A Failed Test of Leadership

It’s a lot to ask of President Trump for him to show a little humility. But that’s exactly what the moment requires. War is always tragic. When innocent civilians die, that tragedy is multiplied. Even disciplined militaries can’t eliminate the fog of war, faulty intelligence, or human error. Terrible mistakes happen. They have in every war the United States has fought. The recent bombing of a school in Iran appears to have been carried out by U.S. forces. Tragic incidents like this are heartbreaking, but they are not unprecedented. What is more troubling than the possibility of error is the instinct to deny responsibility when the facts point clearly in one direction. President Trump has so far shown a reluctance to accept blame for the strike. That response may feel politically convenient, but it misunderstands something fundamental about leadership and American strength. Great powers don’t strengthen their credibility by pretending obvious mistakes never happened. Acknowledging mistakes in war does not project weakness. It demonstrates confidence. History provides many examples. During the Vietnam War, U.S. soldiers killed hundreds of civilians in the village of My Lai in 1968. Even before the massacre became public, the United States investigated, prosecuted those responsible, and confronted one of the most painful episodes of the war. [Mahsa Alimardani: The fake images of a real strike on a school] Even during international crises, American leaders have acknowledged tragic mistakes. In 1988, during the Iran-Iraq War, the Navy cruiser USS Vincennes mistakenly shot down an Iran Air passenger plane, Flight 655, over the Persian Gulf, killing 290 civilians. President Ronald Reagan expressed deep regret, and the United States later compensated the victims’ families. A decade later, during the NATO campaign in Kosovo, U.S. aircraft mistakenly bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade after relying on outdated intelligence about the building’s location—a failure that may resemble the kind of targeting error that led to the strike on the Iranian school. Three Chinese journalists were killed. President Bill Clinton publicly apologized. After conducting an investigation, a delegation from the State Department traveled to Beijing to explain that the strike had been a tragic error caused by faulty intelligence. Similar acknowledgments occurred in Afghanistan and Iraq when U.S. operations mistakenly killed civilians, including the 2015 air strike that destroyed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. The United States promptly investigated these incidents and accepted responsibility. None of those admissions weakened the United States. Instead, they reinforced the truth that American power rests not only on military strength but also on credibility and moral authority. Character matters most when events go wrong. Anyone can claim credit for success. The true test of leadership is how someone responds to failure. A leader who refuses to acknowledge mistakes does not project strength. He or she signals insecurity. Our allies notice the difference. They trust nations whose leaders level with them about hard truths. Our adversaries notice it as well. Whether they admit it, they respect countries that hold themselves to high standards. And the American people deserve honesty from those who send their sons and daughters into harm’s way. The U.S. military remains the most capable and professional fighting force in the world. Precisely for that reason, when something goes wrong, the United States should have the confidence to admit it. [Jonathan Lemire: Trump isn’t even trying to sell this war] So why did President Trump initially deny and deflect when U.S. culpability appeared obvious? Is it worth the hit to our credibility just to get through one more news cycle? In past experience, including some of the examples above, initial denial and deflection damaged America’s reputation and made the ultimate admission more painful. Authoritarian regimes deny obvious facts and rewrite reality to protect their leaders. Democracies are meant to serve more than one man or a few egos. We investigate mistakes, learn from them, and, when appropriate, try to make restitution. What defines a nation is not whether such mistakes occur. It’s whether its leader has the character to acknowledge them.