American Public Diplomacy Wears Combat Boots: The Pentagon's $300 Million To "Engage And Inspire" -- Mountain Runner
American public diplomacy wears combat boots. Not only is the Pentagon in the critical last three feet of engagement virtually and in person with audiences around the globe, especially in contested areas, but it is the Defense Department that is putting up the money to expand public diplomacy. The Pentagon’s 3-year, $300 million contract for private companies to “engage and inspire” Iraqis to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government, described by Karen DeYoung and Walter Pincus in the Washington Post, is more than an effort five years too late. It is one more shining example of the significant failure of the U.S. Government to come to grips with the present need and commit the resources necessary to engage in the Second Great War of Ideas that began in earnest nearly a decade ago.
Shortly after 9/11, former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke wrote that the battle of ideas is “as important as any other aspect of the struggle we are now engaged in.” Seven years later and the reality that real security cannot be achieved through bullets and bombs is finally gaining traction. Simply put, we “can’t kill our way to victory” when there is no capital, flag, or heart to be captured or “won.”
Read more ....
My Comment: I am always skeptical on such programs. People believe what they want to believe. The political battles that we have in the U.S. and elsewhere is testament to this struggle .... how can people from other countries accept our policies when we ourselves are not unified on what to do.