Warmed Over Cold Warrior

The role of milblogs and the Rumsfeld controversy are discussed in a thoughtful piece at the The Boston Globe . They present a view from the top (OSD) and from the field that I'll quote. It addresses some of the issues in my last two posts but not all. So, first from the Globe:

"There are hundreds of milblogs, and the Pentagon, which has cautiously supported some of them but also has deep concerns about the ability to control them, recently ordered a top level advisory panel to study the issue.

'' 'Googling' and 'blogging' are making their way into military operations at all levels,' Kenneth Krieg, the undersecretary of defense, wrote in a recent memo requesting that the Defense Science Board look into the matter. ''But the full implications of this revolution are as yet unknown, and we have no clear direction and defined doctrine.'"

That's pretty close to what I think and a good reason for the OSD folks to pay close attention to milblogging. It would be concerning if OSD focused more on "controlling the damage" than exploiting the opportunity. Nor should they focus only on milblogging per se rather than on how blogging in general, as well as milblogging, may provide an opportunity to utilize a very large pool of citizen volunteer expertise.

The view from the field cites the big advantage of milbloggers in keeping the public informed and resolved :

"John, the Air Force officer at op-for.com, contends that the Pentagon leadership appreciates the need for the kind of connection between the military and the public that the military blogs provide.
''The lieutenants and the captains of the Vietnam War are the generals of today," he said in an interview. ''They saw us lose not on the battlefield, but in the halls of Congress, the universities, and with the public. They understand the importance of fighting a political war when the military is engaged in a long police action and occupation like Iraq.""

Like OSD, John is also concerned about the possibility of damaging leaks. But that danger must be weighed against the danger of bad or no information leading to a loss of popular resolve and against the benefit of finding and getting critical expertise quickly. That brings me to my next point.

It should be not just about OSD and Milblogs or just about conducting net-centric military actions. It should be also about harnessing civilian volunteers as a part of a national effort in a long war conducted with the use of forces and ideas. That's the key point that John makes about Vietnam. And there are a great many Americans willing to join in a national effort; just remember the enormous volunteer efforts that spring up after catastrophes from Manhatten to Katrina. It would be useful to consider a doctrine that includes that aspect of our power in an ideologic war. Not all the reserves that get called up (virtually drafted or volunteered?) need to wear uniforms or report for duty in the traditional legacy sense.

For a broad civilizational slant on the the current war on terror, consider Lee Harris's review of Oriana Fallaci's The Force of Reason : "Islam, she tells us, presents a threat to the very existence of Western civilization, of conscience, of toleration, of liberalism — .. . (she views Islam as the 'Enemy of Reason' and that it is) ... on a different kind of march, against which the West appears to have no defenses.

It is not just terrorism that Fallaci is talking about — not even the catastrophic terror of 9/11 or the Madrid bombing; what alarms her most is "the cultural war, the demographic war, the religious war waged by stealing a country from its citizens...the war waged through immigration, fertility, presumed pluriculturalism...." What enrages her most, on the other hand, is the refusal of European leaders to recognize what is at stake in this war, ... (as she) illustrates, a situation has developed in Europe where "native" Europeans are being increasingly forced to play by Muslim rules, and to accept Muslim culture."

In this sense, the Danish 'Cartoon War' is a successful battle in an ideologic war to the extent that Western Governments and citizens are forced to self- censor themselves and accord deference to Islam. Over time, this approach produces a cumulative cultural ratcheting towards Islamic dominance with Islamic opponents intimidated into silence by threats of criminal charges or even death. As Harris puts it :
Again, the paradox: What force can reason possess in a world dominated by intellectual terrorists for whom dialogue and debate mean nothing?"

If that ( or anything close to it) is the underlying threat, it seems wise to bring all aspects of our military, political, cultural and economic forces to bear. We have the resources to deal with this. If OSD engages this issue, it should start from a broad perspective.