Gates Urges Increased Funding for Diplomacy

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"Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates called yesterday for a "dramatic increase" in the U.S. budget for diplomacy and foreign aid, arguing that al-Qaeda does a better job than Washington of communicating its message overseas and that U.S. deployment of civilians abroad has been "ad hoc and on the fly."”
“"One of the most important lessons of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is that military success is not sufficient to win," said Gates, delivering the annual Landon Lecture at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan. The wars of the future, he said, are likely to be "fundamentally political in nature" and will not be solved by military means alone.”


                                                            Washington post, November 27, 2007

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/26/AR2007112601985.html

We have heard now and then that US officials have asked for an increase in the military budget- trying to use “Hard Power” more significantly. This time the request is for an increase in funding for “Soft Power” that is the power of achieving your goals by persuading others to follow what you say and to do what you want. This clear shift in policy must have something behind it. United States has used its hard power so many times and recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. So this strategy has been put onto test for enough. The result of using hard power now can be seen in the two invaded countries .
In Afghanistan American troops still are present and there exists no complete peace. Every now and then some news about American soldiers being killed is announced. The situation in Iraq also suggests no progress. American military forces and security institutions are there but violence is increasing everyday. These all show that the military might of America has not been successful in bringing Americans close to their goals. They wanted an America supporting government to be installed but they were no way but to accept the general will of the nation by accepting the elected government. Now they are coming to this conclusion that all the bombings and destructions has resulted to nothing but a resent and resistance toward America’s actions , suggestions and ideas. So far they wanted to control the world through fea r of its military superiority but now they want to control the peoples through their hearts. If America could present its culture and politics as splendid, magnificent and appealing, peoples would resist its actions and ideas less than before. Gates’s criticism of the weakness in America’s communicating its message is actually a suggestion to turn from military actions to diplomatic approaches .