Obama and Military Diplomacy

Abu Muqawama focuses in on the Lebanon angle, interesting take there, but in this interesting piece by David Brooks in a discussion with Barak Obama we observe a theme of this blog rising to the top. If this is part of the political discussion this election year, we are very interested.

“The debate we’re going to be having with John McCain is how do we understand the blend of military action to diplomatic action that we are going to undertake,” he said. “I constantly reject this notion that any hint of strategies involving diplomacy are somehow soft or indicate surrender or means that you are not going to crack down on terrorism. Those are the terms of debate that have led to blunder after blunder.”

Obama said he found that the military brass thinks the way he does: “The generals are light-years ahead of the civilians. They are trying to get the job done rather than look tough.”

It isn't just the generals, it is the Lieutenant's, Captain's, and Majors. It is the NCOs with 20 years experience on their 3rd tour. We may not realize it today, but one of the greatest diplomatic corps this country has ever had is serving the country right now, and they are associated with the US Army and US Marines over the last 3 years.

Any regular reader to this blog should recognize our emphasis of the military leading the way across the world in diplomacy, Obama is the first politician to publicly recognize it and point it out. Who is getting results in Myanmar right now? An Indian Admiral, a Chinese General, a French Admiral, and a pair of American Admirals. It isn't just the US anymore, there is evidence in every disaster (New Orleans knows who Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV is) or difficult crisis where someone in the military takes the lead.

If our nation is unable to capitalize on the skills of young officers who leave the military, it will be a tragedy. We give enormous enlistment bonuses for enlistments into the military, we need to be thinking about grabbing the folks leaving the military with command experience in Iraq with signing bonuses to get the State Dept. up to speed. The youth in the State Dept. gets it, the question is whether they will replace their ineffective management fast enough, and work with enough experienced people to expand their skills set. Hiring the retiring military folks with experience in the war gives the next generation a better chance.