Not to smart 011910

With the collapse of the Soviet Union came the end of the cold war.  American neo-conservatives saw this as a great military victory and developed a new international strategy.  This strategy concluded that the United States was so powerful that it could dictate to the world, which had no option but to obey.

The truth however was that the Soviet collapse was not the result of an American military victory but rather the collapse of Soviet central planning economic model.  One that failed to adapt to a new generation of Russians demanding their piece of the pie.

In 2003 political scientist Joseph Nye coined the term “Smart Power” as a counter to advocates of Soft Power and Hard Power.  A country’s soft power includes its culture; values and policies, however it depends on the perceptions of other states that the culture and values are attractive and policies are consistently and legitimate.  Hard power is more easily understood as overwhelming force applied freely.  Smart power requires intuitive analysis of issues and alternative courses, which assist policy makers to align tactics with objectives for more effective strategies.

Bush, ‘the younger’, and his entourage counted regiments concluding that the American strategy should only be applications of hard power.  In the wake of 911 the United States had the opportunity to achieve most of its international objectives through smart power.  Instead the Bush administration unilaterally deployed hard power while demanding other states get on board or become targets.  Oil producers and religions were already on the target list. European and Asian states were insulted, cooperation and support dried up and the administration discovered that it did not have enough regiments for its multiple taskings.   The military became politicized and American foreign policy became a military prisoner, not to smart when seeking international legitimacy and allies.

When an earthquake struck Haiti (011210) America was presented with another opportunity to regain some of the eroded standing.  Here was a purely humanitarian crisis just off the American shore and the United States had experienced crisis teams but instead its military staged an invasion.  The military took over Haiti’s air space and refused landings of other countries’ assistance.  Among them were, international evacuations flights, a complete field hospital “but it was French”, Brazil’s support for it own forces stationed in Haiti. and denied support for third country nationals.  The American Navy had a fleet off shore with medical capabilities but its helicopters were not allowed to pickup casualties.   The Air Force did make a token bomb run on survivors with water and rations in the same manner that failed in Afghanistan.  Not very smart applications of power for a nation facing increasing power competition.

Immense international pressure was brought on military arrogance and the international community finally wrestled control of humanitarian efforts.  The administration is faced with the embarrassment of apologizing to Haitians and insults to others.  It is time to purge the Bush hard-liners from the military and employ some foreign policy smarts.