I wish the MC had selected me when I raised my hand on Wednesday. I wanted to ask General Petraeus a question. Perhaps my hand, which to me, towered over like a lighthouse, in effect didn't clear my head. Maybe I cowered.
With a Ph.D. from Princeton, Time magazine Person of the Year in 2007, and named by Newsweek as the 16th most powerful person in the world in its December 20, 2008, it puzzled me why a brilliant man is losing to those who never finished college. It takes a brilliant man to command the sophisticated US military. I told myself.
The room was packed with retired military personnel and veterans. General commenced his speech. He simplified the complexities of war for public consumption. You know! The Sunni Triangle, the four pieces of the puzzle--No really! He showed us some--the Insurgencies and Counterinsurgency in simple geometric figures. Keep it simple for the stupid kind of thing. OK. I am on board, I guess!
Not surprisingly, the questions matched the most frequently dealt sound bites on CNN and Fox News. One, however, asked, "The Israeli military is the most powerful in the world. What is the America doing to learn from Israel?”
The General remained in the element of a blend of humor that lubricated the mechanics of an informative speech. I didn't. He humored and re-directed his responses to, once again, respond with major news networks rhetoric. I stayed fixated on, "What is America doing to learn from Israel?"
I craned my neck looking for someone to stiffen his spine and attempt to say something along the lines of, "Hold on, buddy! We are the super power in the world." His to-be biographer, Paula Broadwell, and three war veterans sat at my table and wore a permanent smile. I raised my hand higher. I knew I did because, to my left, the Korean War veteran flinched at my enthusiasm.
It unnerved me to be seen as one who will break the pattern, "It is such great pleasure …it is a great honor….please run for president…my question is...” I felt that I would most likely be cast as the employee who complained about the quality of toilet paper in a town-hall meeting. You see! I was born and raised in the Middle East. I didn't learn history or geography by tuning to wars, for profit media or from my place of worship. I lived it. To make matters worse, I am too analytic for my own good. You know what! I confess. I am! So, I rehearsed two questions in my head over and over waiting on my turn, of course while paying attention.
The first question: How are you closing the gap between the locals' threshold of pain and the civility of the U.S. soldiers?
The second question: What is the U.S. military doing to close the gap between the capabilities of stealth bombers, air craft carriers, and laser guided missiles on one hand, and the donkeys packed with explosives on the other?
I speculated the response would be, "Can you please tell me what is behind the second question?" I fooled myself that a speaker would ever ask that. Let me say more, anyway.
Here is what is behind the first question: The U.S. soldiers' expectations of compliance are different than the enemy's expectations of pain. You see! In that part of the world, it is expected for you to grab the intruder from the ear, beat him up for a few days, lash his feet, and send him on his way. Subsequently, the entire clan outside the perimeter will beat him up, His mother will join. I can hear her shouting, "Why are you messing with the Americans? They will kill you." I am not talking about suicide bombers, of course.
Let me paraphrase the second question. The definition of success might be made at the executive office, but the implementation must be congruent with the culture on the ground. As in the business world, it is with every encounter with a customer. It is there where bottom line results are produced not at Wall Street.
