Pubdate: Sun, 15 Aug 2004
Source: Daily Herald, The (Provo, UT)
Copyright: 2004 The Daily Herald
Contact:   http://www.harktheherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1480
Author: Walter Cronkite
Note: Walter Cronkite's column is distributed by King Features Syndicate.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/author/Cronkite
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Kucinich
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)

TO BALANCE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT U.S. NEEDS DEPARTMENT OF PEACE

With this nation embroiled in what threatens to be an interminable "War on 
Terrorism," an idea put forward last year by Ohio Congressman Dennis 
Kucinich has, for me, considerable appeal.

Kucinich, who was the one candidate in the Democratic primaries to 
unfailingly promote the party's traditional Franklin Roosevelt liberalism, 
proposed the establishment of a Department of Peace.

Now he has introduced in the House HR 2459, a bill that would establish a 
Peace Department, adding a new cabinet post to the executive branch of 
government. The Department of Peace would "advise the Secretary of Defense 
and the Secretary of State on all matters relating to national security, 
including the protection of human rights and the prevention of, 
amelioration of, and de-escalation of unarmed and armed international 
conflict."

The secretary of peace would serve as a delegate to the National Security 
Council and also would "provide training of all United States personnel who 
administer post-conflict reconstruction and demobilization in war-torn 
societies." In other words, the Department of Peace, with a highly trained 
and dedicated staff, would be a constant, working counterpoint to the 
Defense Department and its expenditure of billions of dollars to perfect 
the weapons of war.

The department would act not only in an international context, but also in 
those areas of domestic policy that endanger the nation's well-being: the 
proliferation of automatic weapons and the violence in our schools, our 
homes and in our streets, where the intolerant prey on those whose 
lifestyles they find offensive. It might well come up with some new 
strategies for turning around our losing war on drugs, and it might also 
lobby Congress to put an end to the cruel and unusual punishment of 
small-time drug offenders called "mandatory sentencing." It would also 
advise the attorney general on matters of civil rights and labor law.

But its primary importance, it seems to me, would be in international 
affairs, demonstrating to the rest of the world, to borrow the old motto of 
the Strategic Air Command, that "peace is our profession."

Now, to some, this is going to sound terribly naive, given the current 
state of things and the very real, hard-edged dangers that face us. But the 
naivete just might lie on the other side on the side of those who believe 
that military force and our policy of pre-emption are alone sufficient to 
make us safe. The fact is that there is nothing in this proposal that would 
weaken our military posture or our ability to strike terrorists and their 
havens and to do whatever is necessary for the defense of the United States.

But wouldn't it be an advantage to have a peer of the secretaries of 
defense and state whose primary responsibility it was to develop the 
methods and means of peaceful conflict resolution and to offer peaceful 
alternatives in the councils of war?

Wouldn't it have been an advantage in the run-up to the Iraq War to have 
had a cabinet officer whose department was responsible for training U.S. 
personnel in human rights, conflict resolution, reconstruction and the 
detailed planning necessary to restoring a durable peace; in short, to do 
what was so disastrously absent when our forces rolled into Baghdad?

Kucinich's bill is more elaborate and specific than I can spell out here. 
Right now it is a long way from realization, with only a few dozen 
congressional sponsors. It needs a lot more to move another step along the 
legislative process.

Actually, there is an urgency to its adoption. In this dangerous world, 
where the strength of the United States is needed to keep the peace, we 
need a visible manifestation of our intention to play that role, without 
the arrogance that cost us friends and allies among the nations and peoples 
of the world.

But no matter how far off it might be, it is an idea that deserves our 
attention. We can hope that Kucinich and those who are pioneers in 
supporting his bill stay the course and redouble their efforts.

* Walter Cronkite was anchor of "CBS Evening News" for 19 years.
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