Restrictive rules of engagement have left Marines and soldiers reluctant to engage the enemy, sapping battlefield morale, West writes.
Still, even Democrats who have talked about "engagement" have yet to spell out what it would take to engage Iran successfully.
But to engage effectively it needs to understand that the days of old-fashioned colonial engagement have to end.
But these attempts at engagement have not sufficed.
"Since the financial crisis, the rules of engagement have changed," he warned.
Ask students: Which types of engagement have you been involved in?
Broadly, he fears that public morality and civic engagement have not kept pace with economic growth.
American soldiers, handcuffed by strict rules of engagement, have surrendered the initiative to their enemies.
The rules of engagement have since changed to a combat operation as security deteriorated.
While the union's goals have not changed, its tools for promoting political engagement have.
Occasional attempts at serious political engagement have tended towards clumsy equivocation.
