Reengaging With the World

A Return to Moral Leadership

John Edwards

From Foreign Affairs, September/October 2007

Summary:  In the wake of the Iraq debacle, we must restore America's reputation for moral leadership and reengage with the world. We must move beyond the empty slogan 'war on terror' and create a genuine national security policy that is built on hope, not fear. Only then can America once again become a beacon to the world.

John Edwards, a former U.S. Senator from North Carolina, is a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The past few years have brought the biggest crisis in civil-military relations in a generation. The mismanagement of the military has been so severe that many of our most decorated retired officers are speaking out. I will reengage with our military through a basic doctrine of national security management that has been demolished by the current administration: military professionals will have primary responsibility in matters of tactics and operations, while civilian leaders will have authority over political decisions and in all matters of broad strategy.

The force structure of our military should match its missions. We must be very clear about the military's purpose. The U.S. armed forces have three important missions: deterring or responding to those who wish to do us harm, ensuring that the problems of weak and failing states do not create dangers for the United States, and maintaining our strategic advantage over major competitor states, in part so that they choose to cooperate with us, rather than challenge our interests militarily.

The current administration's mismanagement of the military has gone far beyond these missions, leading to a very dangerous situation for our troops, their families, and our nation. We are sending some troops back to Iraq with less than a year's rest. Military leaders are warning about "breaking" the force. It is tempting for politicians to respond to this situation by trying to outbid one another on the number of troops they would add to the military. Some have fallen right in line behind President Bush's recent proposal to add 92,000 troops between now and 2012, giving little rationale for exactly why we need this many men and women, particularly with a likely withdrawal from Iraq. But the problem of our force structure is not best dealt with by a numbers game. We must be more thoughtful about what the troops would actually be used for. Any troops we add now would take a number of years to recruit and train, and they would therefore not help us today in Iraq.

As president, I will rebalance our forces to ensure that the size and capabilities of our military match its missions. We must have enough troops to rebuild from the debacle in Iraq, to bolster deterrence, to decrease our heavy reliance on National Guard and Reserve members in overseas missions, to provide additional support for our brave troops fighting in Afghanistan, and to deploy to other trouble spots when necessary. I will double the budget for recruitment and raise the standards for the recruitment pool so that we can reduce our reliance on felony waivers and other exceptions. In addition, I will increase our investment in the maintenance of our equipment for the safety of our troops.

Our all-volunteer military is the best in the world, and its servicemen and servicewomen have done everything their leaders have asked them to do -- and more. They and their families have stayed strong through an increasing number of deployments and the administration's unconscionable decision to extend tours from 12 to 15 months -- and in the future, perhaps longer. U.S. soldiers, sailors, air force personnel, and marines and their families are the ones suffering the most from the administration's failures, including poor planning, equipment shortages, and inadequate training.

As commander in chief, I will do everything I can to repair the sacred contract with our active-duty personnel and veterans. Central to this sacred contract is a simple and solemn pledge to every man and woman who risks his or her life for our country: we will take care of you as you have taken care of us. My administration will guarantee quality health care for our servicemen and servicewomen and every generation of veterans, provide families with the support they need to withstand the strain of separations, and ensure that returning troops have access to the education and opportunities necessary to succeed in civilian life.

The military budget itself also needs substantial reform. Today, dozens of agencies perform overlapping tasks. There is no central, overall accounting of all the security activities performed by all the relevant agencies. There are nuclear nonproliferation programs in the Defense, State, and Energy Departments and more than 15 different security assistance programs running out of both the State Department and the Pentagon. As president, I will create a national security budget that will include all security programs at the Pentagon and the Department of Energy, as well as our homeland security, intelligence, and foreign affairs agencies. The national security budget will eliminate wasteful and counterproductive overlaps and gather all of our resources behind a unified strategy.

RESTORING AMERICA'S MORAL LEADERSHIP

When it comes to reengaging with the world, there is no task more critical than restoring our moral leadership. We must begin to create a world in which the despair that breeds radical terrorism is overwhelmed by the hope that comes with universal education, democracy, and economic opportunity. By exercising this sort of leadership, we can transform a generation of potential enemies into a generation of friends.