On Tuesday, February 20, 2018, at Southern Florida University in St. Petersburg, FL, my granddaughter, Bianca, invited me to attend a speech. It was to be given by Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering. He has spent 40 years of his life working for the Department of State under Presidents Nixon-through-Clinton as Ambassador to Russia, Israel, Jordan, India, El Salvador, Nigeria, and the United Nations. Under President Reagan, he is alleged to have had a minor role in the Iran-Contra scandal.
There were at least 300 in attendance, so we got the few remaining seats in the back.
Pickering began by stating that “the military is not a short cut to diplomacy.” He quoted President Harry S. Truman as saying, “There are only two conditions for using our military: to protect the mainland and protect our prosperity.” The Ambassador pointed out, “Had we followed Truman’s principles, we would never have gotten into Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq.”
Consider for a moment the impact of never having been engaged in those hostilities, over nearly 50 years, and how it would have affected our Country and its citizens.
According to Pickering, force is not the best solution to any of our problems. Further more, we created most of the problems confronting us–both domestic and international. He cited the Pogo cartoon, “I have spied the enemy, and it is us.”
Case in point: after 9/11 we invaded Afghanistan. The Taliban in Afghanistan did not attack the United States of America. Most of the attackers were Saudi citizens and Saudi-financed. After 17 years, thousands of lives lost, and a trillion dollars spent, we are no closer to “winning” than when we started.
What happened to diplomacy? Where were all the “experts?” Where was our Congress? Why does the current administration think sending in more troops, spending more money on more killing, is going to result in a different outcome? Is this not the definition of “insanity?” Dialogue may take a great deal longer in time, but mutual understanding, respect, and compromise can lead to a more satisfactory and lasting result.
Pickering cautioned that by not taking a holistic approach to problem solving, we open up ourselves to being faced with unintended consequences. When President Nixon secretly ordered the bombing of Cambodia to get at the Vietcong forces, the unexpected consequence was to bring down the Cambodian Government and bring the Khmer Rouge to power in 1975, hence “the killing fields.” The result was a situation worse than the original problem. [Editor’s note: “Estimates of the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.7 to 2.5 million, out of a 1975 population of roughly eight million.”]
The Ambassador expressed grave concern for our Country. “We have a President who speaks too lightly of the use of nuclear weapons.” He pointed out that the U. S. and Russia have 7000 nuclear warheads but could easily get down to 1000 apiece. He strongly supported the Iran Nuclear Treaty, something President Trump seems determined to break. In Pickering’s opinion, we are spending way too much money on our military and not enough on our infra-structure, our schools, and our health care.
He said, “We have the best military, the best economy, and the best values.” He also noted that as a Nation, we are far from perfect. We need a better distribution of our wealth. We need to take climate change seriously. W need to live up to our ideals.He got a standing ovation.
Unfortunately, our President didn’t hear Ambassador Pickering’s speech and probably wouldn’t have paid any attention to it anyway. We are not helpless. We need to make sure our representatives in Congress pay attention to our concerns or “vote them out.” Putting the plutocrats first is not putting America first. Ambassador Pickering is justified in his concerns. We should all take note. We should all take action.