2008 Keeper of the Flame Award: Jack Keane

On a breezy September night in Washington, the Center for Security Policy hosted its annual Keeper of the Flame Award dinner; this year’s honorees were the “Heroes of the Surge,” men and women who heroically changed the shape of the Middle East this year. The elegant gala was held at the venerable Union Station, and coincided with the 20th anniversary of the Center; longtime friends and comrades from Cold War-era policy battles joined new faces in the service of “peace through strength.”

Nearly 400 attended the elegant black tie gala, which coincided with the twentieth anniversary of the Center’s founding in 1988. As is characteristic of this organization and its founder and president, Frank Gaffney, grand retrospectives were deferred in favor of looking to the battles ahead.

Last winter, original supporters of the Iraq war were tough to find; the press soberly related the chaos in that country and public figures, like the Senate Majority Leader, pronounced definitively that, “this war is lost.”

At the same time, recently-retired four-star general Jack Keane, together with Fred Kagan, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, published “Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq.” The paper sketched a revised strategy in the war, with greater emphasis on aggressive counter-insurgency and “clearing, holding and building” after the enemy is driven out of a region. The plan also called for 15,000 more troops. President Bush committed his legacy and his popularity at home to this ‘Surge’; he had faith that armed with a new blueprint for winning the war, the armed forces of the United States was up to the task.

Perhaps the best measure of the effectiveness and success of the Surge is how the Iraq war has faded from constant play in the media. Once a liability for the president and his party, victory in the war today is taken for granted.

The Center for Security Policy took great pleasure in honoring those who took part in the Surge, their families, the visionary leaders who recognized the need for this initiative and who steadfastly supported its execution, supporters of the surge here on the homefront and those in Iraq who are playing an increasingly important role in consolidating their nation’s liberation.

In bestowing this year’s Keeper of the Flame Award to General Keane, Frank Gaffney acknowledged the general’s “strategic vision, his leadership skills and his dedication to the security of this nation that have contributed significantly to Iraq’s ever-more stable present and increasingly hopeful future.” As the Vice Chief of Staff, Gen. Keane helped lead the Army in Afghanistan and Iraq; his leadership was indispensable to the service’s efforts to transform itself into a more agile and rapidly deployable force.

Both President Bush and Gen. David Petraeus sent touching and emotional prerecorded messages in the general’s honor.

Douglas Feith, a longtime friend of the Center and former Undersecretary of Defense, signed copies of his best-selling memoir War and Decision.

In addition to Gen. Keane, five others were recognized as Heroes of the Surge. They were:

• William Luti, representing the Bush Administration. He is Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Defense Policy and Strategy.
• Fred Kagan of AEI, co-author (with Gen. Keane) and ‘architect’ of the Surge, and formidable military policy expert and historian;
• Merrilee Carlson of Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission—a grassroots coalition of Gold Star and Blue Star families, veterans and Americans who share a deep appreciation for our men and women in uniform;
• Pete Hegseth is a veteran of Iraq and the chairman of Vets for Freedom, a nonpartisan organization established to educate the American public about the importance of supporting our troops and giving them what they need for victory;
• Sergeant Gabriel Herrera, who, in his first deployment, became a recipient of the Purple Heart, due to injuries sustained from an IED blast to his vehicle. After redeploying in support of the Surge, Sergeant Herrera provided direct support to General Petraeus with the 177 Military Police Brigade; and
• Zainab Kassem Mohammad al-Tememe was 21 years old when she decided she wanted to help the Americans. Unable to stand by while her country slid into chaos, she exposed herself to tremendous danger and walked to contractor’s offices in Baghdad in late 2004 asking to be hired as an interpreter. Since then she has worked with the Marine’s in Faluja and Diwaniyeh and with Special forces in Hillah.