Afraid of Our Own Ideas Posted by Suzanne Nossel

I agree with Derek that Bush gave a good speech last night.  I really like his idea for an Active Response Corps.  It bears a fair resemblance to the Stabilization Corps that I recommended be created in this March, 2004 Foreign Affairs article and then again here on Democracy Arsenal.  As Derek points out, many others have been arguing along similar lines.

Here's the interesting thing.  Given the amount of attention to the need to beef up post-conflict capabilities within progressive circles, I am sure I wasn't the only one trying to convince top foreign policy advisers to the Kerry campaign that the candidate should get out in front with a bold proposal along these lines.  That kind of proposal would have been creative, timely, and the sort of bold initiative that could have gotten people excited. 

But the campaign never made an ambitious proposal along these lines.  Why? 

Progressives have been so caught up in trying to establish their bona fides as anti-terror, anti-WMD hawks that many shy away from any issue or idea that could come off as soft.  Talk of a stabilization corps is put aside in favor of emphasis on enlarging the military.  I fear the same effect is at play on Darfur, where now that its been revealed that the Sudanese are aiding in the war on terror, the demands for action to end the killings seem a bit more muted.   

There was plenty of this en route to Iraq.  Though some harbored doubts about the the evidence on Saddam's WMD and criticized Bush's attempt to steamroll the UN, there was fear that particularly if the war turned out to be relatively quick and bloodless, those who opposed it would look like wimps.

A lot of keystrokes have been devoted to the need for progressives to become better educated about and more comfortable with the use of force.   All of us here, and indeed most progressives - be they in the think tanks, the Congress, or the grass roots - believe that U.S. military intervention is an essential part of the foreign policy toolbox in a variety of situations.   We need to keep making that point, and refining our ideas about the fighting terror, containing WMD and improving U.S. military capabilities.

But this cannot be the sum total of progressive foreign policy.  If it is, we will find ourselves drawing relatively fine distinctions between our own ideas and Bush's, and trying to be convincing on a set of issues where you cannot be put to the test while you're on the sidelines. 

Progressives should not be afraid to put forward bold foreign policy positions because they don't relate to the narrow set of security issues that have helped keep conservatives in power.  The longer we do so, the more ground conservatives will gain in appropriating and refashioning agendas - like the promotion of freedom and democracy - that traditionally belonged to us.

To go back to the stabilization corps, there's room for progressives to go a lot further than Bush has.   His Active Response Corps is limited to foreign and civil service officers and volunteers, but should be expanded to include paid workers with far wider backgrounds and skill sets (engineers, builders, etc.).  Properly done, such a force could draw into government service whole populations that wouldn't consider joining the military, thus alleviating some of the burden on our armed forces.  The allocation of just $24 million to fund this effort is a warning sign that Bush doesn't really take the matter seriously. 

Progressives can refine and build on what Bush has proffered.  But next time we shouldn't be afraid to propose it first ourselves.

Comments

[Cal]

From Suzanne's CAP article:

--"From their misplaced doom-saying about Iraq's elections to their focus on the persistent problems in the emerging Afghan and Iraqi democracies to their talk of planning for withdrawal, progressives are starting to sound like conservatives of a bygone era – pessimistic about sowing democracy and chary of expending American power for an elusive goal."--

Aren't you accusing progressives of being sane?

Wilsonianism was a failure. Kennedy's "bear any burden" policy was a failure. The US military has a 22% success rate when it comes to bringing democracy to other nations, according to the CEIP, and half of those successes are tiny Panama and Grenada.

Even if you're stabilizat'n corps is somehow able to double the success rate to 40%, I think being wary of further democracratization measures is a wise precaution.

[fester]

Screw you with your comment that progressives were trying to establish themselves as "anti-terror" hawks -- the vast majority of progressives that I know fully supported going into Afganistan and support sending more troops, more money, and more expertise there to quash the Taliban and the remnents of Al-Quaida. All of the major presidential primary candidates including Howard Dean supported this position. The discontinuity was between those who thought Iraq was a good idea, and those that thought it was a distraction and a waste of our time, our blood, our treasure and our opportunity to continue to be more effective against Al Quaida. The second group was correct in their assessment that Iraq was and is a distortion and distraction to the fight against Al Quaida and its regenerating remnents. It is a wonderful recruiting tool and a further illustration of the central story that Bin Laden et al are tryig to tell to the Arab world.

[tristero]

Nearly every fear that I had about the outcome of the Iraq war has come true.

It is not I and others opposed to this war (eg, Carnegie Endowment) who are seriously ignorant about how best to use force. It is those who supported the war, liberals or otherwise, who should get an education. Fast.

[Justina]

Your praise for Bush's speech calling for an "Active Response Corp" is misplaced. Prior to the invasion of Iraq, he had one. It was called the State Department.

A State Department team composed of Middle East and development specialists reportedly spent a year compiling all possible information on Iraq and composing a manual for the post-invasion occupation of Iraq.

General Garner, the first Iraq administrator,requested that the State Department specialists who developed the post-invasion programs, join him in Iraq. Rumsfeld vetoed their participation.

Rumsfeld successfully opposed their inclusion on Garner's team in Iraq and tossed all the information and strategies they had developed into the trash, as he successfully got Garner replaced by Brenner, who cancelled the local elections Garner had announced in favor of his first priority -- privatizing Iraq's economy for the benefit of foreign capitolists.

As a result of trashing the State Department's plans, Brenner disbanded the Iraqi army, sending 400,000 armed men into the community with no jobs,no pay, and understandable anger.

In so doing, he even rejected the suggestion of the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. who suggested, quite sensibly, that the US give all the Iraqi soldiers substantial raises, plus a three months bonus which would keep them very happy with the US occupation.

Nope, our good friend Chalabi wanted them fired, so they were.

Thus Brenner, acting with the approval of Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld, set the stage for the horrors which have since taken place.

This illegal war, commenced on a pack of lies, was further enhanced by the total incompetence of those in command who expressly rejected the advice of State Department/AID specialists who had at least some realistic knowledge of the Iraqi people and their culture.

If Bush creates his own "active reponse team", he would likely appoint some ignorant idiot like John Bolton to lead it.

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