Diplomats For Tough Duty

[NATO AIR]

Tom Brokaw talking sense, this is a hell of an idea we should seriously consider.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/12/AR2005081201411.html

Diplomats for Tough Duty

By Tom Brokaw

Sunday, August 14, 2005; Page B07

With Karen Hughes moving into the post of assistant secretary of state for public diplomacy, perhaps there will be more attention from the administration, Congress and the public to the difficult mission she is taking on. It has been on the back burner too long.

Defenders and critics of President Bush's war on terrorism agree on very little except this: There is a critical need for a more energetic, imaginative and effective campaign to promote the American ideals of democracy, tolerance, compassion and economic opportunity in the Islamic world.



An Afghan resident pleads with Afghan militia and U.S. Special Forces during a search of his home for armaments, in this Aug. 24, 2002 photo, in a small village, near Narizah, 120 km (74 miles) east of Kabul. U.S. Special Forces were first to enter villages in southeastern Afghanistan during Operation Mountain Sweep. More than 2,000 troops took part in the operation. (AP Photo/Wally Santana) (Personnel From Special Forces And The Afghan Militia Talk To An Afghan Resident During A Search Of His Home Near Narizah In 2002./By Wally Santana -- Associated Press)
It is a large and complex challenge requiring some fundamental changes. One possibility came to me during reporting trips to remote reaches of Afghanistan, where I spent time with U.S. Special Forces and units of the 10th Mountain Division.

Both outfits were stationed in hostile territory doing double duty: fighting the Taliban and trying to hold the hearts and minds of Afghan locals by building schools, medical clinics and roads in their isolated villages.

After my first trip, to a 10th Mountain Division base along the border with Pakistan, I worried that the two missions of the military would at some point become incompatible, even incendiary. When the young American warriors went on patrol in their Humvees, local farmers were forced to give way on the primitive roads. The 10th Mountain troops were always dressed in flak jackets, helmets and sunglasses as they moved into villages to confiscate guns, question locals about suspicious activity and inspect trucks and pickups before meeting with the village elders to work on health and education projects.

What image lingered, I wondered. The good cop or the bad cop?
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