The privilege of power

Americans need to listen better, decry arrogance, and cultivate humility - all difficult work requiring a major cultural change.

But this is a democracy, and Americans can elevate to leadership people committed to the task.

More than anything else - and for the sake of a peaceful world - Americans need to be uncompromising over their national values when promoting their national interests. Unless these two often disparate entities are better integrated, US foreign policy will too often be as unpredictable as a bunch of nuclear warheads floating around a failed state.

Soon America will fight the battle for Iraq. But there's a much larger war to be won - a war that will raise large questions. Who begins to create greater coherence between national values and national interests? Where can one look for compassionate reflection, thoughtful nuance, and boldness in the face of intractable conflicts? Who begins to bring the pendulum back to a more predictable approach to a complex world, complete with initiatives prompted by best efforts and highest values?

Part of the answer might come from religious institutions. Religion and various sacred terms have been invoked often in the past several months. Certainly the institutions of religion and people of faith need to be able to articulate the reality of the world if that faith and those institutions are to have any credibility. These faith-based communities have to be part of the exercise of effective global leadership, if ultimately they are to be relevant. They need to be participants in the dialogue about universal values. Those values need to be strong enough for the world to move in unison when danger unfolds and human dignity is threatened.

Would such an effort eliminate war? Probably not. No one with even a modest sense of history can question humanity's potential for evil tendencies. Sin has consequences, but common sense and history suggest that those with power determine what will be tolerated. It is this leadership that ultimately writes the rules, defines the terms, and enforces vested interests.

It is incumbent on citizens of the most powerful democracy human history has ever known to make sure - with all of the cultural, institutional, academic, military, and religious instruments available to them - that power is tempered with leadership that is discerning, just, and compassionate. For now, the US has lost a public relations battle. Let's hope its military is much more successful. May all of this happen quickly. Americans have far greater wars to win in the future.

• Robert A. Seiple was the first US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, appointed by President Clinton. He was a captain in the US Marine Corps and flew 300 combat missions in Vietnam. He is founder and president of the Institute for Global Engagement, a think tank in St. Davids, Pa. devoted to developing sustainable environments for religious freedom.

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