The Foreign Service Journal, November 2007

44 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7 hen our descendants look back on the end of the 20th century and the beginning of this one, they will be puzzled. The end of the Cold War relieved Americans of almost all inter- national anxieties. It left us free to use our unparalleled economic power, military might and cultural appeal to craft a world to our liking. We did not rise to the occasion. Nonetheless, almost the whole world stood with us after 9/11. There is still no rival to our power, but almost no one abroad now wants to follow our lead, and our ability to shape events has been greatly, perhaps irreparably, enfee- bled. In less than a decade, we have managed to discredit our capacity to enlist others in defending our interests and forfeit our moral authority as the natural leader of the global community. There is no need for me to outline to this expert audi- ence the many respects in which our prestige and influ- ence are now diminished. Historians will surely wonder: How did this happen? But for now, how we got into this mess is far less important than figuring out how we can get out of it. Assessing the Collateral Damage Much more has been destroyed than just the social and political orders in Iraq and Afghanistan. The term “col- lateral damage” was invented to denote the undesirable side effects of actions on the battlefield. But it certainly applies to the consequences of our confused and counter- productive conduct and the misdirection of our armed forces since 9/11. We have greatly devalued our political and moral standing with our allies and friends, and fool- ishly degraded the deterrent value of our military power. The world now fears our savagery but has lost confidence in our fair-mindedness, judgment and competence. What are the consequences of this, and how can we overcome them? A common concern about the belligerent unilateralism of the world’s greatest military power is driving lesser powers to look for political and economic support from countries who are distant, unthreatening or unlikely to back American agendas. So, for example, Venezuela, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and key African countries are all courting China; Europe is flirting with Asia; and all are seeking the affections of the oil and gas producers of the Middle East, as well as wooing Russia and India. In most countries, politicians now see public spats with the United States as the easiest way to rally their people and enhance their prestige. The result is the progressive displacement of our previously indispensable influence and leadership in more and more areas of the world. Sagging demand for our leadership may be a good thing to the extent it relieves us of the burdens of our much-pro- C AN A MERICAN L EADERSHIP B E R ESTORED ? T HE WORLD BEFORE US TODAY IS BOTH UNFAMILIAR AND UNANTICIPATED . H ERE IS A THOUGHT - PROVOKING TOUR D ’ HORIZON . W B Y C HAS W. F REEMAN J R . Chas W. Freeman Jr., a retired member of the Senior Foreign Service and former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, is president of the Middle East Policy Council. This article is excerpted from Amb. Freeman’s remarks to the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs on May 24.