NATO commander urges work with other nations

VIRGINIA BEACH

The key to solving many of the world's thorniest conflicts is realizing that no nation can succeed by itself, and that it is personal relations that will help bridge the gaps.

"We can't go it alone," Marine Gen. James Mattis said Wednesday night. "Every nation has to work together with like-minded people."

Mattis spoke to the World Affairs Council of Greater Hampton Roads at The Westin Virginia Beach Town Center.

The four-star general is NATO's supreme allied commander transformation and head of the U.S. Joint Forces Command. He commanded the 1st Marine Division in Iraq during the first Battle of Fallujah, in 2004, and later served as commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command.

With violence declining and the enemy losing force in Iraq, the military focus is returning to Afghanistan, where NATO troops play a major role and where, Mattis said, they are winning.

While it's hard for the alliance to move in and out of areas there, he said that when the troops stay in one place, people grow to like them.

The key to long-term success in Afghanistan, he said, will be bringing in expeditionary diplomats, "to harness not just the powers of intimidation, but those of inspiration."

"The only way we can lose is if we lose heart."

After his speech, Mattis fielded questions on what future wars might look like and on the recent flare-up in Georgia.

Any future war, Mattis said, "won't be something nice and clean," but likely a mixture of irregular warfare, cyberwarfare, possibly with chemical and radiological devices, and an attempt by the enemy at "putting out lies faster than we can the truth."

As for Russia's thinking on invading Georgia, he said, "I can't read minds any better than you can."

Short-term relations between Russia and the West will be difficult, he predicted, and the West cannot ignore what is a clear violation of international law.

Yet "there are reasons for us to find common ground," he said. "Does that mean we countenance what happened in Georgia? No, but FDR and Churchill worked with Stalin to free Europe against Hitler."

"We need to keep talking."

Matthew Jones, (757) 446-2949, matthew.jones@pilotonline.com