Public Employee Press

Book Review
Military historian tells how war became permanent

A recent New Yorker magazine cartoon shows three high military officers seated in front of a map of the globe. One says, "Well, I'm an optimist - I still think peace can be avoided."

This is the mind-set that historian Andrew J. Bacevich seeks to penetrate in his new book, "Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War."

As the price of two wars and an inflated military establishment overwhelms all other budgetary considerations, an analysis that questions the path we are on is both critical and timely.

The best-selling author challenges our nation's national security policy, which relies on a worldwide military presence. Bacevich retired from the U.S. Army as a colonel and is now a professor of history and international relations at Boston University.

His book traces the evolution of the bipartisan consensus that backs the policy and shows each administration making decisions to "project global power and continue the penchant for interventionism."

One apt description of the Kennedy administration captures the hubris of assumptions about to go terribly wrong. "With all the certainty of men unaccustomed to actual use of power, they did not doubt their ability to command war to do their biddinghe writes. Kennedy's "enthusiasm for limited war served chiefly to open the oor to unlimited military expenditures."

Bacevich cites President Eisenhower's warning against "the unwarranted influence" of "the military-industrial complex" as he builds his case factually and power-fully. A former warrior himself, Bacevich provides a clear and cogent analysis of how becoming a warrior nation has hurt America.

The book is available at the DC 37 Education Fund library in Room 211.

—Jane LaTour