On US Military Support to Southeast Asia

I'm again using the latest issue of Foreign Affairs as my springboard to a post. In this case I'm looking at Is Southeast Asia the Second Front? by John Gershman of the Foreign Policy In Focus (FPIF) think tank. The full article is available on FPIF's website.

Now FPIF seems to be a member of the left-wing / pacifism / pro-unilateralism / pro-UN school, with other articles (by other authors) lambasting the US for bailing on the International Criminal Court, planning to attack Iraq, support for Israel, and a number of other. Gersham, though, brings up several important points regarding the War on Terror in Southeast Asia.

First and foremost, he reminds us that Islam in the region, even political Islam, is incredibly diverse. What passes for Islamist rebellions in most of the area looks like Abu-Sayef: petty bandits with very few hard links to Al-Qaeda, raising funds through extortion, ransom, and piracy. He also points out the possible dangers of forming alliances of convenience, which could turn into longer-term alliances, with oppressive and tyrannical governments. And the failure of many southeast asian governments, and abuses by their militaries, only pushes more people into militant Islam.

Gersham's conclusions is that military help to these countries, aside from minor naval and border assistance, is futile in controlling Islamist terrorists, and possibly morally repugnant as it could strengthen oppressive regimes or stifle young developing democracies. Instead, we should invest in developing local democracy though non-military means, such as debt reduction and helping to prop-up local social safety nets ensuring human right and freedom for the people of Southeast Asia. As Grisham puts it in his conclusion:

…the Bush administration should support economic policies that promote broad-based growth, even if these policies diverge from the wholesale liberalization typically advocated foreign affairs. by Washington. Targeted foreign aid can also play a limited role in poverty reduction in the worst regions and help support social safety nets. An even more valuable step would be to reconsider U.S. policies that have been an obstacle to expanding growth, such as opposition to debt reduction.

Now, it's true we all want freedom, liberty, and economic stability for the people of Southeast Asia, but our current national priority is in preventing terrorists from destroying our cities, not in making sure impoverished third-world nations have a functioning welfare state. All I've ever seen "social safety nets" do is create permanent underclasses. As for debt reduction, how can we ensure the same leaders who screwed up their economies are going to do a better job next time? Even if these measures weren't destined for failure from the get-go (which they are), economic reform is one of those big giant socio-political thingamagigs that Marxists are so fond of, and that take years and years to show results.

For the short term, strengthening military and intelligence ties with Southeast Asian nations is the only way to put pressure on dangerous Islamist groups that currently exist, and to deter the formation of new ones. I'd hate to support oppressive regimes, but when it comes to a choice between backing the greedy general or letting Al-Qaeda upset already destabilized third world nations, all the while organizing attacks on Honolulu, I'll chose the generalisimo every time.

In his essay, Gersham makes a point of the criminal nature of Islamist groups in this area, but I'd like to remind everyone that before the Jihadists entered the scene, Chechnya's rebellion was headed by the same types of bandit groups. The borders in this region are porous, and controlling the flow of dangerous individuals depends on having well trained military and police forces. Afghanistan is increasingly inhospitable to these violent Islamists, the despotic regimes of the middle-east want nothing to do with them, so where do you think they'll head next? Training local forces is the best way to keep the pressure on these groups as they begin to infiltrate the Muslim nations of Southeast Asia.

Gersham does remind us, however, that we need to pay attention to who we choose as our allies in this, but his blanket dismissing of military aid is foolish.

 

Posted by Captain Mojo at June 23, 2002 04:55 PM