When I saw that America’s
War for the Greater Middle East by Andrew J. Bacevich was being
published, I immediately contacted some of our Social Studies teachers and they
enthusiastically supported my decision to purchase it. They called his work interesting and thoughtful
and I would concur. Here is his road map
(four fundamental questions) for America’s War for the Greater Middle
East:
- What motivated the United States to act as it has?
- What have civilians responsible for formulating policy and the soldiers charged with implementing it sought to accomplish?
- Aside from the intentions, what actually ensued?
- And, with what consequences?
In this readable, though somewhat
lengthy text (400+ pages), he describes American actions in the region as often
ineffective in solving an initial problem, and having unintentional results, particularly
as reliance on military intervention grew. His writing is indeed thoughtful,
knowledgeable, and academic in tone, although he does not hesitate to describe
situations as he sees them. For example,
he calls the public explanation of an unsuccessful hostage rescue, “obfuscation
dressed up as accountability.” An excellent set of maps lays out the large
number of campaigns and operations since 1980 and will be very helpful to
students and readers.
Andrew J. Bacevich is a professor
emeritus from Boston University, a frequent commentator on pbs NewsHour, and is
shown in this video
reading and discussing his work at Politics & Prose, a Washington, DC.
bookstore.
America’s War for the Greater Middle East received a
starred review from Publishers Weekly.
