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Peace-making a core mission in new Pentagon policy

Submitted by Jason White on December 14, 2005 - 3:07pm.
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By Bernd Debusmann

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - link - After years of internal debate, the Pentagon has embraced a fundamental change in policy which calls for the U.S. armed forces to be equally adept at waging war and making peace.

The new course, announced in a Pentagon directive, follows widespread criticism of the conduct of the war in Iraq, where U.S. forces scored a swift, decisive victory over conventional opponents but found themselves ill-equipped to deal with post-combat chaos and an increasingly effective insurgency.

The directive says that establishing order and security, restoring essential services and meeting the humanitarian needs of the population of a vanquished country were a "core U.S. military mission."

It is the first time that such activities have been defined as a core function of the U.S. armed forces.

Under the then-current label of "nation-building," the wisdom of using the military in repairing societies shattered by war was the topic of intense controversy in the 1990s when American troops were involved in post-conflict operations in Kosovo, Bosnia and Somalia.

George W. Bush made opposition to U.S. participation in nation-building a plank of his 2000 presidential election campaign. Condoleezza Rice, his future secretary of state, said peacekeeping in the Balkans was sapping military morale. "We don't need to have the 82nd airborne escorting kids to kindergarten," she said.

The new directive says: "It is ... policy that stability operations are a core U.S. military mission that the Department of Defense shall be prepared to conduct and support. They shall be given priority comparable to combat operations and be explicitly addressed and integrated across all DoD activities."

One officer involved in the debate leading to the new directive described it as "a vast program to change mind-sets" and said education and training would be key to the success of the initiative. Unlike past transformations of the armed forces, this one is not expected to involve major costs.

There is no timetable for implementing key provisions of the Nov. 28 directive, including the establishment of a "stability operations center to coordinate ... research, education and training, and lessons-learned."

The military bureaucracy is not known for lightning speed in translating directives into reality and experts both inside and outside the armed forces are reluctant to predict how long implementation might take. History shows that transformation can be measured in years, if not decades.

DEATH BY 1,000 PAPER CUTS?

"There's always the danger that this will be defeated by a thousand paper cuts," said Frederick Barton, an expert on post-conflict reconstruction at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. "Implementation in the field becomes difficult as soon as someone has to give up turf."

Turf jealousies are routine in any big organization and the U.S. military is particularly big: 1.4 million on active duty in the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force, and 860,000 in reserve and National Guard units.

Much of the 11-page policy document reads like a list to address shortcomings laid bare after the March 2003 invasion of Iraq and the ensuing criticism that the United States won the war and is losing the peace.

The directive specifies the need for better language skills, more regional expertise, better intelligence and counterintelligence, more emphasis on studying foreign cultures and more coordination with foreign governments, international organizations and nongovernmental organizations.

Critics of the conduct of the war in Iraq say that many of the postwar problems could have been avoided if the military had shared more responsibilities with civilians or had taken into account detailed postwar plans worked out by the State Department.

The directive addresses such criticism. "Many stability operations tasks are best performed by indigenous, foreign, or U.S. civilian professionals," it says. "Nonetheless, U.S. military forces shall be prepared to perform all tasks necessary to establish or maintain order when civilians cannot do so."

Officers involved in working out the new policy say that some of its provisions are already being implemented. Training at U.S. military colleges, for example, is being adjusted to place more emphasis on counterinsurgency, language instruction, cultural awareness and the need to win the hearts and minds of an occupied country's population -- as in Iraq.

In a first step to get specialists from both military and civilian organizations to share information on best practices in post-combat environments, the U.S. Army's Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute recently brought together experts in a workshop on training.

One of the slides in a presentation by an officer from the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California, reflected the added dimensions now being taught at military schools. Headlined "A New Class of 'Munitions,'" the slide listed money, food, medicine, education, fuel, employment, recognition and respect.

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Military Peacebuilding is an Oxymoron

Submitted by Susan Livingston on December 23, 2005 - 5:23am.

Here is an op ed from NOW Magazine that is the parallel to this discussion from north of the border.

Editor, propeace.net

Simple Enough

Submitted by Susan Livingston on December 18, 2005 - 1:56am.

Touche! Sometimes the simplest messages are the hardest to convey. The only thing I would add is this: Thus the need for a Department of Peace.

Editor, propeace.net

Peace Makers

Submitted by compassionforall on December 17, 2005 - 11:27pm.

Unless the military is willing to walk without their guns, it would be difficult to convey the message of peace.

Seeing a person walk with a gun instantly make that person a potential threat, and soldiers are taught to always walk with their guns.

The peace makers should be a distinct group. They should not be walking around with guns. Can the Pentagon handle that?

Bravo*Susan

Submitted by Rainbow Brain on December 15, 2005 - 12:08am.

A trained death eater is just that, one which lives in fear in order to accomplish its task.

