The American Way of War: Guided Missiles, Misguided Men, and a Republic in Peril

This book was fascinating, well cited and of interest to Americans of all political bents. I never thought I would find such an appreciation for military history This is a vital book for reviving our democracy and understanding the threats to it.

This book is different than I thought it would be. This book takes you through the history of the Military Industrial Complex starting during and after World War II and on through the current situation in Iraq. Jarecki takes the reader through the past 60 years of the MIC and creates real interest in what has gone before and where we find ourselves today. The dangerous increase in power that has come to the Executive branch of the US Government is nothing new, it has simply been brought to new heights with the latest 'regime'. This is an excellent and easy to read book. The author keeps the subject interesting and puts everything in superb perspective.

I have to admit, I am a bit of a centrist in many things and a conservative in others, yet this book took me out of my comfort zone and challenged my thinking, or should I say, propagandized mind. Jarecki, the filmmaker of "Why We Fight," goes to the next level to delve into the history and development of America's way of war, particular since the end of the WWII and the beginning of the cold war. Jarecki starts with the present, flashes back to the times of Truman and Eisenhower and then back to the present again in reviewing how we got to where we are. He also goes into our going to war in WWII and how that influence the very important National Security Act of 1947 that eventually lead to the MIC (the Military Industrial Complex). What fascinate me in all this is when he shows that Truman and the Dems of his time and for sometime there after were the ones engaging in developing our military capacity after WWII and the Republicans wanted to get back to isolationism. One area I wished he had spent a little time on would have been how did we get from that to the why, when and how the transition took place. His approach to the NeoConservatives (fake conservatives) was really enlightening. So, really, we have a group of individuals who write a blueprint for the USA and it is followed almost to the letter after 9-11. He is really so very well researched and rarely allows himself to show any narrow mindedness in political discussion. However, there are times where he seems to contradict himself. Ike was warning that there was less need for nukes and Kennedy was for them, then a little later, Kennedy said Ike was all for nukes and not for conventional war making as much. He could have clarified his thoughts on things like this. His book is also written with the framework of what the founders and framers of our nation and approach to our republic had written about foriegn entanglements. But, what is relatively glossed over is what do we do when the USA is really the only nation left standing intact after a great and terrible war? He does not weigh the difference with responsibility and meddling in the affairs of other countries. Jarecki writes as if there are not even potential enemies. Although there was a lot of fearmongering during the cold war, was there relatively little threat during that time. He writes about specific programs that were wasteful, the exposing of corruption in Defense spending and related issues, but sometimes he asks if we really needed certain weapons. For instance the F22 fighter. The author mentions we have no enemies with an airforce, so why do we need fighter planes? Well, he is not asking this rhetorically, he means it and yes we did spend way to much on implements of war at times, but a reality check would say we have potential enemies, and there are other uses for fighter planes instead of dog fights. As I write this, Venezuela is inviting Russian Naval warships to its ports. So close to

Jarecki goes into great detail, with a comprehensive historical background framework, to explain how the United States has become today a monstrous war machine with 93% of the whole Defense budget going to the DoD and only the remaining 7% to the State Department. Which explains in a nutshell why, when problems arise, they are likely be solved militarily. From the founders to the Bush administration, Jarecki explains how there has been a continuous erosion of the legislative power - with stunning insights into this last administration's wrongdoings leading to an unnecessary war in Iraq. It is time for the American people to be aware of what is happening without their knowledge and to expose the wrongdoings of their corrupt politicians! A good way to start is to read this book.

Eugene Jarecki, director of the powerful film Why We Fight, has now given us a written account of American militarism in The American Way of War. There is substantial overlap between the film and the book--they may be viewed as telling the same story. It is, however, a story well worth telling twice. The film has greater visual impact and the book has more content. Partisans will be inclined to read the book and see the film as indictments of the Bush administration's conduct of the war in Iraq. Book and film do certainly achieve that--but Jarecki's aim, especially in the book, is broader and more substantive. He traces the long history of American militarism that has culminated in an unnecessary war. This book ought to encourage a thoughtful and thorough re-examination of American military policies and structures. Jarecki traces the growth of expansionist American foreign policy from the birth of the republic to the present day, reminding us of history we all know, but may not have connected to our present posture as the world's sole superpower. Viewing history through the lens of the Iraq disaster, he sees the war as a logical consequence of a lengthy expansion of American state interests, rather than simply a right-wing aberration. The roots of our difficulties run deeper in our history than at first imagined. As we all seem to have forgotten, the Constitution vests the authority to declare war in the legislative branch, leaving the authority to wage war in the executive. It says nothing whatever about justifications for war. The ever wider declarations of the Monroe Doctrine, the Truman Doctrine, the Reagan Doctrine, and the Bush Doctrine represent a steady expansion of declared state interests and a parallel reduction in sufficient conditions for war. The Bush Doctrine now sees US state interests threatened by the slightest abridgment of freedom anywhere in the world and proclaims the establishment of freedom around the globe a necessary condition of US security. This widened circle of explicitly formulated state interest has created an American imperium which itself now threatens genuine national interest by undermining the structure of our democracy and bankrupting the treasury. It has created a distorted version of the republic the founding fathers envisioned, a version in which the military-industrial complex, which President Eisenhower unsuccessfully warned against in his parting words, has assumed a vast amount of power over the activities and policies of government as well as an unhealthy role in our economy. Jarecki builds his case carefully and thoughtfully with a myriad of details. It is difficult to dismiss the book as a pacifist polemic or leftwing propaganda. The book is not explicitly partisan, but the conclusion contains the account of a set-to with Mark Salter of McCain's staff over McCain's appearance in the film. Salter's concern: that the film would give the impression McCain was not completely in line with the Bus