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U.S. foreign policy fails due to lack of understanding history and geography

Ryan C. Crocker

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 Ryan Crocker has been weaving in and out of  foreign territories for the last two decades. Before becoming U.S. ambassador to Iraq in 2007, he served as the International Affairs Advisor at the National War College, where he joined the faculty in 2003. Prior to that, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from August 2001 to May 2003, and served previously as Ambassador to Syria (1998-2001), Ambassador to Kuwait (1994-1997) and Ambassador to Lebanon (1990-1993). Since joining the Foreign Service in 1971, he also has had assignments in Iran, Qatar, Iraq and Egypt, as well as Washington. He was assigned to the American Embassy in Beirut during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the bombings of the embassy and the Marine barracks in 1983. (see his bio on the US State Department website).

 

Last week, Mr. Crocker addressed an audience at the Harvard Kennedy School and indicated that our failure to understanding a region in its historical and geographical context is impacting our foreign policy in a negative manner.

 

You can hear the address on the Harvard website here. The speech runs about 75 minutes.

 

In his speech, Crocker takes us back to the Middle East to the end of the eighteenth century, where a dynamic began to form between that area (which he defines as the region from Morocco in the west to Afghanistan and Pakistan in the east) and the Western world. The dynamic takes into account that the West's political strength is military, while its weakness stems from its political will (or the lack of same), and has shaped the policies of the countries in the area for nearly two centuries.

 

He was present during setbacks in the Middle East for the last twenty five years. He witnessed and survived the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut. When he was ambassador to Syria, he saw mobs storming the U.S. embassy; in 2002, he was in Afghanistan in 2002 to open a new U.S. embassy following the fall of the Taliban.

 

Though Crocker advocates for 'going when and where your country needs you', he faults our leaders for going without thorough preparation. His view is that America's tendency toward impatience has hurt our long term goals, because our enemies outlast us, and our allies fear that impatience. Because we have, for so long, expected instant gratification, we may have developed a tendency to forsake long term benefits for the shortest route from point A to point B.

 

To Crocker, postponing a decision about Afghanistan based on the result of the country's election is not smart. The lack of action on our part may intimate a lack of resolve.  He also illustrates the disastrous results of 'un-committing'. What is interesting is that Mr. Crocker does not take into account that some of our commitments may have been misguided, which may have precipitated our hasty departure from places like Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq.

 

However, his criticism about America's lack of knowledge in history and geography are right on target.  The most recent example of such ignorance came with the decision to invade Iraq, without realizing that not all Iraqis are 'Muslims'. There was no study of the Sunni/Shi'a/Kurd divisions in the country which surfaced when the country was invaded and was the cause of enormous bloodshed.

 

Another striking example is our naivete about Iran and its long (1,000 years+)  history as a regional pillar in the area. This naivete was reflected during Secretary of State Clinton's trip to Russia where we expected support for sanctions against Iran and were rebuffed. Not only will China and Russia not support the sanctions, but we have seen for ourselves, time and again, that sanctions don't work.

 

And to credit Crocker with his foresight, President Obama just decided to soften his stance toward the Sudanese government (whose president has been charged by the International Criminal Court at the Hague with crimes against humanity), though we imposed sanctions, but extended new incentives to Khartoum (the Sudanese capital) in order to end violence in Darfur.

 

And when it comes to one of the most serious problems in the Middle East, which is the Arab-Israeli conflict, itt would come as a surprise if we were to learn that anyone in the current administration has read the history of Palestine/Israel starting after World War II.