War College Professor: How The United States Defeats Itself

November 20, 2006 Hellmut

Larry Goodson who teaches strategy at the United States War College, analyzes in the Baltimore Sun how we are defeating ourselves. Since terrorism is the propaganda of the deed, Goodson argues, the problem is not military but about the message we are sending to the world:

Four areas where specific policies have done tremendous harm to our reputation and placed us on the losing side in the information struggle come immediately to mind. Policies in these areas should be changed immediately:

• Detention, rendition and torture: This issue is simple. Follow the Golden Rule, not the Law of the Jungle. Treat others the way you would have them treat you, don’t get down in the ditch and wallow with pigs. People whom we detain or capture should be afforded all the protections of the Geneva Conventions and/or U.S. statutory law.

To do less, especially in a misguided effort to gather intelligence information, may yield some tactical advantage but undermines our chances of strategic success. The Military Commissions Act, recently signed into law by President Bush, can allow us to be seen as mistreating detainees — a perfect example of an ethical dilemma we should avoid.

• Warrantless wiretapping and data-mining: These policies may or may not be illegal or unconstitutional, but they send a signal that America is no longer a land of freedom and opportunity, but a home for paranoid xenophobes more concerned with security than about what being American means. Protect the Constitution above all; that is what the oath of office taken by public officials requires.

• Pre-emption and unilateralism: The mess that is Iraq may have forced us to change this approach already, but it bears repeating. You should not look for trouble, as you will get it often enough anyway. And, if you absolutely must look for trouble, at least make sure you have reliable friends with you. Otherwise … well, Iraq provides a sad and bloody object lesson.

• Language: Words matter, and perception often equals reality. When the president used the word “crusade” to justify U.S. military action in a Muslim country, that may have resonated well for millions of Americans shell-shocked by Sept. 11, but it signaled something different to millions of Muslims around the world. Or when the prime minister of Israel visited the White House and then the president came out and used the Israeli expression “facts on the ground” to talk about Israeli settlements on the West Bank, that confirmed the widely held view of millions of Arabs that Israel and the United States are in bed together. In a war where information is the center of gravity, words and images must be carefully chosen and used, lest they undermine strategic success.