European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 23, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday. November 23, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 Harry g. Summers increasing defense spending is one of the tenets of the gop s con tract with America that rep. Newt Gin Grich r-ga., has pledged to put into exe cution when he becomes speaker of the House of the 104th Congress in january. But As important As appropriating sufficient funds to provide for America s de lenses May be the first priority of the new majority members of the Senate and House armed services committees is to determine precisely Why we maintain a military and what missions it should recalled upon to perform. Testifying last month before the House armed service committee i told committee chair Man Ronald Del Luis d-calif.,that the most important thing the committee could do is to clarify what America expected of its Mili tary for with the end of the cold War that was no longer a Given. Peacekeeping not War fighting is occupying More and More of the military s efforts and budgets As Well. Indeed Given the support for such operations by the interventionist doves i.e., those who had opposed All past . Interventions but who Are now clamouring for . Military involvement in Somalia Bosnia Haiti and elsewhere Case could be made that the True Long term objective of those pushing peacekeeping is unilateral . Military disarmament. Whether or not that is their in tent it is fast becoming the practical effect of such operations. Peacekeeping commitments May so degrade the armed forces War fighting capabilities that twill be impossible to carry out the nation Al military strategy rep. Ike Skelton Missouri Democrat on the House com Mittee said in a prescient october 1993speech. / we May have a win win strategy where the United states can fight two regional conflicts simultaneously he went on to say but we Are in fact draw ing the army Down to a win Zero capability. Peacekeeping missions May even undermine the first win peacekeeping saps military s fighting Pun tends to further undermine the army s capability for regional War and could undermine the armed forces ability to conclude even one major regional Contin gency with  the services Are being asked to do too much with too Little noted  Mccain a Ariz of the Senate armed services committee. They Are often regarded As the general labor Pool rather than the nation s professional Mili tary. They Are also not being reimbursed their full costs for operations other than War which is the pentag61ts"tetm" for the various nation building peacekeeping and nontraditional missions. Since the services Are not being reimbursed their full costs they must take funds from accounts such As training and Maine nance.". Vav. The result As revealed in recent news accounts is that the army s 1st inf div Mech had to halt training in mid september because it had run put of funds the 4th inf div Mech had to can cel rotation of its infantry and tank battalions to the National training Center the Navy had to stand Down a number of Carrier fighter squadrons and the Marine corps began to hollow out its forces by deactivating Rifle battalions and  batteries. The situation in which the service Snow find themselves is not exclusively the result of a budget problem sen. Stro Thurmond , soon to be head of the Senate armed services committee said in a sept. 30 letter to Secretary of defense William Perry. The present condition of both current and future readiness suggests there Are serious prob lems with administration policy and direction which consistently task the Mili tary to conduct operations that Are Notona fide military in nature. The Long term consequences of this tendency ascertain deterioration of the ability of the armed forces to prevail in combat wit minimum  on oct. 6, rep. Floyd Spence r.c.,who is to become chairman of the House armed services committee joined wit rep. Robert k. Dornan r-calif., and other gop legislators in a letter to Perry protesting the delay or cancellation of a number of weapons modernization pro Grams. As they said there Are an in creasing number of programs currently funded by Dod department of de sense that Are More properly the function of other agencies or departments and could be reduced or eliminated with far less consequences for Dod s  Why do we maintain a military notwithstanding All of the changes that have taken place in the world notwithstanding the new emphasis on peacekeeping said. Gen. Colin l. Pow Ell the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff we have this Mission to fight and win this nation s wars we re warriors. We never want to lose sight of this Basic underlying principle. That Why you have armed  acknowledging that fact and if Nec Essary legislating it into jaw should be among the 104th Congress first Priori ties. -.,-. Cd some people used to argue that the Best Hope for saving the world was to get More women into positions of political Power. The thought was that women being naturally inclined to cooperation and peacemaking would be less Likely than men to Lead us needlessly into ". _ 1 Haven t heard the argument recently maybe that s because War seems a less planet threatening Prospect since the demise of the soviet Union. Maybe it s because the women who did Rise to Politi Cal Power Gandhi Meir Thatcher for instance were not noticeably less Bellicose than were the me who preceded and followed them. Or maybe it s that women have started acting More like men or at an rate think they should. You will remember the old argument. Little girls perhaps harking Back to prehistoric times when women were keepers of Home and Hearth play open ended cooperative games. Boys responding to the Hunter s necessity to capture and kill play games wit Clear Cut winners and losers. Out of this combination of nature and nurture the argument went came cooperative nurturing women and competitive Macho men. This sexual division of course was never absolute. Both men and women Harbor competitive As Well As co operative urges. But it May be fair to say that the culture that has Al ways urged men toward the aggressive Side is now doing the same thing with women. Cooperation an Compromise have come to be seen As weakness in women As Well As in men. The women who command respect these Days Are the Tough talking take no prisoners types Patricia Ireland Phyllis Schlafly Maxine Waters or Ann Richards Are we better off for this culture shift i Don t think so of. ,.just look at Haiti its political situation relatively stable its people reasonably hopeful its elected presi Dent Back in Power and americas problem with Hai Tian refugees Well on the Way to Resolution. None of this Means that democracy has been restored in that Long suffering place. But it does mean that Haiti now has a Chance at political an economic salvation. And How did that chancesome about partly no doubt As a result of president Clin ton s threat to launch a military invasion but also As a result of the negotiations led by former president Carter that had the effect of making the invasion unnecessary. To an awful lot of americans Carter s conciliatory approach seemed weak. Not Only did he refrain from branding it. Gen. Raoul Cedras and his colleagues As thugs and Savages but he also expressed his unhappiness even shame Over some aspects of . Policy. It was not at All a Macho performance but the result was the exodus of Haiti s military dictators and the return of its duly elected president without widespread bloodshed an without putting american troops in the role of a despised occupying army. Who won who cares Carter played the game the Way we used to think a woman might without the be hard Edge William Raspberry Cassity of Clear Cut winners and losers. His so far successful approach stands out in my mind because it is so rare. The tendency these Days is to de Fine the problem in terms of an enemy and then to drive the enemy to the Wall. Too Many of us Are busying ourselves searching out and identifying enemies to be brought Down. On television our present Day marketplace of ideas political or ideological opponents Are More concerned to def Ayone another to believe that the rules require them to try to defeat one another than to seek Points of agreement that could move the society Forward this Little boys Way of playing seems to have become everybody s Way of playing. Indeed it seems the reason Able Way to play the game until it dawns on you that it does t work. The people who Are open to cooperation and Community building Are the ones who create positive change we keep scouring the terrain for enemies when what we need is to remind ourselves As someone wit tier than i put it that the problem is the problem. Instead of tempting women and girls to the Macho Way of dealing we need to teach men and boys the usefulness of cooperation and Compromise. Our tendency toward heedless warfare ineffectual and dangerous a foreign policy is disastrous on the Domestic front. It thwarts the Best efforts of those who would try to moves toward Community. In t it time to try a different game Cwashington Post