Military chief rips U.S. message to Muslims

[SpankMe]

Source: msnbc.com

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has written a searing critique of government efforts at “strategic communication” with the Muslim world, saying that no amount of public relations will establish credibility if American behavior overseas is perceived as arrogant, uncaring or insulting.
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“To put it simply, we need to worry a lot less about how to communicate our actions and much more about what our actions communicate,” Admiral Mullen wrote in the critique, an essay to be published Friday by Joint Force Quarterly, an official military journal.
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“I would argue that most strategic communication problems are not communication problems at all,” he wrote. “They are policy and execution problems. Each time we fail to live up to our values or don’t follow up on a promise, we look more and more like the arrogant Americans the enemy claims we are.”
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“It’s not about telling our story,” he stated. “We must also be better listeners.”

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32589657/ns/politics-the_ne... /

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The guy's a career Navy man (admiral), chairman of the joint chiefs, and in all likelihood a Republican. But, he sounds just like Obama on this issue!!! Refreshing, I think.

[Xipe Totec]

1. The man makes sense,

and now that we have a President in the White House, after 8 long years, perhaps his message will not fall on deaf ears.

[Captain Hilts]

2. It's good Gates put Navy men in charge of a lot of the key posts. They've less to gain from the war

[tabasco]

6. That's an idiotic assertion.

The only serious opposition in the run-up to the Iraq invasion in the Pentagon came from the Army.

The Army knew it would get stuck holding the bag after AWOLBush's victory speech.

AWOLBush put yes-men, like Peter Pace in a lot of top spots. Now the gutless cowards have to be purged.

[Captain Hilts]

8. The Marines and the Navy's non-aviator community went kicking and screaming. nt

[ohio2007]

11. Both JFK's went kicking and screaming ?or were they in good wars "Captian" Hilts ? nt

[GrantDem]

3. Very refreshing. Rational thought coming from the Pentagon.

Better than the reactionary over the top "dead or alive" cowboy bullshit.

[Captain Hilts]

9. The Pentagon did not spew that dead or alive shit. nt

[Arctic Dave]

4. Yes, really listen to what they are saying, AND LEAVE.

I don't think they could be anymore clear with statements.

When you are dropping Bo bs and killing people from the horn to the kush and saying that your are not at war with Islam it very hard to believe.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

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[IDFbunny]

5. "What we have here is a failure to communicate"!

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

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[Douglas Carpenter]

14. thank you

I lived half my life in the Islamic world. The vast majority of people love and admire so many things about America and almost spontaneously respect and admire Americans - almost everywhere I have gone.

Respectful words help. Respectful actions are what really counts.

The idea that they hate us because we are free - is promoted by those who don't want to Americans to self-examine.

Some peoples stereotypes of Muslims or Arabs sounds frighteningly familiar to the stereotypes promoted by the anti-Semites of 1930's Europe.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

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[Douglas Carpenter]

17. The world has 1.3 billion Muslims - they very dramatically.

I have never lived in any war zone or in Pakistan for that matter.

If you think that the Taliban is how most Muslims live or want to live - you are utterly mistaken.

Most major cities in the Middle East today are modern, cosmopolitan and diverse with all the luxury and even vices of life that one would find in any diverse and cosmopolitan city anywhere on earth.

I have never even personally seen a Burka in spite of spending half my life in the Islamic world including some years in some very remote areas.

I have never felt hated anywhere I have traveled in the Islamic world. I am Christian (by family) - not a Muslim and all the Muslims I meet certainly know that.

I have been treated with kindness and respect and have felt safe everywhere I have been - more so, in fact much more so, than most places in the West.

[ohio2007]

18. Sorry I don't meet your imaginary Lock step kool aid qualifications

Your "spewing" ignorance....oh what bliss that must be.
You can label people trolls as a great argument post reply but I don't buy into your forgiving taliban way of living like the neandrathals do when they "hope for change" or pretend it goes away uncontested.


http://www.rawa.org/gallery.html

why you hate so many opresseed women around the world is a mystery to me.
Is it because you know you are better then them ?

[Posteritatis]

10. I do believe I approve of this fellow

I especially like his pointing out that, even if an action is going to be unpopular, it should at least be honest and up-front, since credibility is more important (and probably leads to more popularity, anyway; people are more willing to put up with organizations they can trust).

[Douglas Carpenter]

13. Refreshing to realize that even someone of his position lives in the world of reality

[Purveyor]

19. Top Officer(Adm. Mike Mullen) Says US Bungling Muslim Outreach

Source: Associated Press

(08-28) 16:30 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

The U.S. military is bungling its outreach to the Muslim world and squandering good will by failing to live up to its promises, the nation's highest-ranking military officer wrote Friday.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there is too much emphasis on telling the U.S. story and not enough on building trust and credibility.

"We hurt ourselves and the message we are trying to send when it appears we are doing something merely for the credit," Mullen wrote in an essay published in a military journal. "We hurt ourselves more when our words don't align with our actions."

Mullen said he dislikes the military's focus on "strategic communications," which he said has become a cottage industry where the shaping of a message eclipses what that message says.

"Most strategic communication problems are not communicatons problems at all," Mullen wrote. "They are policy and execution problems."


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/0...

[No Elephants]

20. ....

“To put it simply, we need to worry a lot less about how to communicate our actions and much more about what our actions communicate,".......


Seems so obvious that it should not need to be said. Yet...


At this point, though, I cannot begin to imagine what we might do to change the attitudes of people in that part of the world toward us, or how many generations it might take, if we don't blow each other up first. And we have not really begun to try yet.