US military support for troubled states: a dangerous doctrine returns

The key to stability is not a strong military but a strong democracy. Unfortunately Washington refuses to support that concept. Thanks to the effectiveness of the lobbyists and think tanks that shill for the military industrial complex, Congress is always willing to waste money on weapons programs, even unwanted and unworkable ones. At the same time, politicians are eager to slash programs to support democracy abroad.

Short-sighted congressional cuts

For instance, congressional committees keep pushing for a second engine for the F-35 joint strike fighter and for an airborne laser that the Pentagon does not want. Meanwhile a $4 billion cut in the foreign affairs budget is being contemplated, a move Secretary Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, both testified against it, pointing out that starving the State Department and USAID would increase the chances for future conflicts. Those conflicts will be hard to avoid because any government that fears an outbreak of democracy will claim terrorists imperil it. Such arguments will make who is really worthy of being America’s friend as hard to determine as its enemies.

It should also be pointed out that Afghanistan, from which Al Qaeda launched its attack on the United States, was not a failed state in one sense. The Taliban, who were in power at the time, were firmly in charge (except for small patches in the north controlled by United Front rebels). The problem was not that they failed to control their territory, but that they actively collaborated with Al Qaeda. That would not have happened if democracy had ever had a chance.

It’s true that it is much harder to strengthen the institutions of democracy than it is to add muscle to a foreign nation’s military. It’s also harder to measure the “results” of building a nation’s capacity for self-government. That’s why there will always be greater pressure to boost military might, even though it will increase, rather than diminish, threats to America’s security. The post 9/11 hysteria still lingers among those politicians and pundits who demand that the government must “keep America safe” from any terrorist threat, real or imagined. That argues for endless foreign adventures, even when the best course of action is to do nothing at all.

Dennis Jett, a former US ambassador, is a professor at Penn State’s School of International Affairs and the author of “Why American Foreign Policy Fails: Unsafe at Home and Despised Abroad.”

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