Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) writes in a NY Times op-ed:
“Even after Iraq, American foreign policy and military elites still cling to the notion that military intervention can bring political stability, somehow, to the Middle East. This is a fallacy.
Restraint in the face of evil is hard stuff, but hubris in the face of evil is worse. The United States never should have taken sides in the Syrian civil war. If we had shown restraint from the outset, more people would be alive today.
The real question is how to stop societies from descending into civil war in the first place. This is the most important foreign policy question facing the next Congress. The response must start with a recognition that a foreign policy built on brute military strength alone holds few answers for societies caught in a downward spiral.”
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In October 2016, Dr. Franziska Hötte, a Federal Judge from Germany, and I were invited to be panelists at the German Law in Context Series sponsored by Washington and Lee University Law School in Lexington, Virginia. During the event, our wonderful law student guide took us on a walking our which included a stop at the General George C. Museum on the adjacent campus of Virginia Military Institute.
Not only was Marshall a five-star General who, as Chief of Staff of the United States Army, led the Allied Forces to victory in World War II, he also served as Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense during the Truman Administration. Indeed he was the last, and only, military officer to receive a waiver of the “civilian leadership only protocol” to enable him to serve as Secretary of Defense. (As we know, President Elect Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Marine General James S. Mattis, will need such a waiver to serve).
But, General Marshall’s most impressive achievements came in peacetime, where he conceptualized, organized, and sold the “Marshall Plan” for reconstructing Europe to a somewhat skeptical Congress and American public. His vision lead directly to the emergence of modern Europe as a strong economic force, and to a bulwark of alliances among Western Democracies against the further spread of Soviet Communism during the Cold War period. General Marshall was Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1943, and received the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize for the Marshall Plan.
Interestingly, Marshall was a somewhat mediocre student at VMI, excelling mostly at football, horsemanship, and, not surprisingly, leadership.
General Marshall was an amazing combination of warrior, statesman, diplomat, visionary, and persuader. I find it difficult to envision anyone today with the skill set and credibility to sell such a large peacetime investment by the United States in rebuilding the economies and infrastructures of former foreign enemies. Indeed, these days the proposition of rebuilding our own crumbling infrastructure sometimes seems like a challenging “sell.”
Below is a picture of Judge Hötte (left) with our student guide taken on the VMI Parade Ground. I highly recommend the Marshall Museum, which can be “done” in several hours.
PWS
01/02/17
I can’t argue with the basic premises of Murphy’s article, but I am at a loss at what is the proper course for a responsible politician when humanitarian crises arise abroad. The results of (often neo-)liberal interventions have been almost universally catastrophic, but Marshall Plan style initiatives only work with functioning governments, which most of the hot beds of conflict lack.
Thanks, Will!