It would seem we are headed for a national security moment with Iran almost certainly and with North Korea by happenstance probably. One or both of these nuclear-charged events might take form during the presidential campaign. The timing would probably help Barack Obama win re-election, most of the country rallying behind its commander-in-chief. A national security crisis – especially one dealing with Iran – in which the United States either participates in militarily or is thought to support the actions of any ally – would encumber serious repercussions on American foreign policy and set it on a course for decades to come.
On Iran, not one credible HispanicLatino is known generally or publicly to have been engaged in developing any of the provisional strategies to deal with an armed conflict or its aftermath. Since HispanicLatinos already fight – often disproportionately – in the nation’s wars and will do so in greater numbers as their population grows, the decisions that might generate future conflicts must be developed with the active participation of qualified and credible HispanicLatinos lest any policy of war or peace adopted lack credibility as it unfolds or lose it over time. Unbeknownst to most policy decision-makers the war in Iraq was hugely unpopular within the HispanicLatino community.As it is, only a minimal number of HispanicLatinos and fewer geostrategic thinkers are engaged in the formulation of American foreign policy in the country’s dealings with the Hispanic Hemisphere. The HispanicLatino community lacks more members in Congress expertly versed on foreign affairs, a circumstance exacerbated by the absence of influential HispanicLatinos in the executive branch and the absence of enough credible HispanicLatinos in the Foreign Service and the foreign policy establishment, including the influential think-thanks and consulting firms that populate the eastern seaboard.
The men and women making the decisions about Iran, Korea, the western hemisphere and relations with Europe are not going to be around to manage their aftereffects in the future. Much like George W. Bush and Iraq, they will be gone as the HispanicLatino population is left to hold the bag.
Aside from one or two attention-seeking grandstanders whom few take seriously for their lack of integrity, the gapping dearth of HispanicLatino talent in the field of foreign policy could work against the very interests of a nation whose HispanicLatino population will bear more of the responsibility and sacrifice in order to safeguard America.
The Pentagon is not sure exactly how many HispanicLatinos died in Korea and Vietnam combined. The country would be wise to make sure that future foreign policy endeavors include the voices of all Americans. No one asked HispanicLatinos along the border what they think of walls, security fences and armed patrols in their neighborhoods. Those who were asked did not want them there.
Even were no charged moment to come this year, many are in the making and how the United States deals with them cannot be decided by groups that lack inclusive decision-making.
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