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48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Total Vindication for Peters, July 11, 2002
"Beyond Terror" by Ralph Peters leads off with a perceptive and upbeat essay on America in the post-9-11 environment ("Our Place in History"), and a ringing indictment of Islam ("The world of Islam must now decide whether to wallow in a comforting, medieval form of religion that warms the heart with hatred of others and whose greatest strength lies in its ability to shift blame, or to make the far more difficult choice of attempting to build tolerant, more equitable, open, and honest societies.") In the current War on Terrorism, Peters warns his readers, "Ferocity is the ultimate guarantor of peace." The balance of the book, with the exception of the final chapter, consists of essays published by Peters between 1994 and 2001. During my four-year tenure as a faculty member at the U.S. Army War College, Peters' controversial and usually irreverent views were often showcased, either via his published works, or when he would appear as a guest lecturer. Having worked closely with him during an assignment in 1992-93 to uncover the truth about American military men who were missing in action during the Cold War, I considered Ralph to be perhaps the Army's premier intellect. His is a keen mind, steeped in history and fertilized by on-the-ground experience, its brilliance equalled only by its brashness and Peters' willingness to bluntly rail out at the many innanities of the post-Cold War defense establishment. I unashamedly pushed Peters and his essays on my War College students (colonels all), and was a bit dismayed at how many tuned him out, often because Peters, then a "lowly" major, seemed to them to be a bit of a pretentious upstart. But as the essays in "Beyond Terror" demonstrate, Peters had it right all along. In 1999, for example, Peters wrote in "MacLean's," "Conventional war remains a threat, but a diminishing one. Today's--and tomorrow's enemies are half-trained killers in uniform, tribesmen, mercenaries, criminals, children with rusty Kalashnikovs, shabby despots, and gory men of faith. The most dangerous enemy will be the warrior who ignores, or who does not know,the rules by which our soldiers fight, and who has a gun in one hand, a cell phone in the other, and hatred scorching his heart." Small wonder that Peters reserves special contempt for some senior military officers ("Hucksters in Uniform") who steadfastly remain married to "heavy" forces of the Cold War, and who retire to positions in the defense industry to reap the harvest of seeds they sowed while on active duty. Concerning the Army and its pursuit of leviathan systems like the Crusader artillery system, Peters wrote in May 1999, "Obsessed with building the perfect division at Ft. Hood, Texas, the Army refuses to acccept that the number one requirement for the future is the ability to get out of Texas on short notice." It is a page out of Donald Rumsfeld's book, but the book is Peters', and he was saying it when such views were heresy and Rumsfeld had yet to re-emerge from corporate America. All in all, those who have followed Ralph Peters' personal intellectual odyssey since the early 1990s will see in this fine collection of essays vindication of the warnings issued by Peters, usually far in advance of other defense "experts." Peters' hard-hitting essays, many of which were written and published while he was a serving officer, are a testament to a fine mind, a love of country, and a remarkably keen sense of smell for the future. They are also a tribute to the military establishment that encouraged him to speak out, even when his messages often gored sacred cows. If you are serious about understanding the business of national defense in the age of the War on Terrorism, you must read this book.
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45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More Than Just "Strategy", June 15, 2002
Ralph Peters' newest book, 'Beyond Terror,' is an important contribution to the ongoing debate over how best to repond to the emerging terrorist threat to our nation. His earlier Stackpole volume, 'Fighting for the Future,' presciently articulated this threat long before September 11, and this latest book expands and extends the ideas put forth there. Drawing on a vast synthesis of culture, language, history, and most importantly, on-the-ground experience, 'Beyond Terror' sheds a lot of light on the uncertain new terrain (both physical and psychological) on which we must engage our enemies in the years to come. While this book could and should be read by military strategists, politicians, policy wonks, and other Washington types, its scope extends much further, and many of the essays contain insight and commentary relevant to many other disciplines. "The Rejection of the West," is the earliest and longest essay in the book, and it provides the centerpiece thinking out of which all the other articles flow. Every educator in our land would profit greatly by grappling with the ideas therein, although many would be angered by Peters' non-politically-correct thinking, his skewering of "multiculturalism," and his rejection of the glib theories of academia. Politicians on both sides of the national party divide will be discomforted by many of his conclusions--as they well should be, but voters would find that this book would help them define a new set of standards by which to judge those that would represent them. The writing here is anything but a dry iteration of "policy," although there is plenty of food for policy-making thought. Peters' prose is forceful, colorful and witty--a genuine delight to read. I found the book utterly compelling and read nearly all of it in a couple of sittings. 'Beyond Terror' is a passionate plea to our nation to look beyond its conventional notions and thinking to creatively overcome the threats that are emerging in the world, and a call to all Americans to cherish and respect their precious heritage. Urgently recommended.
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tough-minded and timely, July 16, 2002
By A Customer
Ralph Peters has long been a favorite writer of mine. I've read both his fiction and non-fiction, and "Beyond Terror" may be his best writing yet. His candid insights will ring true to anybody who's travelled in the world's danger zones, but probably will offend those who learn about the world from books. Too bad. A few hours spent with "Beyond Terror" will give the reader a much better understanding of the world we live in than any political science course I've taken--and I've taken many. While his writing is brutally frank, he is never simplistic or jingoistic. The chapter "When Devils Walk the Earth" is perhaps the most original and thoughtful explanation of the terrorist's mentality I've ever read (and I read a great deal on related subjects for my job). Peters takes a refreshingly long view of history, and his writing is a joy to read, even on those rare occasions when I disagree with him. This is an important book. I strongly recommend it for anyone looking to make sense of the world today.
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