Andrew J. Bacevich

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD - A searing reassessment of U.S. military policy in the Middle East over the past four decades from retired army colonel and New York Times bestselling author Andrew J. Bacevich From the end of World War II until 1980, virtually no American soldiers were killed in action while serving in the Greater Middle East. Since 1990, virtually no American soldiers have been killed in action anywhere else. What caused this shift? Andrew J. Bacevich, one of the country's most respected voices on foreign affairs, offers an incisive critical history of this ongoing military enterprise--now more than thirty years old and with no end in sight.During the 1980s, Bacevich argues, a great transition occurred. As the Cold War wound down, the United States initiated a new conflict--a War for the Greater Middle East--that continues to the present day. The long twilight struggle with the Soviet Union had involved only occasional and sporadic fighting. But as this new war unfolded, hostilities became persistent. From the Balkans and East Africa to the Persian Gulf and Central Asia, U.S. forces embarked upon a seemingly endless series of campaigns across the Islamic world. Few achieved anything remotely like conclusive success. Instead, actions undertaken with expectations of promoting peace and stability produced just the opposite. As a consequence, phrases like "permanent war" and "open-ended war" have become part of everyday discourse.Connecting the dots in a way no other historian has done before, Bacevich weaves a compelling narrative out of episodes as varied as the Beirut bombing of 1983, the Mogadishu firefight of 1993, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the rise of ISIS in the present decade. Understanding what America's costly military exertions have wrought requires seeing these seemingly discrete events as parts of a single war. It also requires identifying the errors of judgment made by political leaders in both parties and by senior military officers who share responsibility for what has become a monumental march to folly. This Bacevich unflinchingly does.A twenty-year army veteran who served in Vietnam, Andrew J. Bacevich brings the full weight of his expertise to this vitally important subject. America's War for the Greater Middle East is a bracing after-action report from the front lines of history. It will fundamentally change the way we view America's engagement in the world's most volatile region.Praise for America's War for the Greater Middle East"Bacevich is thought-provoking, profane and fearless. . . . [His] call for Americans to rethink their nation's militarized approach to the Middle East is incisive, urgent and essential."--The New York Times Book Review"Bacevich's magnum opus . . . a deft and rhythmic polemic aimed at America's failures in the Middle East from the end of Jimmy Carter's presidency to the present."--Robert D. Kaplan, The Wall Street Journal"A critical review of American policy and military involvement . . . Those familiar with Bacevich's work will recognize the clarity of expression, the devastating directness and the coruscating wit that characterize the writing of one of the most articulate and incisive living critics of American foreign policy."--The Washington Post"[A] monumental new work."--The Huffington Post"An unparalleled historical tour de force certain to affect the formation of future U.S. foreign policy."--Lieutenant General Paul K. Van Riper, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.)

From an acclaimed conservative historian and former military officer, a bracing call for a pragmatic confrontation with the nation's problemsThe Limits of Power identifies a profound triple crisis facing America: the economy, in remarkable disarray, can no longer be fixed by relying on expansion abroad; the government, transformed by an imperial presidency, is a democracy in form only; U.S. involvement in endless wars, driven by a deep infatuation with military power, has been a catastrophe for the body politic. These pressing problems threaten all of us, Republicans and Democrats. If the nation is to solve its predicament, it will need the revival of a distinctly American approach: the neglected tradition of realism.Andrew J. Bacevich, uniquely respected across the political spectrum, offers a historical perspective on the illusions that have governed American policy since 1945. The realism he proposes includes respect for power and its limits; sensitivity to unintended consequences; aversion to claims of exceptionalism; skepticism of easy solutions, especially those involving force; and a conviction that the books will have to balance. Only a return to such principles, Bacevich argues, can provide common ground for fixing America’s urgent problems before the damage becomes irreparable.

