Not a War, But a World to Win
Thomas Gangale, former
Air Force officer
The fundamental problem with the War on Terrorism is
that the Bush Administration made it a real war, and it shouldn't have. It is being fought
as a war in the classic sense of the word, rather than being used as a stirring
metaphor for a different kind of struggle.
There have been metaphorical wars of policy in the
past--not shooting wars, but campaigns of mobilized resources and organized
effort. Lyndon Johnson declared a War on
Poverty; Richard Nixon declared a War on Cancer; Ronald Reagan declared a War
on Drugs. Although these metaphorical
wars have met with varying degrees of success, the point is that Johnson didn't
shoot the poor, Nixon didn't shoot cancer patients, and Reagan didn't shoot
drug addicts. In contrast, many of the
people that the Bush Administration's War on Terrorism have
"collaterally damaged" were already the victims of terror. They may not have hated
The War on Terrorism that we should be fighting is a
metaphorical war. It should be a war of international
intelligence cooperation, a war of international law enforcement, and a war of
international humanitarian effort. In
regard to addressing the root causes of terrorism, the
Bush Administration's March 2006 National Security Strategy report focuses on
spreading democracy as the panacea. In
the prelude to the Iraq War, neoconservatives Paul Wolfowitz
and Richard Perl talked about turning Iraq into a democracy, so that from there
democracy could spread to other Middle East states. In the four years since, we have seen the
tragic and inevitable outcome of the misguided ideology of spreading democracy
from the barrel of a gun and the steering wheel of a HUMV.
Democracy is a set of principles, operationalized
by a set of government institutions, mediated through a set of civic
organizations. It is not something that
one can force on someone against his will, or even give to someone who is
willing to accept it but unprepared to actualize it. One can write a constitution in a few
months. One can set up government
institutions in a few years. But
creating a civil society takes decades, and no democratic government can be
healthy without a healthy civil society.
Democracy can do all of the things that the National
Security Strategy report claims. It can
abate alienation by offering an ownership stake in society. It can redress grievances through the rule of
law. It can counter misinformation and
dogma with an independent media and a marketplace of ideas. How well any society puts these into practice
is another story. In any case, if
Americans understand what democracy is, and believe that its spread will
contribute to a more peaceful world, our mission--should we decide to accept
it--is to show other peoples what our system has to offer them. This is not a military mission.
It is, however, a mission of service. The proposed American World Service Corps
would bring substance to the high-sounding buzzwords that have come out of US
foreign policy circles in recent years:
public diplomacy and transformational diplomacy. Public diplomacy is talking the talk of
democracy. Transformational diplomacy is
walking the walk. The State Department
can do some of the former, but it lacks the resources to do much of the latter.
It is up to American society as a whole to walk the
walk wherever in the world we are invited, including
in our own land. A number of
organizations have carried on this work for decades: Peace Corps, AmeriCorps,
Habitat for Humanity, Doctors Without Borders, Red
Cross, International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps, et cetera. However, a globalizing world that provides
instant information and swift, inexpensive transportation also has the capacity
to bring terror to our doorstep.
Consequently, it is time to step up to the next level of play.
The American World Service Corps would provide an
institutional mechanism for our new, higher level of play. The AWCS would not be a large new government
bureaucracy; rather, its small staff would serve as an umbrella organization to
funnel
Ultimately, however, and regardless of whether
Congress creates the AWCS, defeating terrorism is up to each of us. If you want, you can head out for adventure
in some remote corner of the world. Or,
you can participate in local civic organizations, for by building a better
Really, it just means spending a little less time
sitting in the bleachers or in front of the television being entertained, and a
little more time playing the greatest game there is: moving the ball toward the
goal of creating the world in which you want to live, and in which you would
like your children to live. This game will not be televised, so if you want to see it, get in the
game. Suit up and take the field. There's a world to win.
* * *
Thomas Gangale is a former Air Force officer.
He is now an aerospace engineer and is currently the
executive director at OPS-Alaska, a think tank based in
OPS-Alaska
office: 707-773-1037
cell: 707-364-2773
e-mail: teg@ops-alaska.com