Tony Lambert delphine1939@videotron.ca
18 janvier 2008
Defence Secretary Robert Gates stepped on a mine
The Gazette
Published: 12 hours ago
In all of foreign affairs, it would be hard to raise a more delicate subject than the battlefield performance of your allies' troops. In this field even an angel's tread can detonate a Claymore mine or two.
So why oh why did U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates feel compelled to express, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, his doubts about the course of the conflict in Afghanistan? In a way, his frankness was refreshing, but his criticism that allied troops aren't sufficiently trained for counter-insurgency also was startlingly blunt.
No matter how well meant or how carefully phrased, such comments were bound to provoke a storm of outrage, obscuring this week's good news of additional U.S. combat deployments to southern Afghanistan.
The outrage came quickly. The Dutch, whose troops
are fighting in southern Afghanistan like the Canadians and the British, called in the U.S. ambassador for an explanation of Gates's comments. Other NATO allies also were quick to criticize.
Response in Canada was more muted. Gates himself quickly called Defence Minister Peter MacKay when the storm broke, to reassure him he admires and appreciates what Canadian Forces are doing. But his comparing our results in Kandahar unfavourably with the success of U.S. soldiers in eastern Afghanistan certainly won't play well with Canadians as we prepare to bury Trooper Richard Renaud of Alma, our 77th soldier to die there.
This is the last thing the United States needs right now. Bogged down in Iraq's seemingly endless bloodletting and facing increasing world criticism that Iraq diverted U.S. efforts from the more worthy fight in Afghanistan, the United States is in no position to start alienating allies.
Gates claims his remarks were taken out of context, and there might be some truth in that. He had already discussed the difficulties of counterinsurgency in an interview on National Public Radio, with no outraged fallout. In fact, his rational, thoughtful openness at that time seemed a welcome contrast to the gung-ho attitude of some of his recent predecessors.
And Gates does have a point. Insurgents are difficult enemies, especially for an alliance that was set up and trained to stop Soviet tanks from swarming into western Europe through Germany's Fulda Gap.
Thoughtful discussions on the difficulty of the conflict are welcome, even necessary. But public criticism of battlefield performance is almost bound to rub people the wrong way. By all accounts, this is going to be a long war, and if Gates wants to keep his friends, it's important he get the nuances right.
