Sestak calls for global reengagement

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, a former three-star Navy admiral who commanded naval combat operations in the Afghanistan theater, said today that the U.S. needs to reestablish its global leadership through diplomacy and cooperation, using military force only as "a last resort."

"We must recognize that, increasingly, there will be no military solution to the problems of the 21st century," Sestak said in a foreign policy speech at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia. He called for "a national strategy of reengagement in the world."

Beginning his recently announced challenge to Sen. Arlen Specter (D.-Pa.) in next year's Democratic primary, Sestak is clearly showcasing his military experience. To that end, he called for a fundamental reexamination of the military's function in the conduct of foreign policy.

In the global war on terror, he said, the nation needs to utilize "our military forces as a constructive tool, rather than just military force as a destructive weapon."

While acknowledging that the U.S. military still has to act as "an effective deterrent" to persisting conventional threats, he said it must be prepared "to wage and win a battle that is as much ideological, political, and economic as it is military."

Sestak said the Obama administration must continue to practice a comprehensive foreign policy approach "that utilizes robust diplomacy, strategic foreign aid, and military force only as a last resort."

In the globalized world, Sestak said, military, diplomatic, economic, environmental and humanitarian interests are intertwined.

"We cannot partition our view of national security into discrete artificial spheres that no longer exist," he said.

He singled out economic instability around the world as the "primary danger" to US national security.

Speaking to about an audience of about 60 people at the council's offices on South Broad Street, Sestak pointed to studies suggesting that up to 70 percent of the Taliban may be fighting to earn a living wage in Afghanistan, rather than for ideological reasons.

Regularly alluding to his Navy career, Sestak called for "preventive diplomacy" instead of "a preemptive military."

He accused the Bush administration of having turned away from international cooperation. The U.S., he argued, also must promote multilateral engagement and lead the world in confronting climate change.

While principled leadership would inspire cooperation by U.S. allies, he said, America must always maintain "the right to defend ourselves and strike at our enemies - unilaterally, if necessary."

Sestak proposed adding personnel to the U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID) and improving coordination of government agencies shaping foreign policy. "The real world does not align with our bureaucracies," Sestak said.

The congressman cited the complexity of narcotics as a focus for U.S. government agencies, at home and abroad. "It's a domestic health issue," he said, "a border control issue, a criminal issue of both national and international law, a problem for ourselves and our allies, an economic issue for the impoverished (Afghan) farmers with no alternative, and - when the money goes directly to the terrorists - it's an intelligence and military issue."