world and try to build capacity in states that require significant institutional construction, this is something worth considering.

Back in the day, the British did this (at least to some extent).  I know many will say this is avowedly imperialistic, however, despite the setbacks of Iraq , we will, in the future, engage in other military conflicts where the post-battle scenario requires things to be rebuilt and institutions developed to keep the country in question from descending into possible chaos.  Simply breaking things and leaving won’t be a good option, nor would it be the moral option.  Consequently, we should at least examine our abilities to expand this capacity so we can be better prepared than we were in Iraq .