War Front to Store Front

Paul Brinkley

Description

As the top-ranking official at the U.S. Department of Defense in charge of economic rebuilding, Brinkley and his organization of hundreds of business volunteers struggled against bureaucratic policies to revolutionize foreign aid by leveraging America's strength—its private sector. In doing so, his team demonstrated success in the midst of failure, and created hundreds of thousands of jobs in areas long written off by the civilian bureaucracy as hopeless.

 

Reporting directly to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Brinkley spent five years overseeing economic improvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. The lessons learned in these two nations were soon extended into the war-torn nations of Pakistan, Rwanda, and Sudan.

 

Brinkley, who worked under both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama Administrations, reveals why American foreign policy has left these nations in the Middle East and Africa disappointed, resentful, and suspicious of American intentions. Optimistic that America can deliver on its economic promise, Brinkley outlines in War Front to Store Front the necessary changes in U.S. foreign policy if we want to rebuild and revitalize an economy under fire. 

 

This engaging account details:

 

• Fascinating insights of the inner workings of American government and its largest bureaucracy—the U.S. Department of Defense
• Vivid descriptions of a group of business leaders who sought to change how the Pentagon did business, and who wound up in a war zone, including a firsthand experience of a terrorist attack
• Detailed account of the American business model for foreign development that can improve the lives of war-ravaged citizens, at far less cost than existing military and foreign aid programs
• Insights into the transition of the Bush Administration to the Obama Administration, and its impact on foreign policy
• Inside details on the real business climate in Iraq, before and after Saddam Hussein, as well as its political landscape
• Detailed analysis of the future of Afghanistan, economically and politically, and how its democratic institutions struggle to gain a foothold
• Comprehensive map to connect Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to the global economy, creating opportunity and reducing anti-Americanism
• Thorough breakdown of lessons learned in the Middle East and U.S. efforts to translate them to African nations, including Rwanda and Sudan

Sujets

• Histoire
• United States Department of Defense
• War Front: Turning Point
• Iraq War
• Military
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 18 février 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781118284094
• Langue: English

