Thanks for the David Brooks column. George P. Shultz has an interesting column in the Washington Diplomat this month on terrorism.
George P. Shultz
Former Secretary of State Says U.S.
Must Link Military Power, Creative Diplomacy
by John Shaw
April 2004
washdiplomat.com
George P. Shultz, the former U.S. secretary of state, says that as the international system undergoes tectonic economic, political and military transformations, at least one age-old truth endures: A strong nation can best advance its interests by coupling robust military power with agile diplomacy.
“Strength and diplomacy go together. They are not alternatives. They are complements,” Shultz said in an interview with The Washington Diplomat. “There is an important interplay between strength and diplomacy. Diplomacy without strength is fruitless, but strength without diplomacy is unsustainable. Strength and diplomacy have always gone together and still do.”
The former secretary of state said the world is in the midst of an unusually intense period of change and turmoil that requires the United States to be resolute and firm but also smart and shrewd.
The dangers that the United States and its allies now face are difficult to overstate, Shultz said, citing the twin challenges of international terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. “We are in a long, difficult war, but with the effective use of strength and diplomacy we will win this war,” he said.
One of America’s most respected political intellectuals, Shultz has vast experience in government, business and academia. He has served as a graduate school dean, the president of a major international company and the secretary of several major governmental departments.
Shultz has advocated a firm, even aggressive, response to terrorism since his days as secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. “We have struggled with terrorism for a long time. In the Reagan administration, I was a hawk on the subject. I said terrorism was a big problem and we had to take forceful action against it,” Shultz recalled. “But for whatever reasons, we did not respond effectively during the past two decades. Diplomacy without much force was tried. Unfortunately, the lack of effective response encouraged more terrorism.”
Shultz said President George W. Bush’s basic views regarding terrorism are correct: that terrorism should be seen as a war and not as a law enforcement matter, states that support terrorist groups should be held accountable, and the United States should not be content to punish and retaliate when it is attacked by terrorists—but should take steps to prevent attacks.
“Terrorism is a method of choice by an internationally connected ideological movement dedicated to the destruction of our international system of cooperation and progress. It is not a matter that should be left to law enforcement with its deliberative process, delays and safeguards,” he said.
Shultz argues that leaders should aggressively confront terrorist threats that arise in failed states such as Afghanistan and Iraq, in the West, including the United States and Europe, in the Arab and Islamic worlds, in newly vulnerable nations such as Indonesia and hot spots such as Kashmir, and from the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Shultz said terrorists have exploited the eroding international system and have burrowed into decaying nations to attack vulnerable targets. Moreover, terrorists have become adept at hiding behind the privileges and immunities of systems such as nonintervention policies by other nations.
The former secretary of state strongly supported the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and dismisses charges of American unilateralism in that conflict. “No nation in the history of the U.N. has ever engaged in such a sustained and committed multilateral diplomatic effort to adhere to the principles of international law and international organization within the system,” Shultz said, referring to U.S. actions and policies on Iraq in the United Nations from 1991 to 2003.
He faults French diplomacy last March for splitting NATO, the European Union and the U.N. Security Council, saying it probably convinced Saddam Hussein that he would not face the use of force. Shultz said that the war in Iraq was necessary to demonstrate the world’s resolve against terrorism and to pave the way for political and economic reforms in the Middle East.
“As Iraq stabilizes, the people in the Middle East will see that change for the better is possible,” he said. “The most important aspect of the Iraq war will be what it means for the integrity of the international system and for the effort to deal effectively with terrorism.”
Shultz is critical of past actions by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan to deflect the pressures of militant Islam within their borders and allow terrorists to strike the United States and Israel. He said these nations should now realize that Islamic terrorism will eventually be directed at them unless they confront the threat.
“What we are witnessing is nothing short of a civil war in the Arab-Islamic world,” he said, arguing that the forces of progress and modernity are in a deadly struggle with forces that reject international law and civilized values. “We can help the forces of good by shoring up democracy in Iraq and showing that we support the people of this region, not the corrupt elites.”
