Word: gelb
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Turn It Over Leslie H. Gelb...
...Whether intentionally or coincidentally, thank you for running two different but parallel pieces in the same issue: Leslie Gelb's "Remembrance: Robert McNamara" and your cover story on Afghanistan. Both articles mirror each other in thought and tone and express hope for American efforts in ongoing quagmires. Gelb and McChrystal understand that wars in places like Afghanistan and Vietnam - no matter how expertly executed - can't be won unless local people have a true stake in the operations. McChrystal's new fighting strategy - to separate and protect instead of kill, to understand motivations rather than employing brute force, to supplement...
...Gelb is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations...
...Obama is a big improvement on Bush across the board, but he hasn't faced any test that measures his ability to use power," Gelb says. Indeed, Obama's approach to Iran comes straight out of Gelb's chapter on "stage-setting" - preparing the field for successful diplomacy. Obama has worked the Iran account obliquely - beginning negotiations that might make the Russians a less willing enabler of Iran's nuclear program, approaching Syria in a way that might entice that country away from so close an alliance with Iran. He also made a direct approach to the Iranian people, taping...
...Gelb, who believes the proper reaction to an Iranian bomb is containment and deterrence, not force, may be reacting to past American arrogance with undue humility. "If you try for the perfect solution, you're asking for failure," he says. We have to tolerate a world that isn't quite as we'd want it to be. It will be interesting to see if Barack Obama, who has pretty much gotten his way at every turn, will be able to handle that...