US POLITICS: Doing an Uncle Harold
Send for Richard Perle
So far the generals have shown more restraint than the politicians when it comes to answering some of the dafter questions that have been put to them at press conferences. In several interviews Donald Rumsfeld and even mild Geoff Hoon have snapped at questioners who’ve asked in too much detail after ongoing, and still worse, forthcoming military operations. This difference in tone perhaps reflects the greater conversational civility left in the military world, as compared to that of democratic politics. Certainly General Tommy Franks has avoided giving the good and plentiful copy his first Gulf War predecessor, Norman Schwarzkopf, so effortlessly served up. But as each of General Franks’ press conferences in Qatar now increasingly demonstrates, the thing this entirely admirable gentleman ought not to do be doing is answering questions at all. This is not because so many of them are so witless during wartime, but because so many of them are inherently political: and should therefore be answered by a politician.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) went the whole life-imitating-James-Bond hog and hired at vast expense a Hollywood set-designer to construct their Qatar HQ press room. At the centre of this theatre thus far has been the laconic Texan figure of General Franks, who clearly loathes every minute of these public performances. In this he is very different to many of his recent peers in the American military.
The interplay between career advancement in the upper ranks of the US armed forces, and the ability to put on a twirl in front of the cameras, has long been evident. This is compounded by the resemblance between late nineteenth century imperial Britain and the contemporary American empire, in that soldiers can flit back and forward between the political and the military in a way that is now unthinkable here. Colin Powell for instance, interrupted his military career with a stint at the White House, on Reagan’s National Security Council, before resuming the uniformed path that eventually took him to being chairman of the joint chiefs. And now has him at the State Department. No one denies that General Powell is a dab hand with the press, but then no one could ever credibly deny that, in or out of uniform, he was a Republican.
More serious than the open party allegiances of the American high command - which cuts both ways - is the fact that a class of media friendly generals have been groomed for success. Their careers being predicated many fear on their press handling skills, rather than their generalship. Possible Democrat presidential contender, and former NATO chief, General Wesley Clark was excellent in front of the media during the Clinton/Blair war against Serbia, whilst serious questions remained about the direction of the actual war being waged by NATO. Yet in the present war, it’s the resolutely apolitical and untelegenic Tommy Franks fielding the questions, so what’s the problem? The problem is that he’s answering them all. Those on the higher direction of the war, on America’s post-war goals for Iraq, and those touching explicitly on matters of foreign policy — they might not all get fulsome replies, but poor General Franks evidently feels that he has no choice but to do his best by every one. These however are self-evidently issues that shouldn’t be addressed in a democracy by a soldier, but by a civilian politician. And so that’s what there ought to be in Qatar: a politician to answer them.
Since the Americans are following faithfully in Britain’s footsteps in every other regard, they may as well employ the last remaining imperial device and have a minister resident in the Middle East. During World War II Britain suffered from a multiplicity of commanders-in-chief throughout the region, and Churchill’s solution was to appoint politicians, cabinet members, to be the responsible man on the ground. At Cairo Oliver Lyttelton, and after him, Richard Casey did the job for the Middle East; Harold Macmillan performed the same role in North Africa, whilst with less success, Duff Cooper briefly was minister resident for the Far East in Singapore.
The Bush administration is full of talents like John Bolton, Richard Armitage or Paul Wolfowitz who could do the job for the United States today. It might seem odd in an era of instantaneous, trans-continental video link-ups to physically place a politician in Qatar, but the time difference from Washington DC apart, the media are the fourth field of battle in this campaign. Their political charges should be answered by someone who can legitimately do so: this should be a job beneath generals.
ERO, March 26, 2003 02:24 PM