Warfare Need Not Be Thankless

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, head of NATO forces in Afghanistan, has long advocated a strategy that includes making sure the troops can get closer to and ensure the safety of the country's civilian population.

Perhaps in keeping with that focus, the Montana Army National Guard is looking for trainers to provide cultural and language training to soldiers before they are deployed overseas. The idea, according to a request last week for outside instructors that was spotted by our colleague Walter Pincus, is for the soldiers "to arrive on station with the ability to understand and enunciate certain indigenous words and phrases, and a basic understanding of the relevant historical and cultural aspects of the area which may impact the success of the unit's mission."

The goal of the program is to give everyone at least 24 hours of training on weekends at sites throughout the state and perhaps offer refresher courses as well. Certainly an excellent start.

The cultural training is to focus on "everyday situations," which must include: "Non-verbal gestures; Norms of politeness and etiquette; Verbal and non-verbal ways of showing respect; An overview of the area's geography; A brief, but relevant, synopsis of the area's . . . politics, culture, religion" and so on.

The language training -- in Arabic, Dari or Pashtun, depending on where the soldiers are going -- "must include the following fifteen required phrases: What direction?; Stop!; Hands up!; Drop your weapons!; Stop your vehicle; Show me your identification card; Do you have any weapons?; Do you need medical attention?; What is your name?; Let me search your car; Excuse me/I'm sorry; Do you need help?; Do you understand?; Put your weapon down; You may leave."

The language part (might want to include some CDs) may also "include the following optional phrases if time permits: "Hello; Good-bye; Thank you; You are welcome; Yes; No; Right; Left; Faster; Slower; Numbers 1-10."

We would suggest some additions: "Do you know Osama bin Laden or where we can find him?" "Are you busy tonight?" "Where can a guy get a drink around here?"

We weren't sure something as basic as "Thank you" could properly be considered optional even in a war zone. So we called our colleague Judith Martin (a.k.a. Miss Manners), the final arbiter of all things proper.

" 'Thank you' is never optional," she told us, especially when someone offers you tea or Afghan sweets or such. "We needn't drop civility" even in war-torn places, she added. "It's never a mistake to indicate that your ferocity is not powered by viciousness."

So when that guy drops his weapon, remember to thank him.

Power Couple 1

The administration is still trying -- really it is -- to find someone to run the foundering U.S. Agency for International Development. And while there are two studies, one at State and one at the White House, yet to be completed on what USAID's mission and structure should be, some names are floating as possible candidates.

Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Jane Holl Lute, an Army veteran and former head of U.N. peacekeeping operations, is well versed in most all of USAID's issues. (She is also a former National Security Council aide for Bush I and Clinton and former chief operations officer of the U.N. Foundation and the Better World Fund.) If, for some reason, she would actually want the job, she has the additional advantage of having been already vetted and confirmed. (She's half of quite the power couple: Her husband is Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, deputy national security adviser for Afghanistan and Pakistan.)

Also being talked about is Maria Otero, undersecretary of state for democracy and global affairs, who has worked at USAID. But she was just sworn into her present job. A third name that has surfaced is George Rupp, a minister and former president of Rice University who now runs the International Rescue Committee.

Power Couple 2

Douglas Smith, a Clinton administration veteran who was a special assistant to former Department Housing and Urban Development chief Andrew Cuomo and an aide to former transportation secretary Rodney Slater during the Clinton administration, is settling into the Department of Homeland Security as assistant secretary for the private sector.

Smith is probably best remembered for helping to put together a raucous NATO 50th-anniversary celebration here a few years back with all the starlets and endless partying. His wife, Elizabeth Sears Smith, is deputy Cabinet secretary at the White House and had been chief of staff to former congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.).

Personnel Notes

The fine ambassadorship of Costa Rica -- sometimes filled by a career diplomat, sometimes not -- is going to Washington environmental and energy lawyer Anne Slaughter Andrew, the White House announced Thursday. Andrew advises companies and entrepreneurs on investments and strategies involving the energy economy.

Retired Marine Maj. Gen. Clifford L. Stanley, who recently was president of Scholarship America, was tapped to be undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. And Scott Quehl, chief financial officer of the D.C. police department, is the pick to handle the same job at the Commerce Department.