Eugene Jarecki

For better or worse, it's obvious that this was written by a film-maker. For better, because he writes very clearly and has a good eye for anecdotes. For worse, because it's pretty disordered, sometimes overly polemical and other times overly credulous.

The best of all is the way he contextualizes the Bush administration's use of executive power in the prosecution of the Iraq war, picking out the most important changes in America's attitude towards its role in global matters (e.g., FDR, Truman, Ike) and showing how they come together in recent presidencies. The worst of all is his apparent belief that ethical standards can be found mainly in the wise words of Our American Forefathers, (particularly Madison and Eisenhower, neither of whom exactly qualify as robust moral exemplars) or, even more perversely, military strategists who more or less get their military strategy from the self-help books of the later twentieth century (John Boyd).

And you already know everything in the last two chapters: he goes through the Bush/Cheney/Perlites and their various turpitudes in an unenlightening, boring manner.

Jarecki admits at the end that his own understanding of some of his heroes was changed by his research, and that's all for the better. Now if only he could recognize that The Federalist Papers are no more divine than FDR, he'd really be on to something.… (meer)

This is an important book, one of a very few for a popular audience that attempts to chart the rise of the military-industrial complex and the evolution of our current political imbalance among the three branches. The book often feels clunky and padded, unfortunately. Still, it is one of a very few books out there that attempts seriously to explain how the U.S., that is, us, became a militarist imperium. Worth reading for that alone, but the final chapters, where he discusses John Yoo's arguments in favor of extraordinary presidential power and suggests some starting points for reform, are also quite thought-provoking.… (meer)

With each new American war comes a new rationale: communism, drug traffic, terrorism. But what if the truth of American war goes deeper? What if our soldiers are put in harm's way for the benefit of the manufacturers of guns, tanks, bullets and bombs? That's the case Eugene Jarecki builds in this provocative history of what Dwight D. Eisenhower, back in 1961, dubbed "the military-industrial complex." Jarecki reveals a disturbingly intimate bond between Congress, the Pentagon and military companies, arguing that weapon makers have become a fourth branch of government. As a result, American foreign policy has grown senselessly trigger-happy. Whether you believe America's occupation of Iraq is well justified, or you find Halliburton as guilty as Saddam, Why We Fight provides a troubling new perspective on the U.S. military machine. (JS)… (meer)

Soros inspired attack on sound military policy and misunderstands the Founders. Jarecki does not deal with the failure of Obama to change the American way of war, in fact, he never deals with Obama's escalation at all. Jarecki seems to misunderstand the Western tradition of war entirely. He does not seem to be aware of Victor Davis Hanson's important works on the nature of Western warfare which was always devastating, and importantly so.

Cf. rel="nofollow" target="_top">http://blogsmithconsulting.blogspot.com/2012/03/americans-war-presidents-and-911...

Limits on American Power?
http://www.librarything.com/work/5654532/edit/43172030

Or, have we not pursued national interests and power enough?
Niall Ferguson, Civilization
http://www.librarything.com/work/book/91501766… (meer)