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A couple of weeks ago I found myself giddy to be agreeing with the Washington Times that the United States should be helping build schools in the Middle East. Well, it turns out that some folks in the Army think that's a good idea, too. Maj. Todd Schmidt writes in the latest issue of Military Review:

Radical, violent Islamists understand the significance of education as a fulcrum in the war. They organize lines of operation under the assumption that long-term control of society depends on what the rising generations of Muslim youth are taught to believe—educating Muslim youth is vital to achieving the Islamists’ long-term goals. The Taliban, for example, have attacked non-madrasah schools, murdered teachers, and intimidated parents and children. In 2006, they destroyed over 200 schools, killed 20 teachers, and drove more than 200,000 children from the classroom.

The U. S. needs to undertake a major effort to reorient the madrasah system so that education in the Muslim world focuses less on reproducing repressive religious ideologies and more on teaching the skills needed to develop and globalize their economies; think critically and act independently; and exercise freedom of initiative. In the end, victory in the war of ideas will depend on how effectively we persuade Muslim leaders that madrasah reform is in the best interests of their societies and the Islamic faith.

But, Schmidt writes:

Even as the madrasahs of these nations continue to churn out anti-Western mujahideen, U.S. policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan remains almost entirely focused on providing military and intelligence-gathering aid, not on preemptive economic and education development. From 2002 to the present, the U.S. has spent several billion dollars to support and bolster Afghan and Pakistani military and national security efforts. It has spent less than one billion dollars on education initiatives in these countries

Part of the problem is that while our politicians give a lot of lip service to the idea of a "long war" and a "different kind of war," they're fighting the same old way -- with guns -- with an approach that is focused way too much on short-term problems at the expense of the long-term effort needed to help other people hate us less. It takes a decade or more to provide a good education, and the results of that might not be seen at a societal level for years or decades after that. But that doesn't mean it's not worthy -- and if we really mean it when we talk about "making the world safe for our children," perhaps it's time to cast an eye on what we can do now that might pay off when they're adults.