The bestselling author of The Limits of Power critically examines the Washington consensus on national security and why it must change For the last half century, as administrations have come and gone, the fundamental assumptions about America's military policy have remained American security requires the United States (and us alone) to maintain a permanent armed presence around the globe, to prepare our forces for military operations in far-flung regions, and to be ready to intervene anywhere at any time. In the Obama era, just as in the Bush years, these beliefs remain unquestioned gospel. In a vivid, incisive analysis, Andrew J. Bacevich succinctly presents the origins of this consensus, forged at a moment when American power was at its height. He exposes the preconceptions, biases, and habits that underlie our pervasive faith in military might, especially the notion that overwhelming superiority will oblige others to accommodate America's needs and desires—whether for cheap oil, cheap credit, or cheap consumer goods. And he challenges the usefulness of our militarism as it has become both unaffordable and increasingly dangerous. Though our politicians deny it, American global might is faltering. This is the moment, Bacevich argues, to reconsider the principles which shape American policy in the world—to acknowledge that fixing Afghanistan should not take precedence over fixing Detroit. Replacing this Washington consensus is crucial to America's future, and may yet offer the key to the country's salvation.

In this provocative book, Andrew Bacevich warns of a dangerous dual obsession that has taken hold of Americans, conservatives, and liberals alike. It is a marriage of militarism and utopian ideology--of unprecedented military might wed to a blind faith in the universality of American values. This mindset, the author warns, invites endless war and the ever-deepening militarization of U.S. policy. It promises not to perfect but to pervert American ideals and to accelerate the hollowing out of American democracy. As it alienates others, it will leave the United States increasingly isolated. It will end in bankruptcy, moral as well as economic, and in abject failure. With The New American Militarism, which has been updated with a new Afterword, Bacevich examines the origins and implications of this misguided enterprise. He shows how American militarism emerged as a reaction to the Vietnam War. Various groups in American society--soldiers, politicians on the make, intellectuals, strategists, Christian evangelicals, even purveyors of pop culture--came to see the revival of military power and the celebration of military values as the antidote to all the ills besetting the country as a consequence of Vietnam and the 1960s. The upshot, acutely evident in the aftermath of 9/11, has been a revival of vast ambitions and certainty, this time married to a pronounced affinity for the sword. Bacevich urges us to restore a sense of realism and a sense of proportion to U.S. policy. He proposes, in short, to bring American purposes and American methods--especially with regard to the role of the military--back into harmony with the nation's founding ideals.

A blistering critique of the gulf between America's soldiers and the society that sends them off to war, from the bestselling author of The Limits of Power and Washington Rules The United States has been "at war" in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than a decade. Yet as war has become normalized, a yawning gap has opened between America's soldiers and veterans and the society in whose name they fight. For ordinary citizens, as former secretary of defense Robert Gates has acknowledged, armed conflict has become an "abstraction" and military service "something for other people to do." In Breach of Trust , bestselling author Andrew J. Bacevich takes stock of the separation between Americans and their military, tracing its origins to the Vietnam era and exploring its pernicious a nation with an abiding appetite for war waged at enormous expense by a standing army demonstrably unable to achieve victory. Among the collateral casualties are values once considered central to democratic practice, including the principle that responsibility for defending the country should rest with its citizens. Citing figures as diverse as the martyr-theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the marine-turned-anti-warrior Smedley Butler, Breach of Trust summons Americans to restore that principle. Rather than something for "other people" to do, national defense should become the business of "we the people." Should Americans refuse to shoulder this responsibility, Bacevich warns, the prospect of endless war, waged by a "foreign legion" of professionals and contractor-mercenaries, beckons. So too does bankruptcy―moral as well as fiscal.

