Crocker: U.S. residents 'geographically challenged'

It’s hard to think of a Middle Eastern hotspot during the past four decades where former U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker wasn’t involved.

He has worked under the American flag as an ambassador to Kuwait, Syria, Pakistan and was the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq until February of this year.

Crocker on Wednesday gave members of the Sandpoint Rotary club a lesson in Middle East history, politics and warfare.

United States citizens are geographically challenged, speak only English and are more concerned about today than the future or past, Crocker said.

“These shortcomings get in the way of us understanding this part of the world,” he said.

The most important date in Middle Eastern history is 1798, he said. It was the year Napolean invaded Egypt.

“From that point forward, every country from Morocco to Pakistan has been occupied by one or more other countries,” he said. “We forget about countries we are occupying, those who are occupied tend not to forget.”

The problem occupying forces face, whether they be American, English, Russian or Italian, is that they face what Crocker called the “politics of the counter punch.”

Rule one is to not confront the west in open battle, he said. “Once they are in our country, reshape the fight so that it is advantageous to us,” he said.

“The problem is that we in the west think we have victory before the other side is even gearing up,” he said. He cited many examples of this in the region.

The Presidential Medal of Honor winner warned that the United States has to be careful about what it gets itself into in that region.

“We have to be careful going in but more careful getting out,” he said.

No one could have predicted Iraq would have turned out the way it has, when US forced invaded it in the summer of 2003, he said.

“Once you have taken down someone else’s order in a country,” many unintended consequences start occurring.

Crocker praised Obama’s Iraqi troop withdrawal and has given him high marks for his handling in ramping up the Afghanistan war.

He warned that Iraq is still in “Chapter 1, Volume 1 and it will be years and years to tell if the war was a success. It is far better than it was three years ago, however,” Crocker said.

“President Obama provided a great teaching moment about how it is to be president,” he said. Obama was deliberate in his decision to increase the troops in Afghanistan and “gave a great speech with a great backdrop (West Point)…it’s been handled about as well as possible.”

Crocker expects the US and allies to be in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan for a long time. The enemy hopes to wait out the US.

“The Taliban has a joke that says the west has the watches and we have the time.”

Al Qaeda and the Taliban are very committed and resilient adversaries, he said. “All the dumb ones are dead.”

Crocker hopes that Obama’s attempt to “reknit” relationships with our allies will bring them more to the front when it comes to funding the battles in Afghanistan.

“I support this because there will be no excuse for them not to engage,” he said. “Most of the drugs from Afghanistan don’t make it to the US and land in Europe,” so it is to their benefit to stop the opium crop in Afghanistan. There will be no peace in the region until the opium crop is disrupted, he said.

Crocker also predicted that Osama Bin Laden will be captured or killed but his death won’t disrupt Al Qaeda’s terror operations.

“His death would hurt their morale because they view him like George Washington times three,” he said. Bin Laden has not been the operational leader of Al Qaeda and is tucked away somewhere.

“One day he will make a mistake…” Crocker said.

The man who served under four presidents reminded Rotarians that on the international stage, the organization makes a difference.

“Rotary International is always in difficult and challenging situations in the world,” he said.

Karachi, Pakistan, has the largest Rotary Club in the  world.

“As Pakistan fights for it role and future, it looks to Rotary to promote civic good works and to act as a role model for how civilizations should be,” he said. “Pakistan is also a place where Rotarians get assassinated,” he said.