Smart power at the interpersonal level. That’s what Powerful Peace advocates, but I wonder if the full message is coming through. It’s called “smart” power, but it belongs to the visceral sense of humanity in Body, and especially to Heart and Soul, as well as to Mind. With the drawdown of U.S. operations for Operation Iraqi Freedom and my reintegration to American society following a recent year in Iraq, I sat down to take stock of the message so far—and how to say it going forward.

 

Our long-term security will come not from our ability to instill fear in other peoples, but through our capacity to speak to their hopes. And that work will best be done through the power of the decency and dignity of the American people —our troops and diplomats, but also our private sector, nongovernmental organizations and citizens. All of us have a role to play.  Barack Obama

 

My preoccupation with Iraq is a natural result of a military and civilian career involving that nation for many years. During the late 80’s our eyes were glued to the Soviet threat. Even as Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika (“transparency” and “reconstruction”) toppled the Cold War wall, Saddam Hussein’s aggression against Kuwait drew the bulk of America’s newly available attention.  Iraq has been actively on our minds since the early 1990’s.

With the September 11th attacks a decade later, the citizens of this planet entered a new era. My platoon helped “open the door” with reconnaissance operations, and U.S. military power flowed into Afghanistan in force. We conducted a dramatic reversal of Taliban influence there…then took our eyes off that ball and waded back into Iraq. In the absence of meaningful alternatives for the Afghan society, the Taliban reconstituted. As U.S. authorities in Iraq deliberated whether to leave earlier than planned, we found ourselves turning once more to unfinished business in Afghanistan and expecting several more years of determined combat. I headed back to Afghanistan.

If all this pinballing between wars in Iraq and Afghanistan seems to indicate a lack of effectiveness on our part, it’s because, well, we hadn’t been very effective. The proof is in the pudding. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not criticizing the planners and implementers. I’m in no position to second-guess the decisions of good, highly experienced Coalition and policy leaders, armed with superior expertise and facing challenges of tremendous complexity. Nor, God forbid, am I saying the soldiers on the ground have not given their best.  Remember—I am one. I’m simply pointing out the obvious. If we call a plumber to repair a leaky pipe, and the pipe continues to leak after he’s paid and gone, he wasn’t fully effective.

The pipes in Iraq and Afghanistan were still leaking. The good news is, we had learned to build a more effective team. No longer just an experienced fellow who knows how to swing a wrench…but doesn’t understand how various metals corrode one another. We’re bringing chemists for that. We’re also bringing the water company, to determine whether the pressure is right. And a technician will walk through the house with us, demonstrating better ways to use the faucets so we can stress the pipes less.

Enough general contractor euphemisms for you?

Recent years in Iraq and Afghanistan have given the term “whole of government” acceptance as more than the feel-good jargon early critics assumed. Whole of government was officially mandated in the U.S. 2010 National Security Strategy. The introductory quote for this chapter is from President Barack Obama’s foreword to that document.

We need to do a better job of kissing and killing. The military is expert at force, or hard power. And today we better understand that force alone provides—at best—only short-term gains, while setting the stage for possible long-term losses. As we add more kissing, or the soft power of influence, to include outreach and cultural awareness, we establish a better balance and better conditions for success. I emphasize balance—all too often, the message of smart power or “applied” smart power is misunderstood as merely an extension of soft power. Once again: without the underlying capacity for force, our soft persuasion can enjoy only limited effectiveness.

We need stable societies to carry on once force is removed. We need a smarter approach to societal engagement and development, a harmonized and holistic approach, so these populations can begin to support themselves and establish the foundation for enduring security.

It will be interesting to see whether our future “repairs” turn out to be effective.

Advertisement