A thought-provoking and penetrating account of the post-Cold war follies and delusions that culminated in the age of Donald Trump from the bestselling author of The Limits of Power.When the Cold War ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Washington establishment felt it had prevailed in a world-historical struggle. Our side had won, a verdict that was both decisive and irreversible. For the world’s “indispensable nation,” its “sole superpower,” the future looked very bright. History, having brought the United States to the very summit of power and prestige, had validated American-style liberal democratic capitalism as universally applicable.In the decades to come, Americans would put that claim to the test. They would embrace the promise of globalization as a source of unprecedented wealth while embarking on wide-ranging military campaigns to suppress disorder and enforce American values abroad, confident in the ability of U.S. forces to defeat any foe. Meanwhile, they placed all their bets on the White House to deliver on the promise of their Cold War unequaled prosperity, lasting peace, and absolute freedom.In The Age of Illusions , bestselling author Andrew Bacevich takes us from that moment of seemingly ultimate victory to the age of Trump, telling an epic tale of folly and delusion. Writing with his usual eloquence and vast knowledge, he explains how, within a quarter of a century, the United States ended up with gaping inequality, permanent war, moral confusion, and an increasingly angry and alienated population, as well, of course, as the strangest president in American history.

A bold and urgent perspective on how American foreign policy must change in response to the shifting world order of the twenty-first century, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Limits of Power and The Age of Illusions .The purpose of U.S. foreign policy has, at least theoretically, been to keep Americans safe. Yet as we confront a radically changed world, it has become indisputably clear that the terms of that policy have failed. Washington’s insistence that a market economy is compatible with the common good, its faith in the idea of the “West” and its “special relationships,” its conviction that global military primacy is the key to a stable and sustainable world order―these have brought endless wars and a succession of moral and material disasters.In a bold reconception of America’s place in the world, informed by thinking from across the political spectrum, Andrew J. Bacevich―founder and president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a bipartisan Washington think tank dedicated to foreign policy―lays down a new approach―one that is based on moral pragmatism, mutual coexistence, and war as a last resort. Confronting the threats of the future―accelerating climate change, a shift in the international balance of power, and the ascendance of information technology over brute weapons of war―his vision calls for nothing less than a profound overhaul of our understanding of national security.Crucial and provocative, After the Apocalypse sets out new principles to guide the once-but-no-longer sole superpower as it navigates a transformed world.

Andrew Bacevich is a leading American public intellectual, writing in the fields of culture and politics with particular attention to war and America’s role in the world. Twilight of the American Century is a collection of his selected essays written since 9/11. In these essays, Bacevich critically examines the U.S. response to the events of September 2001, as they have played out in the years since, radically affecting the way Americans see themselves and their nation’s place in the world. Bacevich is the author of nearly a dozen books and contributes to a wide variety of publications, including Foreign Affairs , The Nation , Commonweal , Harper’s , and the London Review of Books . His op-eds have appeared in the New York Times , Washington Post , and the Wall Street Journal , among other newspapers. Prior to becoming an academic, he was a professional soldier. His experience as an Army officer informs his abiding concern regarding the misuse of American military power and the shortcomings of the U.S. military system. As a historian, he has tried to see the past differently, thereby making it usable to the present. Bacevich combines the perspective of a scholar with the background of a practitioner. His views defy neat categorization as either liberal or conservative. He belongs to no “school.” His voice and his views are distinctive, provocative, and refreshing. Those with a focus on political and cultural developments and who have a critical interest in America's role in the world will be keenly interested in this book.

What is conservatism? Though often mistaken for a partisan ideology, true conservatism represents a much richer intellectual tradition. These essays, by esteemed thinkers such as Andrew J. Bacevich, Roger Scruton, Thomas E. Woods Jr., and Daniel McCarthy, help clarify and retrieve conservatism's deepest insights, demonstrating their essential relevance to our present moment.

On Shedding an Obsolete Past provides a much-needed and comprehensive critique of recent US national security policies in both the Trump and Biden administrations. These policy decisions have produced a series of costly disappointments and outright failures that have destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands around the world and cost US taxpayers astronomical sums of money.Bacevich provides urgent and critical insights into how these failures occurred and what needs to be done to prevent similar failures in the future. He reminds us that, by understanding the past, we can alter our current trajectory and transform the world for the better.

