The Foreign Service Journal, March 2009

positions encompassed in the GRP ini- tiative, as well as adequate funding for support and training. Otherwise, like transformational diplomacy and global repositioning, they will be remem- bered only as confusing slogans. Hollis Summers FSO Washington, D.C. Lessons Learned? President Obama and Secretary Clinton have promised a foreign policy “based on a marriage of principles and pragmatism, not rigid ideology” and “on facts and evidence, not emotion or prejudice.” Let’s hope it’s not too late to undo the damage wrought by the Bush ad- ministration’s foolish rule by dogma: a tragic war of choice based on lies; broader and deeper antipathy toward the U.S., particularly in the Muslim world; hollowed-out military and diplomatic capabilities; record fiscal deficits and the worst economic down- turn since the Great Depression; the erosion of democracy in our backyard; and reversals of environmental protec- tion and worsening global climate change. If nothing else, perhaps we might learn the following lessons: 1. An “edifice complex” does not make us more secure. The nonparti- san “Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Prolif- eration and Terrorism” recently con- cluded that “our margin of safety is shrinking, not growing.” This, despite our $50 billion-per-year Department of Homeland Security, the Defense Department’s $800 billion “Global War on Terror,” $50 billion spent on Iraq’s reconstruction, and our $600 million embassy in Baghdad. 2. You can’t promote democracy abroad through the barrel of a gun, much less when you undermine it at home. The best public diplomacy is doomed to fail in promoting democ- racy if we’re seen violating our consti- tutional guarantees of due process, suppressing dissent, politicizing the ju- diciary, issuing flimsy signing state- ments to thwart congressional intent, and unilaterally trashing international conventions. Such hypocrisy fools no one and merely emboldens autocrats elsewhere. 3. You can’t promote prosperity through reckless fiscal policies. A dog- matic fixation on tax cuts took us quickly from record budget surpluses to record deficits. The Bush adminis- tration would not likely have met its own Millennium Challenge Corpora- tion’s standards for developing coun- tries regarding adherence “to policies that promote political and economic freedom, investments in education and health, the sustainable use of natural resources, control of corruption, and respect for civil liberties and the rule of law.” 4. “Science-based decisionmaking” must be just that, not a thinly veiled dodge to avoid hard choices on issues such as energy and climate change. Over the past eight years, non-expert ideologues systematically suppressed or altered scientific reports that ran contrary to the administration’s pre- conceived notions. If only they had shown the same disregard to peddlers of bogus intelligence on Iraq that they had for reputable climate scientists. Beware of dogma. As Abraham Lincoln said in 1862, “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present … so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disen- thrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.” I look forward to the re- turn of honest debates, dispassionate decisionmaking, transparency, the rule of law, checks and balances, and fiscal responsibility. What a shame that, given our recent history, this return to our founding principles represents “thinking anew.” Tim Lattimer FSO Embassy San Jose Iran, 1979: A Well-Planned Takeover I have thoroughly digested Ambas- sador Bruce Laingen’s January letter regarding the opportunity for a diplo- matic healing between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, I am compelled to disagree with his assertion that the U.S. embassy was overrun by “students” on Nov. 4, 1979, because he persuaded Ambassa- dor Mehdi Bazargan and National Se- curity Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski to meet. To believe that a minor oppor- tunity to meet in a faraway capital would precipitate the takeover of the U.S. embassy leads me to believe that perhaps a bit of ego, along with diplo- matic insider information, is involved. As a communications officer in the telecommunications unit of the em- bassy in 1979, I certainly was not privy to all of the information that Amb. Laingen had. However, all electronic communications passed through our unit. Upon my arrival in Tehran on Oct. 19, 1979, just after clearing immigra- tion and customs (both civil and Komiteh, the armed Islamic revolu- tionary groups) at Mehrabad Interna- tional Airport, I was met by my supervisor, who told me that my tim- ing was impeccable. President Jimmy Carter had announced that day that he was allowing the former shah of M A R C H 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 7 L E T T E R S