One does not send in fire fighters to put the victims out of their misery.

The G-DOP - Global Department of Peace "uniform" should reflect all*ways and be something which binds the ties between those who will dedicate their lives to its mission.

It also should be something which at a glance, speaks of compassion and caring, as these are the types of people who will be drawn to it's service.

Something as simple as the yellow shirt worn by wilderness fire fighters, would do nicely.
The color choice alone may take years for everyone to agree upon ;)

BL*M
Timeless-ink-Press.com

Same*Page ;)

Submitted by Rainbow Brain on December 14, 2005 - 11:52pm.

hey Jason,

We are very much on the same page, yes everyone is in the process, aware, or not. As you well know the struggle in this format is to try and give that which will be of the most benefit to all levels of awareness. My point here as you so well stated in your last post, "especially with anything coming from the Pentagon" is that now is the crucial moment when the awareness opens the eyes of those who were sleeping and those who choose to not pay heed to the truth. It is at this crucial moment that agenda will try and twist the truth into a form of appeasement to co-op and suppress any new voice which in their view is gaining power and control of their truth.

This is now happening, with the Wal Marts of the world, what is still not yet completely understood by most is just how much is at stake, this time around.

It's the deal breaker if it's not done right, the nature of truth will no longer accept the deceptions of the past, the energy is to shift, and the new reality can/will not support that which will/can not follow the change.

thanks for the feedbacks, it's nice to see that action here.

Truth* - All*Ways - leads to Peace.

BL*M
Timeless-ink-Press.com

Never. Always. Forever. Impossible. Black. White. Absolute Zero.

Submitted by Jason White on December 14, 2005 - 9:19pm.

Rainbow Brain wrote:
the point being that if one chooses to take baby steps, one will continue to be considered as such by those who know only fear

I was referring to those who know only fear as the ones taking baby steps by issuing such a directive from a traditionally war-making body. I do consider them to be babies in many ways, just as those who are beyond me on The Path would consider me one.

Rainbow Brain wrote:
the awakening process will never come to many, no matter how much one may desire it to

My view is that everyone is in the process, whether they know it or not, and my desire to have them there has little to do with it. We are compelled to seek Truth by the very fact of our consciousness.

I will definitely heed your advice and Bee*Ware of deception, especially with anything coming from the Pentagon.

Conflict of Interest and Credibility

Submitted by Susan Livingston on December 14, 2005 - 4:30pm.

The purpose of military training is to overcome the instinct of the recruit not to kill with a willingness to kill. And kill is what they do. Put yourself in the position of an Iraqi survivor living in subsistence conditions on the outskirts of his flattened village. Can you entrust the rebuilding of that village to an occupying force? I doubt it! A violence builder and a peace builder in the same skin - or even in the same uniform - represents a conflict of interests.

There is a credibility issue at stake here, too. I've heard people who want to get out of Iraq, but are concerned because, for example, the insurgents tear the schools down as quickly as we put them up. Solution? Let them build the schools (with our financial aid, of course). I've heard people object that the Iraqi security forces are guilty of torture and atrocities. Surprise, surprise - look who trained them!

Both of these issues are easily resolved with a Department of Peace. The mandate is clear, the uniform (if any) is different, the training is specific. It's wonderful to hear that even the Pentagon is crying out for such a mandate, but rather than take it at face value as is, let's use it as a sign of the decline of favor for empire-building and as further support for the creation of the Department of Peace. I think the Pentagon would breathe a collective sigh of relief if they didn't have to send such a mixed message to their soldiers.

Editor, propeace.net

Never*

Submitted by Rainbow Brain on December 14, 2005 - 4:28pm.

The word is true, one can never balance that which is truth with the use of that which is based in fear, the point being that if one chooses to take baby steps, one will continue to be considered as such by those who know only fear, the awakening process will never come to many, no matter how much one may desire it to, this is the reality of truth and this is the reality of Being*Awake, encourage, yes, but Bee*Ware the reality of deception for it has no intermediate stage.

BL*M

intermediate stage

Submitted by Jason White on December 14, 2005 - 3:54pm.

Of the many, many baby steps that will be required to reach our ideals, I feel that this is an important one. We must be prepared to recognize, encourage and celebrate the dawning light of Truth even in those people and institutions that have not embraced it in the past. We are ALL in an awakening process, and this process must be encouraged in any way that it manifests. Bee*Ware of the word "never". This is an intermediate stage that will unfold in time to a deeper understanding.

Bee*Ware

Submitted by Rainbow Brain on December 14, 2005 - 3:38pm.

The conversations and concepts are good, yet beware of the one who co-ops the moral standard of truth to serve a construct of fear. The Military might of the sword is based in maintaining fear, such an operation can never restore true balance, one can not live the double standard forever, it must change with either love or fear being the driving force.

BL*M

Love*Rulz (Available on DVD ;)
www.timeless-ink-press.com