Does the United States today preside over a global empire? America's emergence as the world's dominant power in the 1990s nurtured the perception―initially more pronounced abroad than at home―that with the passing of the cold war the United States had indeed become an imperial republic. Some observers, convinced that American power is necessarily benign, welcome that new reality. Others are not so sure. In The Imperial Tense , Andrew Bacevich has drawn together a stimulating collection of arguments on a subject of compelling current importance. Since September 11 and the ensuing “war on terror,” President Bush's sweeping rhetoric and national security strategy has affirmed the imperial nature of American foreign policy, provoking concerns over where those ambitions may lead. What is the nature and scope of the American empire? What are its prospects and challenges? Is American power adequate for the task of managing a global imperium? And what of will―are the American people prepared to pay the price that the preservation of that empire may demand? The Imperial Tense offers cogent reflections on these and related questions by leading scholars and commentators, including Mr. Bacevich (who has also written the Introduction), James Chace, Stanley Hoffmann, Charles Krauthammer, Charles Maier, David Rieff, Deepak Lal, John Milbank, Jonathan Freedland, Peter Bender, Martin Walker, Perry Anderson, Jedediah Purdy, G. John Ikenberry, Stephen Books, William Wohlworth, David Marquand, David North, Gabriel Ash, Ivan Eland, and Victor Davis Hanson.

This essay is a brief history of the U.S. army during the years immediately following the Korean War. For many in our own time that period-corresonding to the two terms of the Eisenhower presidency-has acquired an aura of congenial simplicity. Americans who survived Vietnam, Watergate, and painful economical difficulties wistfully recall the 1950s as a time when the nation possessed a clearly-charted course and had the will and the power to follow it.

Hailed by the New York Times as "one of the best soldiers this country has produced," Frank Ross McCoy was, throughout his distinguished career, much more than just a good soldier. As friend and confidant to such leaders as Theodore Roosevelt, Leonard Wood, and Henry Stimson, he disproves the standard view of the military before 1940 as having no role in American foreign policy. Instead, as A. J. Bacevich ably demonstrates, McCoy was intimately involved in the development of U.S, foreign relations from McKinley's administration to Truman's. McCoy began his military career with Leonard Wood in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. After the war, he and Wood (who became military governor) worked together to establish democratic reforms in Cuba. There followed for McCoy a succession of difficult and sometimes dangerous the Philippines (during the Moro uprising), Mexico, France (as commander during World War I), Turkey and Armenia, the Philippines again, Nicaragua (during Sandino's guerrilla campaign), Bolivia and Paraguay, and China (with the Lytton Commission investigating Japan's invasion of Manchuria). Following a series of stateside appointments, McCoy served finally as chairman of the Far Eastern Commission, an international body created to determine the fate of postwar Japan. Based on exhaustive research in McCoy's personal papers and official records, Bacevich shows that McCoy's career provides a unique perspective both on American foreign policy and on civil-military relations. This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.

The Modern American MilitaryTable of by William J. Perry Introduction by David M. Kennedy The Counterrevolution in Strategic Affairs by Lawrence Freedman The U.S. Armed Forces' View of War by Brian McAllister Linn The Growth & Spread of the Precision-Strike Regime by Thomas G. Mahnken American Military Culture from Colony to Empire by Robert L. Goldich Manning & Financing the Twenty-First-Century All-Volunteer Force by Lawrence J. Korb and David R. Segal Military Contractors & the American Way of War by Deborah D. Avant and Renée de Nevers Filming War by Jay M. Winter The Future of Some Comparative Reflections by James J. Sheehan Whose Army? by Andrew J. Bacevich The Military-Industrial Complex by Charles J. Dunlap, Jr. Defending America in Mixed Gender in the U.S. Armed Forces by Martha E. McSally Military Law by Eugene R. Fidell Casualties by Jonathan Shay

This digital document is an article from Independent Review, published by Independent Institute on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1514 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Citation Details Choosing Your American Civil-Military Relations and the Use of Force.(Book Review) Andrew J. Bacevich Independent Review (Refereed) January 1, 2005 Independent Institute 9 3 448(3)Article Book ReviewDistributed by Thomson Gale