Security First

The Lessons of Basra

Anybody interested in helping people across the world better their lives should read Bad Days in Basra (I.B. Tauris & Co, 2008). It matters little if you seek to help establish basic security, shore up the economy, curb corruption or reform schools—it is all in there. We learn that countries like Iraq, depleted by Saddam and by the sanctions imposed by the West, and countries that are in the very early stages of economic and political development, like Afghanistan, cannot be “reconstructed” quickly, especially not by foreign powers. There is no reason to expect that the developments that took the US and the UK several generations can be achieved on the run, in war-torn zones, and among people who have priorities other than material affluence.

Unhooked—and paying for it?

Washington Post reporter Laura Sessions Stepp’s recent book Unhooked is a rich sociological vineyard. It revisits a theme flagged by Tom Wolfe in his 2004 novel I am Charlotte Simmons. Both are studies of new sexual norms that have emerged on college campuses in which millions of students have sexual relations with one another while avoiding social relationships. They do not “waste” time on dating, seeking to avoid both the “costs” of developing relationships and the pangs of loss when relationships sour and then break-up. Instead, students engage in sexual relations with partners who are, as the catch-phrase puts it, “friends with benefits”; only the focus is on the (sexual) benefits, not on friendship.  The energy conserved by avoiding relationships, we are told, is then invested by students in their careers.  Some feminists celebrate this development, arguing that all that has changed is that women now do what men long did: f— and hurry along.

Security First coming soon...

“Rarely have more profound changes in American foreign policy been called for than today,” begins Amitai Etzioni in the preface to this book. Yet Etzioni’s concern is not to lay blame for past mistakes but to address the future: What can now be done to improve U.S. relations with the rest of the world?

What should American policies be toward recently liberated countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, or rogue states like North Korea and Iran? When should the United States undertake humanitarian intervention abroad? What must be done to protect America from nuclear terrorism? The author asserts that providing basic security must be the first priority in all foreign policy considerations, even ahead of efforts to democratize. He sets out essential guidelines for a foreign policy that makes sense in the real world, builds on moral principles, and creates the possibility of establishing positive relationships with Muslim nations and all others.

Etzioni has considered the issues deeply and for many years. His conclusions fall into no neat categories—neither “liberal” nor “conservative”—for he is guided not by ideology but by empirical evidence and moral deliberation. His proposal rings with the sound of reason, and this important book belongs on the reading list of every concerned leader, policy maker, and voter in America.