Shultz said that progress to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is crucial but cautioned that no productive negotiations can occur without security for Israel. He urges Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan to continue to work to advance peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and he believes progress is possible based on the so-called roadmap that calls for a Palestinian state and security for Israel.
Creative diplomacy from the Quartet (the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations) coupled with a strong commitment to peace from Israel and the Palestinians can create a “new reality” in the Middle East, Shultz said.
The former secretary of state also argues that America’s international position would be strengthened by a more farsighted energy policy that reduces America’s reliance on Middle East oil.
Shultz recalled that half a century ago, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned that the United States would endanger itself if 20 percent of its oil supplies were imported. Now, Shultz noted, almost 60 percent of U.S. petroleum is imported.
“We need carefully targeted investments and incentives to develop new energy resources. An economy, for example, with a significant hydrogen component could do wonders for our security and environment,” he said.
Now based at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, Shultz remains a respected analyst of international affairs. He was recently invited by the Library of Congress to give the prestigious Kissinger lecture in Washington, and while he was in town, President Bush invited Shultz to attend a major speech in which president announced a new proliferation initiative.
Shultz graduated from Princeton in 1942 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and then served in the Marines for three years during World War II. When he returned from the war, he attended graduate school and earned a doctorate in industrial economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1949.
He taught at MIT from 1948 to 1957, taking a year’s leave in 1955 to work for the Council of Economic Advisers in the Eisenhower administration. In 1957, Schultz became a professor of industrial relations at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He was appointed dean of the business school a few years later.
Shultz served as President Richard Nixon’s secretary of labor, White House budget director and treasury secretary. He left the government in 1974 to become president of Bechtel Group, a global engineering and construction firm based in San Francisco.
Reagan appointed Shultz secretary of state in 1982, following the brief and stormy tenure of Alexander Haig in that position. Shultz served as Reagan’s chief diplomat for the next seven years and was a key diplomat during the final years of the Cold War.
When Reagan left office in January of 1989, Shultz returned to California and rejoined Stanford University as a professor of international economics and as a fellow at Hoover.
Still heavily involved in the business world, Shultz is a member of the board of directors at Bechtel, the Fremont Group, Gilead Sciences and Charles Schwab & Co. He is also chairman of the International Council of J.P. Morgan Chase and the Accenture Energy Advisory Board.
He was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1989, the United States’s highest civilian honor, the Seoul Peace Prize in 1992, the Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service in 2001 and the Reagan Distinguished American Award in 2002. In addition, the State Department’s state-of-the art training facility, the Foreign Service Institute, was named in his honor in the spring of 2002.
Shultz’s government service, and specifically his tenure at the State Department, has given him strong views about diplomacy. He believes that day-to-day diplomacy is crucial and can be likened to “tending the garden.” Good diplomats, he said, cultivate relationships and pay close attention to emerging ideas and trends, even when there are no dramatic problems to tackle.
Deeply interested in the information revolution and its effect on diplomacy, Shultz said that having ambassadors on the ground is still necessary. “Information technology cannot replace solid diplomatic reporting. The Information Age brings us an overwhelming flood of material, and that’s great. But the job of sorting it out and making sense of it gets harder and harder. You need good diplomats to do that,” he said.
“From my experience, the diplomatic corps in Washington is quite impressive. Countries send only their best to Washington. The ones who are plugged in can play a very valuable role for their countries and for the United States,” he added.
Shultz said the United States should rethink its approach to the Foreign Service, having careers start earlier, end later, and be enhanced by careful training.
“For whatever reason, we encourage our young people to fritter away their 20s and then enter the Foreign Service. We need them to come in sooner and not to leave in their 50s when they are reaching their top effectiveness,” he said. “Foreign Service careers have to make sense in their entirety, from entry to retirement.”
Shultz lavishes praise on current Secretary of State Colin Powell for his diplomatic skills and leadership. He also said that Powell is doing a superb job energizing U.S. diplomats. “Colin Powell has given a tremendous lift to the Foreign Service. He is bringing in new people, giving them excellent training, bringing new life and energy into our diplomacy. He’s terrific.”
John Shaw is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat. |
