{news} re: Diana Urban on the War

[Ken Krayeske]

    Time For U.S. To Share The Ball For A Secure Global Order
We are now engaged in a race to the bottom or a race to the top. We 
can't continue what we have been doing, and we can't simply go home. We 
must go forward.
By *Diana Urban* 	View Article Stats 
<http://www.theday.com/re_stats.aspx?re=6f34668a-4093-4067-90f3-d9d2e60c9359> 


Published on 8/2/2006 in Editorial 
<http://www.theday.com/news/editorial.aspx> » Perspective 
<http://www.theday.com/news/editorial.aspx>

We all probably know someone with a pain in their gut that rises up 
through their chest as they consume ever-increasing numbers of antacids. 
Each pill temporarily removes the pain, but masks what's really going 
on. Ultimately, a massive heart attack cripples the person. What's 
happened? The person has treated the symptom, not the problem.

U.S. foreign policy too often has made the same mistake. Rather than 
ameliorating problems in the Middle East — from the political 
(Arab-Israeli and Sunni-Shi'ite conflicts) to the societal (lack of 
education, rule of law and economic disparities) — invading Iraq has 
ignored the potential for massive regional instability and perpetuated 
the notion that we can secure a political solution by military means. 
Until we recognize the folly of this approach, a potentially fatal 
crisis (from Iran gaining nuclear capability to an all out Iraqi civil 
war) lies in our future.

What can we do? In Connecticut, I am the chief proponent of Results 
Based Accountability (RBA), a performance-based model for incorporating 
accountability and transparency into budgetary decision-making. The 
framework is instructive: reach a consensus on the result that you are 
trying to achieve; identify the metrics that you want to use; and 
establish the policies that will get you results. Information technology 
(IT) has created profound societal changes; RBA uses IT to build 
effective policy, and can be applied to almost any situation.

To apply RBA to the Middle East's problems, we begin with the “National 
Strategy for Victory in Iraq,” which lays out the results that the 
administration has been trying to achieve there: Stability, economic 
prosperity, and democracy, using war as the principal means to end 
“terrorism.” Unfortunately, using our present unilateral (military) 
approach, the opposite has resulted: chaos, devastation, brewing civil 
war, increasing regional instability, and an increased resentment of 
Americans and what we represent. Clearly, our military policy is making 
the problem worse.

*Getting results in Middle East*

How would RBA approach this problem? First, assess the results we want; 
second, decide how to measure them; third, decide how to achieve them.

• : RBA could measure the number of violent deaths, the creation of a 
sustainable infrastructure, and establishment of the rule of law. 
Clearly, many obstacles exist to achieving this most critical result: 
Hezbollah and Hamas do not want Israel to exist, much less to negotiate 
with them; the United States designates Hezbollah and Hamas as 
terrorists, and therefore refuses to negotiate with them. Nevertheless, 
without securing their participation, and that of Syria and Iran, it is 
doubtful that we should expect to achieve stability in the Middle East.

• • : Measure this result by business formation, investment in human and 
social capital, foreign trade and tourism. Allowing the infrastructures 
of Middle Eastern countries (Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine) to turn 
into rubble and streets into war zones will never result in economic 
prosperity.

• : Measure this result by the depth of inclusion in governmental 
decision-making and an independent judiciary. Encouraging Palestine to 
hold democratic elections and then shunning and undermining their choice 
will never result in people believing that we respect others forming 
their own democracy. Nor in Iraq will an ineffective central government, 
incapable of crafting political solutions to internal problems, 
encourage the belief that the US is an effective champion of democracy.

RBA articulates a democratic and diplomatic Middle East policy. We could 
use it to achieve stability based on a variation of Thomas Friedman's 
World of Order: laying the groundwork for economic prosperity and a 
democratic form of government. Like the international force that 
liberated Kosovo and fought Gulf War I, the proverbial “Big Stick” must 
include NATO, the United Nations, and countries such as Russia, China, 
India, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. While we would require that everyone in 
the region participate in this effort, there would be rewards for those 
who do and consequences (tough, enforceable sanctions and, if pressed, 
military solutions) for those who don't.

We are now engaged in a race to the bottom or a race to the top. We 
can't continue what we have been doing, and we can't simply go home. We 
must go forward. Otherwise, the region will degenerate and take the rest 
of the world with it.

I am reminded of the great philosopher coach, Pete Carril, who saw the 
basketball court as a moral playground where unselfishness was a virtue. 
His teams truly embodied the word “team,” getting two-thirds of their 
baskets from assists. Unilateralism doesn't work: Israel withdrew from 
Gaza and tried to impose a solution that hasn't worked, and this 
administration's unilaterally-imposed regime change in Iraq hasn't worked.

It is time for the United States to share the ball with our teammates 
(the World of Order) and help lead the way to a mutually secure global 
order based on the long-term results of stability, economic prosperity 
and democracy for all.

/Diana Urban is a state representative for the 43rd District and is 
trying to petition her way onto the ballot in the 2006 U.S. Senate race. 
She resides in North Stonington./