Focus on U.S. Southern Command
Southcom Chief Stresses Ideas, Not Missiles
19 October Miami Herald - Southcom Chief Stresses Ideas, Not Missiles by Carol Rosenberg.
Quote:
Even before Adm. James G. Stavridis takes charge of U.S. military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean this morning, the new Southern Command chief has been making plans for travel and engagement in what he sees as a battle of ideas, not missiles and bombs, in the Western Hemisphere.
In a wide-ranging interview prior to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's arrival in town to pin a fourth star on his senior aide, the veteran Navy officer said:
• There is still some wiggle room for a military relationship with Venezuela, despite chilled relations with President Hugo Chávez.
• He is going to keep watch on the Guantánamo Bay detention center for terrorist suspects to make sure it's run in ``a legal and transparent fashion.''
• He's also watching Fidel and Raúl Castro's side of Cuba for a potential U.S. military humanitarian role in any future rafter crisis.
• He is not overly concerned by Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere...
With no U.S. forces shooting in the hemisphere and a patchwork of security agreements and drug interdiction operations, the job of Southcom chief has long been quasi-diplomatic -- a uniformed U.S. envoy promoting democracy in the at-times troubled nations of Latin America and the Caribbean....
Admiral Stavridis Stresses Softpower at SOUTHCOM
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0703/p...mi.html?page=1
Miami - James Stavridis had a decision to make: fire a missile at an Iranian aircraft flying ever closer to his Aegis cruiser in the Arabian Gulf, or wait to see what the pilot would do. The young lieutenant commander, the tactical action officer on board, held both his fire and his breath. When the plane peeled off of its own accord, he sighed in relief and knew he'd made the right choice.
That was more than 20 years ago, during the "tanker war" between Iran and Iraq. But the experience has stayed with Mr. Stavridis, now a four-star admiral in charge of US Southern Command, as a reminder that the conventional militaristic approach isn't always the best course.
"The incident comes back to me at times because it tells you that, in the world we live in, it's good to hold back on the key sometimes," says Stavridis, during a recent interview here.