Quote:
|
To eliminate or prevent the emergence of terrorist sanctuaries, Army leaders must possess the intellectual tools necessary to foster host-nation political and economic development. The development of capable and credible political and economic institutions denies terrorists the ungoverned spaces they need to thrive. Such development can be fostered only by highly educated leaders. Some look elsewhere in the Executive Branch for this expertise, and there are efforts underway to improve both capacity and capability for stabilization and reconstruction tasks in the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development; however, it is our soldiers who will pay the price if we count on others to perform these essential tasks that only the Army has the resources to implement.
|
Dangerous path this. It was the usurpation of the Department of States role in Iraq by the Pentagon that caused many of the post invasion problems; to then use that as a reason for reinforcing the militarys control of that area is self fulfilling rubbish. It is essential that civilian contexts be re-introduced into invaded areas as soon as possible, this can only be done by civilian agencies. The army is perfectly capable of working with civilian agencies during disaster relief; it should be capable of working with the state department as well.