Extrait

Praise for
War Front to Store Front
America s military and civilian leaders agree-our country s national security challenges and geopolitical objectives cannot be achieved by firepower or diplomacy alone. Economic progress, jobs, and opportunity are indispensable to winning the race and securing our nation. Understanding this reality and driven by a passion to serve, Paul Brinkley and his colleagues took great personal, career, and financial risks to help a war-torn country build a modern economy.
Brinkley tells a compelling, page-turning story. But it s no fairy tale. Readers will share not only the vision and the importance of the cause, but also the many frustrations and roadblocks experienced along the way. This is an important book-there is much here that inspires, but also many important lessons and insights that Americans and their government need to learn and heed.
-Thomas J. Donohue, President CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Paul Brinkley has written a compelling narrative about igniting economies through business creation in Iraq and Afghanistan in a war zone for two presidents. The story of his heroic team of American citizens serving in harm s way is a heartwarming and heartbreaking page-turner.
-Michael Mullen, ADM, USN (retired), 17th Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
A great story about fighting bureaucracy and making a difference.
-George Casey, GEN, USA (retired), 36th Chief of Staff of the United States Army
Paul Brinkley s War Front to Store Front is a very personal portrayal of his tireless commitment to supporting U.S. efforts to bring peace and stability to Iraq and Afghanistan. Through his leadership at the Defense Department, Paul was able to improve the lives of countless Iraqis and Afghans, providing them greater stability, employment, and economic security, along with the hope that their lives would improve. Paul s account provides solutions for overcoming Washington s bureaucratic obstacles, and moving postwar economies toward more effective reconstruction.
-Howard G. Buffett, Chairman and CEO, Howard G. Buffett Foundation
Paul Brinkley captures America s experience in Afghanistan and Iraq beyond the obvious. His fascinating narrative describes a Gordian knot of politics, personalities, culture, and economic realities that confronted, and often confounded, the best of intentions. A must-read for engagement in the modern world.
-Stanley McChrystal, GEN, USA (retired), Commander, International Security Assistance Force-Afghanistan, 2009-2010
War Front to Store Front is two intertwined tales: one, a fascinating account of how U.S. businesses can play a new and crucial role in stabilizing America s overseas conflict zones, and another, a rollicking yarn about Brinkley s team of young Americans dodging bullets and bomb blasts to accomplish their unique mission from the Tigris River to the Hindu Kush. A terrific read!
-Milt Bearden, former CIA Station Chief, author of The Black Tulip, and coauthor with James Risen of The Main Enemy
The U.S. approach to foreign assistance should take a page out of War Front to Store Front. For every culture and every country, it s about jobs and the economy. What this book demonstrates is that peace and prosperity need a unified strategy. People want the dignity and stability that comes with economic prosperity. Paul Brinkley s Task Force created economic strategies for towns and provinces and then supported the local implementation of those strategies. The Task Force made major contributions to the stabilization of Iraq. We need to understand the lessons learned and incorporate them into our approach to foreign assistance.
-Tom Pritzker, Chairman, Hyatt Hotels Corporation
This is an important book. Not only does Paul Brinkley capture the bureaucratic impediments to effective civil-military efforts in conflict zones, he also demonstrates how we can become more effective in development and stability missions. The lessons are not theoretical-they are practical and the author and his team demonstrated how to apply an entrepreneurial approach to difficult problems.
-H. R. McMaster, MG, USA, author of Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies that Led to Vietnam
Paul Brinkley weaves a fascinating yarn that is not one but five years of living dangerously in which the real enemy was not Iraqi insurgents, Afghan Taliban, or Al Qaeda, but the U.S. government and its often inane policies that prevented us from winning the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is a must-read, whether for those who crave a good tale of true adventure or policy wonks wishing to understand the vagaries of American decision making.
-Harlan Ullman, Chairman of the Killowen Group, Senior Adviser at the Atlantic Council, principal creator of the military strategy of shock and awe
Paul Brinkley s commonsense approach to rebuilding Iraqi business and industry to provide jobs, incomes, and goods to meet the country s needs, and to drain insurgencies of manpower and motive, is one of the most significant civilian efforts ever undertaken during warfare. Mr. Brinkley s brave and relentless engagement of U.S. military and civilian leaders and of Iraqis and Afghans at every level of government and industry-from farms, villages, and the front lines of battle to the U.S. Capitol, give him a breadth of knowledge and perspective like no leader in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Enduring Freedom/Afghanistan. His is an essential record to be read, debated, and relied upon by military and development specialists for decades to come.
-Edwin Price, Professor of Agriculture and Founding Director, Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, Texas A M University
Paul Brinkley provides a compelling and highly readable assessment of Afghanistan from an economic and a political perspective, and America s shortcomings in trying to build a stable Afghan state, based on his experiences throughout the country. I highly recommend this to policymakers as the transition of Afghanistan from military engagement to long-term development takes place in the next several years.
-Daud Saba, Ph.D, Governor, Herat Province, Afghanistan
War Front to Store Front is a reflective documentation from a unique prospective on a seminal era of American foreign policy that will or should influence all military interventions in the future.
-Graham Head, President and Vice Chairman, ABC Carpet Home, New York
WAR FRONT TO STORE FRONT
PAUL BRINKLEY
WAR FRONT TO STORE FRONT
AMERICANS REBUILDING TRUST AND HOPE IN NATIONS UNDER FIRE
WILEY
Turner Publishing Company / Wiley General Trade
424 Church Street Suite 2240 Nashville, Tennessee 37219
445 Park Avenue 9th Floor New York, NY 10022
www.turnerpublishing.com
War Front to Store Front: Americans Rebuilding Trust and Hope in Nations Under Fire
Copyright 2014 Paul Brinkley. All rights reserved. This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Cover design: Doug Stern
Book design: Glen Edelstein
Photographs: Tina Hager
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brinkley, Paul.
War front to store front : Americans rebuilding trust and hope in nations under fire / Paul Brinkley.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-118-23922-3 (hardback)
1. Economic assistance, American--Middle East. 2. Economic assistance, American--Africa.
3. Economic development--Middle East. 4. Economic development--Africa. I. Title.
HC415.B75 2014
338.91 73056--dc23
2013040724
Printed in the United States of America
14 15 16 17 18 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dedicated with love to Cindy, Jack, and Lindsey
In memory of Sgt. Michael C. O Neill, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, 21 November 2004
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
1. NEW RECRUIT
2. A GENERAL S CALL
3. STATE OF CONFUSION
4. PRESSURIZATION
5. BUILDING MOMENTUM
6. DARK DAYS
7. THE BUSINESS OF DIPLOMACY
8. OUR BEST YEAR YET
9. OUT OF AFRICA
10. INTO AFGHANISTAN
11. LAND OF THE PURE
12. BLACK HORROR
13. UPON FURTHER REVIEW
14. CHECKMATE
15. FIXING THE SYSTEM
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
APPENDIX A: PRINCIPLE CONTRIBUTORS, 2006-2011
APPENDIX B: MAJOR PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS: IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN, 2006-2011
NOTES
INDEX
PROLOGUE
A s a nation, we take great pride in our military. The stirring advertisements that blanket our weekend sports broadcasts, recruiting young men and women to join our all-volunteer force, reinforce the honor and respect we convey to our military personnel. Movies, television programs, and popular literature reflect the position of the military as the one element of our government capable of excellent performance in its mission.
This unique position held by the military extends to nontraditional challenges. From hurricanes to earthquakes to oil spills, we are only certain a disaster is being taken seriously when a senior military commander is placed in charge-only then do we breathe easier with confidence that somebody competent is on the job.
Our civilian institutions are, too often, another story entirely.
The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away.
President Ronald Reagan s sentiment as expressed in the 1980s is widely held today. Since the 1970s, every administration, Republican and Democratic, has at some point berated the federal bureaucracy as at best inefficient, and at worst incompetent.
As civilian government institutions have fallen in both performance and in public esteem, the word bureaucrat has too often become an epithet. This negative view of government service generates a self-fulfilling spiral of continual decline in government capabilities. Given the grim reputation of the federal bureaucracy, our government workforce does not generally at