Effective battle plan: Fighting the good fight
January 5, 2005
It's a beautiful sight, really, in its own depressing way: U.S.
military helicopters not spraying bullets on anyone.
Not advancing any invasion. Not occupying anybody's land.
Just flying overhead in a time of massive tragedy with no purpose
at all - but to help suffering people and to save human
lives.
Most of which just happen to be the lives of Muslims.
This particular scene was yesterday in Jakarta, capital of the
nation with the largest Muslim population on Earth. But Americans
back home and people everywhere have the chance to watch on TV now
as the world's most powerful military turns its awesome force on a
mission of inarguable good.
If only Iraq had come out like that!
And you almost guarantee the result of this American tsunami aid,
including the military component: It will actually help our
position in the world. Imagine that! Soothe our enemies. Calm our
friends. Do far more for our place in the world than invading and
occupying Baghdad, Fallujah and Mosul ever will.
Will it be enough to change the Muslim world's deep suspicion of
America? Of course not. That runs far deeper than bad PR. But the
only way for good to ever trump bad is for the good acts to begin
right now.
And it wasn't just American copters in the Indonesian sky
yesterday.
Off that ravaged country's northern coast was the amphibious
assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard, assaulting no one. It was joined
by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln,
saving, not risking, lives. More Navy ships were on the way,
including the USS Fort McHenry, carrying a warehouse load of
medical supplies.
All of them, just showing up to help.
Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of Hawaii-based Pacific Command, said
yesterday that, so far, 45 U.S. helicopters are involved in the
South Asia tsunami rescue mission. Around the clock, they are
shuttling back and forth between ship deck and land base, carrying
supplies in and injured people out. There's no better way to the
job when roads are washed out, trucks can't even move and there's
nowhere to land a plane.
"Helicopters are a tremendous advantage because, of course, they
don't have the same restrictions as fixed-wing aircraft in terms of
how many you can have on the ground at a time," Fargo said.
In all, Pentagon officials calculated, 13,000 U.S. military
personnel are now doing relief work from the South Asian tsunami,
11,600 aboard ships and about 1,000 at an air base in Thailand.
Smaller numbers are scattered across Sri Lanka, Indonesia and
Malaysia.
If the fight that matters now is for the hearts and minds of a
suspicious Islamic world, then one lesson is growing clearer by the
day:
Sending aid is a whole lot more effective than sending bullets,
brigades and bombs.
Cheaper too, whatever these tsunami relief efforts cost. At least
they're taking us in the right direction.
And more help, Adm. Fargo said yesterday, is on the way.
The 1,000-bed hospital ship, USNS Mercy, will soon shove off from
San Diego, as soon as a few quick modifications and personnel
switches are made.
"You know," the admiral said in a statement that should be typed up
and sent to every commander in the American military, "these
hospital ships were normally used for trauma in combat. But we
think that there may be an opportunity to configure the Mercy with
a humanitarian assistance crew that might be staffed significantly
by nongovernmental organizations and people that have significant
medical capability and can provide relief in other forms."
Now you're thinking, admiral. Yes, there is more than one way to
fight a war.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, that reluctant warrior from the
bog-down in Iraq, seemed to grasp the concept immediately, as he
was arriving in Jakarta and helicopters were buzzing the sky. His
trip was described as a "fact-finding mission." He already seemed
to have the basics in hand.
These pictures of U.S. helicopters delivering aid - not bullets -
would pay dividends, he said, all across the Muslim world.
Finally, a counter-image for American troops in bunkers, belatedly
armored Humvees and Abu Ghraib.
"It dries up those pools of dissatisfaction, which might give rise
to terrorist activities," Powell said after his first meeting with
Indonesian politicians.
It's not quite that simple, of course. Long-held perceptions don't
change overnight. But it was, at least, a start.