POST: Support for the Troops, By David Brooks AND Bob Herbert, The Conversation, October 22, 2009

If I'm not mistaken, I've blogged Brooks saying similar things in the past (or maybe it was just Ferguson and Boot).

Anyway, here's the relevant bit:

David Brooks: I'm not sure it's necessary to have national mobilizations a la World War II, but I can think of a few things that might spread the sacrifice around. First, we need a civilian nation-building academy. The military dominates nation-building efforts in part because the State Department contributions are pathetic. In Afghanistan the so-called civilian surge has been practically non-existent. We need to train people to do this kind of work -- to provide legal aid, police aid, agricultural aid and so on. We don't have to call it a colonial office, but we do need civilians who are willing to go to places like Afghanistan and do civil society building work.

(Thanks: Jeffrey Itell)