Guest Contributor: The Admiral Says Sorry

– By Steve McGregor

Dissent over the Obama Administration’s strategy in Afghanistan is as close as the President’s top military advisor: the Chairman of the Joint Chief’s of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen.

Last month Admiral Mullen wrote an article critical of “strategic communication,” which happens to be a key tenant of the plan Obama presented in March. But the Admiral isn’t a critic for reasons you might expect. His essay in the Joint Forces Journal is a dangerous cocktail of one part self-loathing, one part delusion, with a dash of politicking. Has the Admiral been sharing too many drinks with the Democrats on Capitol Hill?

For example, Admiral Mullen claims, “The problem isn’t that we are bad at communicating or being outdone by men in caves… our biggest problem isn’t caves, it’s credibility.” I thought our problem was those pesky extremists who keep blowing us up. If only we could reason with the enemy—after all it worked in Iran.

Quoting a humanitarian aid worker, Admiral Mullen repeats that, “The enemy is ignorance… and it isn’t theirs alone. We have far more to learn from the people who live here than we could ever hope to teach them.” What are we going to learn from medieval tribes? How to discipline our women? This self-loathing sounds strangely like our President in Cairo.

Admiral Mullen concludes by hoping that, “we learn to be more humble, to listen more.” But can’t we also learn to be more unapologetic? Humility is great but American foreign policy has always been most successful when we are unashamed. After all we’ve done for Muslims in Bosnia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan, we’ve earned the right to be proud. Admiral Mullen should remind the President of that history and thank the military for their efforts. It’s the diplomats and aid workers who need a kick in the pants.


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