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America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History Hardcover – Deckle Edge, April 5, 2016

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Andrew J. Bacevich (Author)
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Andrew J. Bacevich (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 17 customer reviews
#1 New Releasein Middle Eastern Politics
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Random House (April 5, 2016)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0553393936
  • ISBN-13: 978-0553393934
  • Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 1.3 x 9.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent Summary of How We Got Into This Mess -
By Loyd Eskildson HALL OF FAME on April 5, 2016
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Author Bacevich opens by contending that our military involvement in the greater Middle East began with the failure to rescue the American hostages in our Tehran embassy. Mechanical breakdowns, very limited visibility due to stirred up dust, and a chopper accidently hitting a stationary C-130 resulted in the mission being canceled and the deaths of 8 Americans. While President Carter quickly took responsibility, Bacevich points out that the myriad errors in design and execution were attributable to the military professionals involved.

Bacevich also points out that Carter's predecessors going back to WWII had done him no favors with their forging ill-advised relationships and foolhardy commitments. Nonetheless, Carter had launched America's War for the Greater Middle East, compounding those inherited errors. That war continues today, with no end in sight.

America's War for the Greater Middle East was a war to preserve the American way of life, rooted in an abundance of cheap energy. In 1969, imports already accounted for 20% of American consumption, and the next year U.S. domestic oil production peaked. By 1973, in retaliation for U.S. support for Israel in the October War, Arabs suspended oil exports to the U.S. and the West. Eventually, oil imports resumed, but the availability and price of gasoline had now become a matter of national concern. The hierarchy of national security priorities was beginning to shift from nuclear weapons and the Soviet Union.

President Nixon launched a plan to insure that Americans would not have to rely on any source of energy beyond our own (Project Independence), but the idea that retrenchment was needed did not sit well with some. There was a strong sense of entitlement, notwithstanding Britain's prior experiences.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe Finest History of Our Middle Eastern Military Interventions That We Are Likely To Have
By Michael E. Murray MD on April 10, 2016
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This volume will probably remain our best history of America's military ventures in the Middle East. Starting with the Carter administration the author gives an accurate and detailed story of what has happened, why it happened and what the results have been. It is a complete and fair description of a complex section of our history.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union a quarter century ago we had to find a different enemy to define ourselves against in order to continue our mission of civilizing the world. The nations of the Middle East have borne the brunt of our mission. Thanks be to God that we have a man as brilliant wise and fearless as Colonel Bacevich to tell us the story.
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe definitive analysis of our Iliad in the middle east
By Peter Morelli on April 12, 2016
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This is the most incisive military analysis of America in the Middle East from Carter to Obama. An expose of the self seeking and self promoting actions of our generals and politicians and the fatuous neoconservative militarism which presently guides the foreign policy of our country. Brilliant! There is no better exposition of the delusion associated with the self proclamation of critically strategic areas of the world which before the end of the Cold War held absolutely no importance whatsoever to our well being. The folly of reliance on military power to cure political and cultural defiencies, defined as an absence of neoliberal Christian democracy, and the failure to attain that objective is documented in this engrossing study of self deception and evangelization.
When you finish reading this book you will understand the reasons why we cannot effectively engage middle eastern problems but also why we can't bring ourselves to disengage.
When american soldiers are sent overseas and become casualties their blood becomes a symbol to shed more blood. We have seen this in every war fought since 1945. The men we elect to the presidency with the exception of Eisenhower have had no clue how to conduct foreign policy when the lives of our men and women are at risk. We seem to be caught up in some macho vendetta with the entire world. The continuation of this vendetta has proven to be very profitable for a few wealthy people far from the firing line. It has proven to be amenable to vote getting. It has proven to be amenable to the self promotion of those officers above field level command into whose hands our servicemen have been encared.
It is clear that this country is in more danger today than 35 years ago when we decided to engage directly in the middle eastern quagmire.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsA Cogent Comprehensive Account of the Wars in the Middle East
By The Peripatetic Reader on April 16, 2016
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
There have been other histories of the imperialistic wars in the Middle East. Some are clouded by political ideologies or agendas; some are comprehensive others superficial. The best of these are written by news journalists, others by political hacks, yet others by self-serving politicians or talking heads.

This book is easily one of the best histories of the Middle East wars. It interprets these wars not only in its military context but as a political history of the forces and policies which shaped the conflicts. It reminds us all of those political events long forgotten. The account is given in a journalistic manner, without political commentary or spin, but placing those events in a political context, showing how those events were shaped by American political forces.

This history stands out because it is an account of military conflict written by a career military man. Author Andrew Bacevich graduated from West Point, served in Vietnam and retired a colonel in the US Army. Bacevich understands military conflict, understands this particular military conflict (or series of conflicts), and understands the forces which created and sustains those conflicts.

Bacevich cogently relates these military conflicts with the domestic political stresses and developments which influenced American intervention. American have long considered it their birth-right to have unlimited access to oil, not just simple oil, but cheap oil. This long-held and deeply ingrained belief guided American intervention in the Middle East.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsAndrew Bacevich does a wonderful job of examining the circumstances...

Dropping more bombs or packaging force in a way that's never been used before will not solve the Middle East's problems. Read more

Published 21 hours ago by Matthew
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Required reading to understand America's foreign policy.

Published 2 days ago by Mark J. Vieno
5.0 out of 5 starsSweeping view of our involvement in the Middle East over the past...

I'm only about half-way through the book, but am very impressed with it. I lived through the events Bacevich writes about, and followed them through contemporary media accounts. Read more

Published 2 days ago by Mister Gizmo
3.0 out of 5 starsA Brilliant History, But Failed Strategic Analysis

Bacevich has written a thorough, incisive, and deeply researched history of US Military involvement in the Middle East, providing an invaluable narrative on how we got where we... Read more

Published 2 days ago by Daniel de Wit
5.0 out of 5 starsA Must-Read Masterpiece

Whether you agree with Bacevich or not, his recent book on US policy in the Greater Middle East is the most significant work on the region since Robert Fisk's "The Great War... Read more

Published 5 days ago by DTS@BigIslandRanch
1.0 out of 5 starsOne Star

Don't waste your money on make believe.

Published 5 days ago by DenverDave
1.0 out of 5 starsWrong-headed thinking?

Sorry. But I'm not understanding this writer. He presents a lengthy op-ed piece in the Dallas newspaper today (he'll be hawking books here soon) blaming America's... Read more

Published 5 days ago by P. E. Knopick
5.0 out of 5 starsA solid history of the US wars, surges and slip ups from 1979 to...

Basevich writes with great economy and purpose. He focuses on grand strategy and operations, using public documents, published memoirs and Congressional testimony. Read more

Published 8 days ago by william mathews
5.0 out of 5 starsA Must Read

This is a "common sense" book on America's aggressive war policies, written by an expert who also writes very well and with a wry wit that never ceases to amuse and amaze. Read more

Published 9 days ago by RodH
5.0 out of 5 starsA Tragedy Worthy of Thucydides

Professor Bacevich has to cover a lot of ground here in a relatively few number of pages. He uses excellent examples to support his conclusions. Read more

Published 10 days ago by Arthur J.

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