(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Posted on 02/17/2006 8:00:59 PM PST by SandRat
WASHINGTON, Feb. 17, 2006 – Noting "incredible" strides for democracy in Afghanistan and pointing out continued progress in Iraq, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff today told a National Press Club audience here that U.S. efforts in those countries are bearing fruit. "The progress in Afghanistan has been incredible," Marine Gen. Peter Pace said. "They now have not only a freely elected president, but a parliament as well. They are going about the business of building their own country in a way that makes you proud."
The chairman said he travels to Afghanistan about every six months, and every time he goes back he sees "the enormous changes that the Afghan people and the Afghan government are providing for themselves."
Pace noted that with the aid of 26 coalition countries, Afghan children are now regularly attending school, business prospects are growing, and citizens are participating in the democratic process.
In Iraq, the general said, a lot of work remains to be done, but great strides have been made over the past year.
"A year ago, there were just a handful of Iraqi army battalions that were in the fight," he said. "Today there are over 130, a battalion being 500 to 600 guys."
And the Iraqi armed forces are taking over more responsibility and more territory, he added. "So as the combined armed forces of the coalition and more and more of the Iraqi security forces provides stability in the country, the Iraqi government can step forward and take hold of their future," he said.
Pace also pointed to the January and December 2005 elections, the October referendum, the writing of the new Iraqi constitution, and establishment of a new government, as further evidence of progress in Iraq.
Looking ahead beyond Afghanistan and Iraq, the chairman spoke about the importance of the recently issued Quadrennial Defense Review and the National Military Strategy. He said a lot of wargaming was done to determine the best way to deal with current and future terror threats, and future natural disasters.
"I know that I personally as vice chairman and then as chairman spent literally thousands of hours sitting with my civilian and military counterparts discussing where we were, what the challenges are for the future and how we're going to meet those challenges," he said. "I was proud to be able to report to the Congress that both in the case of the Quadrennial Defense Review and in the case of the National Military Strategy, your military is fully ready to succeed."
Pace was asked to define the term "the Long War," which is now widely using to refer to the war on terror.
"The Long War refers to the fact that in all the terrorist campaigns that we have known about, the terrorist campaign has lasted 10, 20, 30 years, and therefore there is no reason to believe that these terrorists would have a time span in their minds of anything less," the chairman said.
He emphasized that this does not mean that the United States will be engaged in the exact same types of operations in 20 years, but "free peoples, free governments, are going to need to continue to be alert and proactive against terrorist cells," he said.
Pace used the analogy of a city police department that cannot eliminate crime, but keeps the crime rate down to a level that allows society to function.
"The community of nations will be able to keep the number of terrorist incidents down below the level at which all of our freedom-loving societies can function and provide the kinds of services that we want for our people," the general said.
Pace was asked about the recent U.N. report that calls for the closure of U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He criticized the report because its authors never visited the base.
"When you write that kind of report and have that kind of impact and haven't been to the place you're reporting about, there's something wrong with that," he said.
Pace stressed that the report is inaccurate in its depiction of the Guantanamo facility and the treatment of detainees being held there.
"Guantanamo is a facility that is run in a humane way," he said. "It has been the policy of the United States -- it is now and will continue to be -- that we will treat detainees humanely."
PROGRESS IN THE WOT!
In Iraq, the general said, a lot of work remains to be done, but great strides have been made over the past year.
"A year ago, there were just a handful of Iraqi army battalions that were in the fight," he said. "Today there are over 130, a battalion being 500 to 600 guys."
Pace was asked to define the term "the Long War," which is now widely using to refer to the war on terror.
Winning the Long War: Lessons from the Cold War for Defeating Terrorism and Preserving Freedom
By James Jay Carafano and Paul Rosenzweig
(Published in 2005 by Heritage Books)
http://www.heritage.org/Research/HomelandDefense/the-long-war.cfm
The war on terrorism, like the Cold War, will be a protracted conflict. As such, also like the Cold War, it requires a long-term strategy for victory. This strategy matters not just for presidents and generals, but also for Congress, business leaders, the ACLU, the local PTA, auto mechanics, Internet geeks, and soccer moms. The strategy settled upon in the next few years will determine how we fight the global war on terrorism, and how we decide to fight the terrorists will determine how we live our lives. National strategies involve more than just the use of the armed forces. They must also take into account the economic, political, diplomatic, military, and informational instruments that might be used to promote a nation’s interest or secure a state from its enemies.
In Winning the Long War, experts on homeland security, civil liberties, and economics examine current U.S. policy and map out a long-term national strategy for the war on terrorism. Like the brilliant policy of containment articulated by the late George F. Kennan during the Cold War, this strategy balances prudent military and security measures with the need to protect civil liberties and maintain continued economic growth.
(Click on link for more)
ACLU????
We're all in this war, it's just some people ACLU etc) don't appear to realize it.
(Note very good book)
Chapter 1: Taking the Offensive
After a long day of arduous negotiation in the midst of one of the many crises that erupted during the Cold War, U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and British Foreign Secretary James Callaghan engaged in the following exchange:
KISSINGER: You know, one respect in which all the humanitarians and liberals and socialists were wrong in the last century was when they thought that mankind didn’t like war....They love it.
CALLAGHAN: Most of us like it for a day or two, but there is a handful who like [sic] it forever.
KISSINGER: That’s right. It doesn’t mean that the humanitarians were wrong, it just means that life is harder than we thought....
CALLAGHAN: I don’t know what sort of an age we’re passing through or going to pass through, but historians like yourself ought to give us a rundown on it sometime and tell us how you think this next half century is going to look.
KISSINGER: I’ll tell you ... I’m glad I’m not going to be running part of it. It’s going to be brutal.1
Facing today’s threat of global terrorism, these words seem all too prophetic; they provide another reminder that—in some fundamental ways—the security challenges of the twenty-first century are little changed from those of the twentieth century. Evil is still with us and likely always will be. We also face Kissinger’s dilemma. Ignoring evil will not dissipate its force. Complacency will only allow it to grow. An enemy that is allowed to take the initiative uncontested will sooner or later find a way to win. Kissinger and Callaghan were right: The evil ones will often get the confrontation they want, because someone must stand and stop them.
(snip)
Thanks for the ping!
BTTT
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.