But it's also possible to draw a different conclusion from recent years: that nation-building deserves the bad name it earned in Somalia, and that there should be no next time. One might even be forgiven for thinking that good old-fashioned diplomacy should be enjoying a renaissance now that military might has failed to set all things right. But sadly, according to a Center for Strategic and International Studies report entitled "The Embassy of the Future," diplomacy is still mistaken as "a tool for the weak, always about making concessions or appeasing our foes." That's too bad, because when Foreign Service officers describe their work in Iraq and Afghanistan, their best efforts sound suspiciously like old-hat diplomacy -- working to establish relationships of trust with key locals to influence them in favor of U.S. interests.
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