19 October 2007
Projecting U.S. Military Power
In his Opinion article in the October 18, 2007, Wall Street Journal, Daniel Henninger asks whether the projection of U.S. military power into the world irreparably divides the American people. Along with his question of our ability to undertake difficult military missions, this is the wrong question about General Ricardo Sanchez’s “Scream.” If Mr. Henninger’s reporting is correct, then General Sanchez himself was missing the point of dissenters’ objections to the Iraq War when he spoke to journalists in Washington this week.
The military owes its loyalty to its Commander in Chief, but the nation, including its politicians, journalists, and civilian citizens, is sovereign over its President. That is the essence of a democratic republic. General Sanchez was right not to have objected in public to the President’s Iraq war policy while on active duty, although he owed it to his chain of command to tell them his professional doubts about its efficacy. However, it is wrong for him and Mr. Henninger to denounce the public, the press and the Congress for lacking the courage to support a war effort with which they do not agree.
The dilemma we find ourselves in is that a democracy can easily be exploited by an opponent who can act more quickly and in secrecy. Our ability to effectively defend ourselves against a threat like Islamic terrorism, however, is not as much dependent on projecting our military power abroad as on using that power wisely. Acquiescing in wasting that power on an ill-conceived invasion of Iraq was a mistake made in panic that has cost our military and the Iraqi people dearly. Correcting that error must be done with composure and in a way that guards against a similar irrational reflex in the future.
In his Opinion article in the October 18, 2007, Wall Street Journal, Daniel Henninger asks whether the projection of U.S. military power into the world irreparably divides the American people. Along with his question of our ability to undertake difficult military missions, this is the wrong question about General Ricardo Sanchez’s “Scream.” If Mr. Henninger’s reporting is correct, then General Sanchez himself was missing the point of dissenters’ objections to the Iraq War when he spoke to journalists in Washington this week.
The military owes its loyalty to its Commander in Chief, but the nation, including its politicians, journalists, and civilian citizens, is sovereign over its President. That is the essence of a democratic republic. General Sanchez was right not to have objected in public to the President’s Iraq war policy while on active duty, although he owed it to his chain of command to tell them his professional doubts about its efficacy. However, it is wrong for him and Mr. Henninger to denounce the public, the press and the Congress for lacking the courage to support a war effort with which they do not agree.
The dilemma we find ourselves in is that a democracy can easily be exploited by an opponent who can act more quickly and in secrecy. Our ability to effectively defend ourselves against a threat like Islamic terrorism, however, is not as much dependent on projecting our military power abroad as on using that power wisely. Acquiescing in wasting that power on an ill-conceived invasion of Iraq was a mistake made in panic that has cost our military and the Iraqi people dearly. Correcting that error must be done with composure and in a way that guards against a similar irrational reflex in the future.
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