From yesterday's Dallas Morning News:
Dallas Morning News
November 29, 2007
Gates Nails It
If you want to know the difference a year makes, think about what Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this week. There he was in Kansas, telling students it was ludicrous that America spends $500 billion a year for its military but only about $36 billion for the State Department's foreign affairs requests.
If we're going to win this war on terror, Mr. Gates said, we're going to need more diplomats and civilians working overseas to build bridges and tamp down insurgencies. He even pointed out that State's 6,600 career diplomats equal about the force it takes to man one aircraft carrier strike group.
Dial the clock back 12 months: Donald Rumsfeld was exiting as secretary of defense, finishing a run in which he did everything possible to stonewall State Department diplomats. He thought they were a bunch of squishes who couldn't make tough decisions, which is why he finagled to make sure the Pentagon did most of the reconstruction of Iraq.
Blessedly, Rummy's gone and Bob Gates is at the helm. What a relief to hear a Pentagon chief say we can't just fight our way to victory. And that the Pentagon can't do all the bridge-building. The department doesn't have the capacity to work with local governments, get schools going and do all the other things diplomats and civilians can do better in places such as Iraq.
We particularly like that Mr. Gates couched the expansion of "soft power" as part of a tough-minded strategy to prevail against terrorism. His thinking mirrors the approach that Gen. David Petraeus advocates against insurgents in Iraq and elsewhere: We can't just pulverize them all; we have to take away their reasons for being.
Now, Congress should turn Mr. Gates' words into action, starting with next year's spending for diplomatic operations. Let's build up our capacity to communicate, work on the ground and wage peace. Just as when President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned about putting too much trust in military might, it sometimes takes a defense warrior to say the obvious.
Dallas Morning News
November 29, 2007
Gates Nails It
If you want to know the difference a year makes, think about what Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this week. There he was in Kansas, telling students it was ludicrous that America spends $500 billion a year for its military but only about $36 billion for the State Department's foreign affairs requests.
If we're going to win this war on terror, Mr. Gates said, we're going to need more diplomats and civilians working overseas to build bridges and tamp down insurgencies. He even pointed out that State's 6,600 career diplomats equal about the force it takes to man one aircraft carrier strike group.
Dial the clock back 12 months: Donald Rumsfeld was exiting as secretary of defense, finishing a run in which he did everything possible to stonewall State Department diplomats. He thought they were a bunch of squishes who couldn't make tough decisions, which is why he finagled to make sure the Pentagon did most of the reconstruction of Iraq.
Blessedly, Rummy's gone and Bob Gates is at the helm. What a relief to hear a Pentagon chief say we can't just fight our way to victory. And that the Pentagon can't do all the bridge-building. The department doesn't have the capacity to work with local governments, get schools going and do all the other things diplomats and civilians can do better in places such as Iraq.
We particularly like that Mr. Gates couched the expansion of "soft power" as part of a tough-minded strategy to prevail against terrorism. His thinking mirrors the approach that Gen. David Petraeus advocates against insurgents in Iraq and elsewhere: We can't just pulverize them all; we have to take away their reasons for being.
Now, Congress should turn Mr. Gates' words into action, starting with next year's spending for diplomatic operations. Let's build up our capacity to communicate, work on the ground and wage peace. Just as when President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned about putting too much trust in military might, it sometimes takes a defense warrior to say the obvious.
