Gates Sees Terrorism Remaining Enemy No. 1 - Josh White, Washington Post

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates says that even winning the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan will not end the "Long War" against violent extremism and that the fight against al-Qaeda and other terrorists should be the nation's top military priority over coming decades, according to a new National Defense Strategy he approved last month. The strategy document, which has not been released, calls for the military to master "irregular" warfare rather than focusing on conventional conflicts against other nations, though Gates also recommends partnering with China and Russia in order to blunt their rise as potential adversaries. The strategy is a culmination of Gates's work since he took over the Pentagon in late 2006 and spells out his view that the nation must harness both military assets and "soft power" to defeat a complex, transnational foe. "Iraq and Afghanistan remain the central fronts in the struggle, but we cannot lose sight of the implications of fighting a long-term, episodic, multi-front, and multi-dimensional conflict more complex and diverse than the Cold War confrontation with communism," according to the 23-page document, provided to The Washington Post by InsideDefense.com, a defense industry news service. "Success in Iraq and Afghanistan is crucial to winning this conflict, but it alone will not bring victory."

Gates Cites Terror Fight as Main U.S. Military Job

From Thursday, July 31, 2008 issue.

By




U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has circulated a National Defense Strategy to congressional leaders, recommending that terrorism be the top U.S. military priority in years ahead, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, July 30).

The document appears to agree somewhat with a RAND Corp. study released yesterday suggesting that military force is not the best strategy to combat terrorism.

"The use of force plays a role, yet military efforts to capture or kill terrorists are likely to be subordinate to measures to promote local participation in government and economic programs to spur development, as well as efforts to understand and address the grievances that often lie at the heart of insurgencies," Gates' document says. "For these reasons, arguably the most important military component of the struggle against violent extremists is not the fighting we do ourselves, but how well we help prepare our partners to defend and govern themselves."

Some analysts questioned why Gates released the strategy so late in the Bush administration's final term, knowing that the next president would surely conduct his own review. Gates said, however, that the document could serve as a "blueprint to success" for the next administration (Josh White, Washington Post, July 31).