Three speakers addressed the United States’ responsibility to act globally and regionally in a post-9/11 world yesterday, focusing on the requirements and expectations of military-to-military relations between the United States and Latin America.
A retired U.S. Army general, a State University of New York professor and a senior advisor for the Office of the Secretary of Defense spoke at the Boston University School of Management in the first of six panel conferences about national security.
The first panelist, General Fred Woerner, a retired four-star U.S. Army general and commander-in-chief of the United States Southern Command, discussed how the U.S. Army interacts with Latin American armies. He also spoke regarding the American attempts to gain additional allies, due to the recent terrorist attacks.
‘Perhaps terrorism had given light to mil-to-mil relations,’ Woerner said. ‘We may see an explosion in this type of relations that we haven’t seen since the Kennedy era.’
Woerner also said acknowledging America’s commitment to the success of other nations’ governments and armed forces often causes damage to important domestic interests.
‘The leverage that we had on the target country, they now have on us,’ he said. ‘The cost of this is that we as a government reduce the pressure and are less vigorous in pursuing values that we pretend to represent.
‘We appear to tolerate conduct, and this is a high price to pay for the right to attempt to influence,’ he said.
Woerner concluded his speech explaining the usage of U.S. leverage is possible where interests are minor. However, he said failure might not be surprising when working to change ingrained patterns of a seriously flawed country.
The second panelist, Ian Roxborough, a professor of sociology and history, said democracy can be better promoted through a focus on government. He stressed how Latin American countries must believe the United States has a commitment to democratic values before they can begin to adopt their own.
‘To change values and cultures we must first change incentives and sanctions,’ Roxborough said. ‘The U.S can change values but shouldn’t do so by transmitting cultural values to individuals. Value transfer is a self-serving myth that puts the blame on Latin America.’
Roxborough said the most important signals are sent from the nation’s capital through sanctions from the United States government. Global war on terrorism is essentially the United States’ main focus, and promoting democracy and human rights to Latin America has taken a back seat, according to Roxborough.
‘Clear signals from D.C. are quite unlikely. It is more likely that the government will see these issues as expendable when more important issues are at stake like drugs and terrorism.’
The third panelist, Lisa Heald, a strategist from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, said her job is to ensure that defense ministries follow through with the United States’ defense strategy and policy. Heald brought a global outlook to the panel and addressed the concern that the United States may not benefit from military-to-military relations with other countries.
‘We must strengthen alliances of the future so that the hemisphere can work cooperatively together,’ Heald said. ‘We must try to prioritize in a post-9/11 environment.’
The speakers agreed that during this trying time in history, the United States has the responsibility to act globally and regionally in regard to military-to-military interaction with other countries.
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