The Political Chase

Secretary Gates May Have a Solution

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates may be on to something sensible and novel. By novel I mean, I haven’t heard anyone else postulate nor implement his suggestion. In Iraq yesterday, Gates said, “perhaps we have gotten too focused on the central government, and not enough on the provinces, and on the tribes and what is happening in those areas,” the New York Times reports. “He said he hoped to spark greater attention to this ‘ground-up effort.’”

Gates idea deserves some attention. Realizing Bush’s dream of a democratic utopia just is not going to happen. A democracy is created from the ground up, not by a big swat from above, which is exactly what Bush has tried unsuccessfully to do. I know this isn’t the best analogy, but bear me out. Just like a classroom, better results are achieved when the class is small, and the collective affect of all the small groups is a better school. Furthermore, the cohesive bond of the school is remarkable. Ever been to a basketball game in Cameron Stadium at Duke University? Unbelievable. So, why can’t the same theory or organizational structure be applied in Iraq? One could argue against the approach, but that applies to every situation, and clearly what we have been doing is flat out wrong.

Maybe I’m looking too closely for any sign of reasonable thinking or action in Iraq, whether it is get out fast or an ingenious, realistic strategy to quick bring stability. If we are going to be there, why not focus diplomatic and political efforts regionally (within Iraq) and locally? Getting localities to agree and work together is much easier than telling the entire country to “follow me.” Congress is a perfect example. An idea - whether it originates from Congressional leaders, the President, or a single member of the House - comes to fruition from the bottom up.

General Petraeus has implemented a distributed military operation, so why isn’t there a paralleling political strategy? The central government is not working regardless of the reasons. What else is left? Pursuing Gates idea can’t make the situation worse, that’s for sure.