What if the U.S. decided to create a think tank dedicated to peace and then invited scholars and practitioners to conduct research and start projects aimed at promoting peace and conflict resolution? That would be a good thing, right? Born out of the dark times of the Cold War, the U.S. Institute of Peace has done just that and now faces a darker time as these noble peace goals clash with our modern era of budget cuts. As The Washington Post explains:
The U.S. Institute of Peace has been taking heavy incoming fire from the House side of the Hill, where a bipartisan coalition last week voted to cut off its funding […] USIP folks were blind-sided when 40 other Democrats – more than 20 percent of the Democratic caucus – joined the GOP majority in voting to cut off the organization’s funding […] USIP officials have returned fire by pointing out it is not a run-of-the-mill think tank, but a place that actually sends a very talented staff out to resolve conflicts in some of the nastiest places on earth, such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan. They have offices in beautiful downtown Baghdad and in scenic Kabul and had been major players in the Balkans during the bad years. None other than Gen. David Petraeus, now the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, praised USIP for its “reconciliation effort,” in 2007 in helping the military stabilize an area in Iraq once called “the Triangle of Death.” The battalion commander there at the time credits it with saving U. S. lives. Former secretaries of state and defense have weighed in to support it.
I’ve excerpted the important bits of the article, as the reporter goes on to obsess about the Institute’s iconic building, as if that was the important thing to focus on rather than the good work USIP does, work now placed in jeopardy. With all the conflict in the world, and with all the many vested interests that have a stake in conflict, isn’t it fitting that U.S. citizens are using their taxes to help pay for a voice and a force for peace? My answer to that question is yes, and I’ll be letting my elected representatives know how I feel. And, I’ll also be signing a petition in support of USIP and promoting it on Facebook. If Facebook can also help bring down dictators, perhaps it can help preserve a group devoted to peace.
