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The Daily OrangePutting aside partisanship in America
By Ed Cox
Posted: 9/25/07, 9:53 PM EST Section: Opinion
In all the debate about Iraq, I don't recall a single admission of fault without qualification. Not one genuine mea culpa has been offered by anyone for fear of "giving in" to the other end of the political spectrum. This is just one aspect of the breakdown of the American system Washington Post correspondent Tom Ricks referred to in his remarks last Thursday evening at Maxwell Auditorium.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer spoke at Syracuse University on "The Iraq War and the Breakdown of the American System." Earlier in the day, I attended an intimate discussion group with him that was sponsored by the university's Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism (INSCT). Ricks proved to be as eloquent in the smaller venue of MacNaughton Hall as he was on Thursday.
In an age when partisanship seems to pervade all aspects of American life, the one lesson I took away from the meeting was the need for personal responsibility and cooperation.
It's easy for demagogues on both sides to hurl insults and engage in the warfare of sound bites to win votes or sway public emotions. Most problems in the United States and elsewhere are more complex than a sound bite. Their solutions require people who have a desire to serve the public regardless of political affiliation - people who realize that sometimes the other side has a better idea.
I saw a hint of this complexity in my meeting with Ricks. He opened the discussion with a few suggestions for areas of research rich in opportunity for any enterprising graduate scholar. Noting that Congress has until very recently abdicated its oversight of the military's conduct in Iraq, he challenged us to think about civil-military relations in a larger context than the traditional lens of executive power.
One of the principle problems in Iraq is the lack of unity between State and Defense departments, which was highlighted last week by the inability of State Department officials to conduct business following Iraq's expulsion of all Blackwater security personnel. Ricks predicted that a Democratic win in the 2008 presidential election would result in an end to this split chain of command within the region.
It was a diverse dozen students who sat in the INSCT office last week to gain a preview of his lecture. Looking around the room, I couldn't help but wonder how many would accept the call to public service made famous by President Kennedy without giving in to the "all politics is local" cynicism of former Speaker Tip O'Neill.
Asked about his concerns for the future of Iraq, Ricks suggested that a true nightmare scenario would be an anti-American strongman in charge of Iraq 10-15 years from now with access to weapons of mass destruction and pan-Arab ambitions. Personally, I think the only way to prevent that is for those in Washington and Baghdad to quit focusing on assigning blame (unless they plan to assign it to themselves) and start focusing on realistic solutions.
Ed Cox is a biweekly columnist for The Daily Orange. He is also a member of the Student Association on Terrorism and Security Analysis, which provided him the opportunity to attend the session with Ricks. He can be reached at lefthandedelephant@gmail.com.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer spoke at Syracuse University on "The Iraq War and the Breakdown of the American System." Earlier in the day, I attended an intimate discussion group with him that was sponsored by the university's Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism (INSCT). Ricks proved to be as eloquent in the smaller venue of MacNaughton Hall as he was on Thursday.
In an age when partisanship seems to pervade all aspects of American life, the one lesson I took away from the meeting was the need for personal responsibility and cooperation.
It's easy for demagogues on both sides to hurl insults and engage in the warfare of sound bites to win votes or sway public emotions. Most problems in the United States and elsewhere are more complex than a sound bite. Their solutions require people who have a desire to serve the public regardless of political affiliation - people who realize that sometimes the other side has a better idea.
I saw a hint of this complexity in my meeting with Ricks. He opened the discussion with a few suggestions for areas of research rich in opportunity for any enterprising graduate scholar. Noting that Congress has until very recently abdicated its oversight of the military's conduct in Iraq, he challenged us to think about civil-military relations in a larger context than the traditional lens of executive power.
One of the principle problems in Iraq is the lack of unity between State and Defense departments, which was highlighted last week by the inability of State Department officials to conduct business following Iraq's expulsion of all Blackwater security personnel. Ricks predicted that a Democratic win in the 2008 presidential election would result in an end to this split chain of command within the region.
It was a diverse dozen students who sat in the INSCT office last week to gain a preview of his lecture. Looking around the room, I couldn't help but wonder how many would accept the call to public service made famous by President Kennedy without giving in to the "all politics is local" cynicism of former Speaker Tip O'Neill.
Asked about his concerns for the future of Iraq, Ricks suggested that a true nightmare scenario would be an anti-American strongman in charge of Iraq 10-15 years from now with access to weapons of mass destruction and pan-Arab ambitions. Personally, I think the only way to prevent that is for those in Washington and Baghdad to quit focusing on assigning blame (unless they plan to assign it to themselves) and start focusing on realistic solutions.
Ed Cox is a biweekly columnist for The Daily Orange. He is also a member of the Student Association on Terrorism and Security Analysis, which provided him the opportunity to attend the session with Ricks. He can be reached at lefthandedelephant@gmail.com.
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