DIME

I was privileged to participate in the training of our military for the challenges of the current war. In that capacity, I became more aware of the potential for collaborative action between the different elements of our national capabilities, as well as of many of the difficulties in achieving that collaboration. I once heard a State Department Senior Diplomat say that his organization was not focusing on Iraq because, if they did, it would be the only area which they had the capacity to focus on. That told me volumes, in one simple statement, of that organizations view of our national priorities. Iraq, being our number one foreign affairs problem, was not important enough for them to become engaged in. Until we place our money and assets where our mouth is in terms of our commitment to a total solution, diplomatic, informational, military, and economic, we will not succeed. The promise of the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization will not be fulfilled unless we collectively agree, whether we agree on the reasons for the military invasion or not, that the outcome of our efforts in Iraq are of vital importance to our credibility, the regions stability, the worlds economy, and our regional strategic access. Nor will our ends be well served unless we realize, as evidenced through budgetary changes which place greater emphasis on non-military means, the real importance of diplomatic, economic, and informational elements of power in the attainment of our ends.