Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Lexington (KY) Herald Leader
May 3, 2008 By Jim Warren
The Middle East and Central Asia -- particularly Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan -- will remain a problem spot well into the future, but military power alone won't be enough to bring peace and stability to the region, President Bush's chief military adviser said at the University of Kentucky on Friday night.
Instead, Adm. Michael Mullen said, a variety of international partnerships will be needed, plus sending more American experts to teach the region's troubled countries such things as how to build strong police forces and create economically viable systems of agriculture and business.
Mullen, who was giving the Vince Davis Memorial Lecture, sponsored by UK's Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, said he wants to reach out to land-grant schools like UK to secure the expertise needed for such ventures.
"It's important to see the world through other people's eyes, not just our own eyes," Mullen said, striking a global tone. He said that America too often has failed to do that. In the future, he said, "that isn't going to work."
Mullen is a 1968 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who at various times in his career has commanded three Navy ships; a cruiser-destroyer; the USS George Washington carrier battle group; and the U.S. 2nd Fleet. He commanded the NATO Joint Force Command in Italy, and U.S. Naval Forces in Europe before becoming chief of Naval Operations in 2005. Mullen, who became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last September, is the senior ranking member of the U.S. Armed Forces and the principal naval adviser to the president.
Mullen said he's concerned that U.S. soldiers and Marines are "stressed and pressed" as a result of revolving combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. They spend 12 to 15 months overseas, come home for a year, then go for another tour, he noted.
"There is a limit to how many times you can do that," Mullen said. Marines and soldiers do a "magnificent job," he said, "but they can't do this forever."
Mullen said the ultimate solution to problems in the Middle East and elsewhere will require dealing with "root causes" that will require decades to overcome.
He cited efforts to eradicate opium production in Afghanistan as an example, stressing that impoverished Afghan farmers who need to feed their families won't stop growing poppies until provided with some other economical crop.
Mullen helped commission Army and ROTC cadets at UK Friday afternoon and spent about an hour talking with Patterson School students before giving his lecture Friday night. He took questions from a crowd that filled about a fourth of the lower level of the auditorium at UK's Memorial Hall.
Answering a question from Lexington peace advocate Richard Mitchell, Mullen called Iran "a bad actor" that shows no sign of changing its behavior. America must engage the international community to keep pressure on Iran, he said, with military action remaining an option.
"But I have also said that the military option should be a last resort, and I believe that," he said.
The Vince Davis Memorial Lecture series is named for the late Vince Davis, who directed UK's Patterson School from 1971 to 1993. He died in 2003.
May 3, 2008 By Jim Warren
The Middle East and Central Asia -- particularly Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan -- will remain a problem spot well into the future, but military power alone won't be enough to bring peace and stability to the region, President Bush's chief military adviser said at the University of Kentucky on Friday night.
Instead, Adm. Michael Mullen said, a variety of international partnerships will be needed, plus sending more American experts to teach the region's troubled countries such things as how to build strong police forces and create economically viable systems of agriculture and business.
Mullen, who was giving the Vince Davis Memorial Lecture, sponsored by UK's Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, said he wants to reach out to land-grant schools like UK to secure the expertise needed for such ventures.
"It's important to see the world through other people's eyes, not just our own eyes," Mullen said, striking a global tone. He said that America too often has failed to do that. In the future, he said, "that isn't going to work."
Mullen is a 1968 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who at various times in his career has commanded three Navy ships; a cruiser-destroyer; the USS George Washington carrier battle group; and the U.S. 2nd Fleet. He commanded the NATO Joint Force Command in Italy, and U.S. Naval Forces in Europe before becoming chief of Naval Operations in 2005. Mullen, who became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last September, is the senior ranking member of the U.S. Armed Forces and the principal naval adviser to the president.
Mullen said he's concerned that U.S. soldiers and Marines are "stressed and pressed" as a result of revolving combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. They spend 12 to 15 months overseas, come home for a year, then go for another tour, he noted.
"There is a limit to how many times you can do that," Mullen said. Marines and soldiers do a "magnificent job," he said, "but they can't do this forever."
Mullen said the ultimate solution to problems in the Middle East and elsewhere will require dealing with "root causes" that will require decades to overcome.
He cited efforts to eradicate opium production in Afghanistan as an example, stressing that impoverished Afghan farmers who need to feed their families won't stop growing poppies until provided with some other economical crop.
Mullen helped commission Army and ROTC cadets at UK Friday afternoon and spent about an hour talking with Patterson School students before giving his lecture Friday night. He took questions from a crowd that filled about a fourth of the lower level of the auditorium at UK's Memorial Hall.
Answering a question from Lexington peace advocate Richard Mitchell, Mullen called Iran "a bad actor" that shows no sign of changing its behavior. America must engage the international community to keep pressure on Iran, he said, with military action remaining an option.
"But I have also said that the military option should be a last resort, and I believe that," he said.
The Vince Davis Memorial Lecture series is named for the late Vince Davis, who directed UK's Patterson School from 1971 to 1993. He died in 2003.